Autechre : an archive of scorn disappointment and distrust

[eclipsis]

Reading the title of the thread I thought the 'chre bros were bashing the new Scorn album somewhere on the interwebz.

[IDEM]

Just stumbled upon this in a Discogs review of Quaristice:

"A big part of the tracks are more like sketches of ideas, the more interesting tracks, as mentioned above, are too short. Go to Bleeps webpage, download the tracksnippets with an online mp3 grabber, put the tracks on a cd and you have the same effect as on the standard issue of Quaristice. But lets be honest: how often do we listen to Autechres tracks from albums like Draft, Untilted, and Confield from start to end?"

lolwut? 

[jaderpansen]

2 hours ago, eclipsis said:

Reading the title of the thread I thought the 'chre bros were bashing the new Scorn album somewhere on the interwebz.

lol dto.

[perunamuusi]

Lol @ hello Richard Devine

[xox]

4 hours ago, IDEM said:

Just stumbled upon this in a Discogs review of Quaristice:

"A big part of the tracks are more like sketches of ideas, the more interesting tracks, as mentioned above, are too short. Go to Bleeps webpage, download the tracksnippets with an online mp3 grabber, put the tracks on a cd and you have the same effect as on the standard issue of Quaristice. But lets be honest: how often do we listen to Autechres tracks from albums like Draft, Untilted, and Confield from start to end?"

lolwut? 

Lol every day?

[zkom]

Customer review for Confield:

I have explored many of the artists on the Warped Records label like Autechre, The Aphex Twin, Nightmares on Wax and Boards of Canada, and this is by far the worst Warped Record that i've heard. With the Aphex Twin records and other Autechre albums like Amber, you'll find a very diverse but compelling sound that is completely unique and at the same time deeply listenable. I don't really know what happened here, 1 or 2 of the songs are interesting for about 2 minutes but after that you start to question your taste in music and think "What the hell was I thinking?!?". The best way to imagine what this album sounds like would be to listen to an ape play an electric keyboard in a steel works factory amongst all the machinery. I can understand that some people may be able to get into this album, but i'd really have to listen to this 200 times to be able to understand it, and then it would still bore the hell out of me. This album is definately one to avoid, or at least try before you buy. A much better purchase would be Autechre's first album Amber which is quite a beautiful album, or if you prefer the Aphex Twin's style, then just buy yourself another Aphex album.

[oscillik]

Shit Sandwich

[Rotwang]

inb4 festering hillock of tune-shy bum-wank

[hijexx]

We need a Relentless Doppelganger but trained on AE

 

[IDEM]

3 hours ago, zkom said:

[...] if you prefer the Aphex Twin's style, then just buy yourself another Aphex album.

That's actually pretty sound advice.

Edited April 15, 2020 by IDEM

[perunamuusi]

Yeah you can't fault the logic there

[Draft78]

I can never thank myself enough for starting this thread. Before going to bed I will get into the habit of reading at least one review.

... apparently Confield took a lot of contempt. The times were not ripe.

[President Squidward]

12 hours ago, xox said:

Talking about Exai?

yee

[cloud capture]

I'm going to need hundreds of more reviews similar to this in the coming months to read for my personal enjoyment 

[Poimandres]

19 hours ago, ignatius said:

they sould play to a laugh track next tour.

If they played Laughing Quarter I'd die from happiness.

[zlemflolia]

12 hours ago, IDEM said:

Just stumbled upon this in a Discogs review of Quaristice:

"A big part of the tracks are more like sketches of ideas, the more interesting tracks, as mentioned above, are too short. Go to Bleeps webpage, download the tracksnippets with an online mp3 grabber, put the tracks on a cd and you have the same effect as on the standard issue of Quaristice. But lets be honest: how often do we listen to Autechres tracks from albums like Draft, Untilted, and Confield from start to end?"

lolwut? 

"we" lol

[NewSchoolScience]

Quote

Used to be a huge fan of theirs at the time. Incunabula had been straight success, Amber was even deeper. When this record came, I was astonished by the difference they could provide on every album, but it didn't last, the EPs started to crack already and their sound started to form into that freaky stuff they're best known today. For me this record is important because it represents the last days of their music when it still used to be good.

 

[zkom]

9 hours ago, Draft78 said:

... apparently Confield took a lot of contempt. The times were not ripe.

Yeah, the stylistic change around the turn of the millenium wasn't easy on some of the Autechre / IDM / Warp fans.

For a change here's an Amber customer review:

AuTESHre

If you look at the middle of Autechre's name you will see 'tech' which sounds kind of like 'tesh' and when I say 'tesh' I mean like John Tesh. While Autechre's music is not even close the same style as Tesh's they share a common parallel, they're both dreadfully boring. Autechre are known as masters of the mundane, which brings me to my first point, why would anyone be interested in the mundane especially in something that is supposed to be as engaging and exciting as music. Autechre play a bunch of instrumental ambient electronica songs. Electronica can in some cases mean electronic tinged rock, and at other times old men's techno. I'd have to lead to the latter. None of the songs lead anywhere. I can see sitting through songs to get to a grand conclusion, but long after this album was over I sat in my room listening to nothing, in hopes some hook, some reason to listen to this album would be realized. Then it finally hit me, this music would be perfect for yoga, or some kind of gay interpretative dance, or when your cleaning the house. It is great background music. But so are those 'Sounds of The Ocean' and 'The Ambience of The Forest" discs you see at Target and Walmart for a couple bucks. If you want good background music I suggest you go to your local Target and pick up five of those discs rather than spend it on this 'acclaimed' music.

[Somanymachines]

Having heard Autechre on previous ambient compilations albums, I thought I knew what I was buying. However, with Confield I was sorely disappointed. If you can imagine the sound of a million ants scurrying about their nest and amplify this a million-fold, you're almost getting the intensely repetitive sound that exemplifies Confield. There is barely any melodic composition to this album and it is no more than an exercise in drumbeats, aural pain and listener endurance. The album quite possibly encapsulates the sounds experienced by a paranoid schizophrenic's appreciation of cocaine-fuelled monkeys playing a giant drumset. Mince.

I recently purchased this and draft 7.30, and listened to them one after the other. I have been a fan of autechre for 15 years and have the great majority of their releases. Their music varies between the finer melodic stuff and the harsh discordant electronica. I like both extremes. However, Quaristice is simply boring. The first track is good but the rest is just tuneless and unimaginative. It goes nowhere. Autechre at its best is when a track gradually unfurls its hidden melody from a difficult beginning and acts as a reward to the listener. The shortness of the tracks and the almost total lack of any tunes anywhere in this album was deeply disappointing. If I had their equipment and expertise I could do a better job. You might think I ought to be more grateful to them after all the good music I have enjoyed but if it comes to putting my hand in my pocket I want something well made. If you are a die hard ae fan and simply must have everything they have written then get this. Otherwise, keep your dosh in your pocket. This is rubbish! And so was Draft 7.30. I am sorry to report. Don't believe these other reviews. They can't have been listening to the same cd as me...

[splbt]

threads like this are the reason people mock IDM

[Freak of the week]

watmm like this is the reason people post on watmm

[splbt]

*general banter is the reason people post on watmm

[xox]

Autechno

[Draft78]

2 hours ago, splbt said:

threads like this are the reason people mock IDM

people monk at idm because it is the most unhappy acronym in the history of music. Not so much because pretentious (I have a dick full of this word: every time you say something that is not purely sarcastic or disparaging, there is immediately someone who puts this term among the balls, with the real pretension to keep us all in the ghetto of the easy pose at any costs), but because it is definitively arbitrary and relative. Who can define something "intelligent" in absolute terms, and not merely related to one's judgment?

[splbt]