Autechre : an archive of scorn disappointment and distrust

[exitonly]

You know what they say- writing about music is like dancing to autechre 

[IDEM]

3 hours ago, nikisoko said:

You know what they say- writing about music is like dancing to autechre 

 

[Amen Lare]

7 hours ago, IDEM said:

"Although Artificial Intelligence's sleevenotes had insisted that the new electronica 'cannot be described as soulless or machine made', what's most interesting about Autechre's work is the absence of heart and humanity, the way that the listener's impulse to forge an emotional connection simply ricochets off the impenetrable, gnomic surfaces of their sound. At times you can't help wonder if the 'aut' in their name stands for autism: listening, the mind's eye conjures up a vision of two small boys surrounded by tekno toys, lost in their own little pre-verbal world of chromatics and texture and contour."

Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash. A Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture

And that was published in 1998, so before LP5 at least, which is funny. Tho this description feels complementary / gives an intriguing angle, if you don't take dismissive implications at face value.

[IDEM]

9 minutes ago, Amen Lare said:

And that was published in 1998, so before LP5 at least, which is funny. Tho this description feels complementary / gives an intriguing angle, if you don't take dismissive implications at face value.

I dunno, it just feels like he's fallen prey to the old cliché of "inhuman" music, which is total BS, isn't it? But in reality, he's dismissive of IDM in general because in his mind, it clashes with the true unbridled spirit and raw energy of the "hardcore continuum". He's quoting Mixmaster Morris, "who in 1994 defined 'intelligent techno' as 'the opposite of stupid hardcore'", and the way he presents it, it sounds like more of a hostile takeover than a natural evolution of sorts. It's pretty apparent that he has a bone to pick with IDM, I mean the whole chapter is titled "Furniture Music", and I'm not sure he means it in an affirmative way. But in some parts this anti-intellectual stance feels like a pose, like some ethnologist trying to save the "noble savage" from the clutches of Western civilisation. I think he's just trying very hard to belong. Still, overall it's a good book, the way he delineates the history is decent.

[Amen Lare]

1 hour ago, IDEM said:

I dunno, it just feels like he's fallen prey to the old cliché of "inhuman" music, which is total BS, isn't it? But in reality, he's dismissive of IDM in general because in his mind, it clashes with the true unbridled spirit and raw energy of the "hardcore continuum". He's quoting Mixmaster Morris, "who in 1994 defined 'intelligent techno' as 'the opposite of stupid hardcore'", and the way he presents it, it sounds like more of a hostile takeover than a natural evolution of sorts. It's pretty apparent that he has a bone to pick with IDM, I mean the whole chapter is titled "Furniture Music", and I'm not sure he means it in an affirmative way. But in some parts this anti-intellectual stance feels like a pose, like some ethnologist trying to save the "noble savage" from the clutches of Western civilisation. I think he's just trying very hard to belong. Still, overall it's a good book, the way he delineates the history is decent.

(I haven't read the book)

How is inhuman music concept bullshit even if banal? Loads of noise and algorhythmic stuff and whatnot is intentionally inhuman, what's the argument against? Some just have a different picture of the border disposition between human/inhuman. That there's still human decisions behind it -- well, Reynolds clearly doesn't forget that with autistic boys metaphor (not reptilians or something).

What i mean is that despite his own dismissive view towards Ae, the way he describes his troubles with it makes it seem cool if you don't follow on implications such as, schematically speaking, inhuman / autistic / pre-verbal = harmful to musical output.

I saw his 2019 article on IDM-related modern electronica and he seems to be much warmer towards that style now (mentions Ae once too) https://pitchfork.com/features/article/2010s-rise-of-conceptronica-electronic-music/

[Alcofribas]

12 hours ago, IDEM said:

"Although Artificial Intelligence's sleevenotes had insisted that the new electronica 'cannot be described as soulless or machine made', what's most interesting about Autechre's work is the absence of heart and humanity, the way that the listener's impulse to forge an emotional connection simply ricochets off the impenetrable, gnomic surfaces of their sound. At times you can't help wonder if the 'aut' in their name stands for autism: listening, the mind's eye conjures up a vision of two small boys surrounded by tekno toys, lost in their own little pre-verbal world of chromatics and texture and contour."

Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash. A Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture

this sort of writing is so weird to me, it demonstrates such a lack of imagination. it's repeated constantly for practically any genre of music that a critic doesn't like or have the patience to try to comprehend. what is a "gnomic surface of sound" exactly? how does it riccochet emotions? lmao so corny. "heart and humanity" are not the opposite of "cold and machinic" in some profound way, it's silly. 

it's so easy to conceive of autechre as emotionally resonant and meaningful, even if you don't have those experiences personally. it seems ridiculous to point out that their work is full of emotional melodies ranging from melancholic to uplifting; there are exuberant and exciting gestures that could so easily cause listeners to feel elation and joy; the constant pairing of bold statements at massive scales with strange, moody, even fragile melodies is such a "human" thing - the tension between power and uncertainty, the volatile state of an explosive- will it combust into a joyous freedom or collapse into a kind of melancholic self-reflection? try to tell me "eutow" isn't pure cum, "VLetrmx" pure cry. 

calling autechre alien, autistic, cold, etc. is fucking lame. their music is beautiful and challenging and makes people feel lush af. i will say though, small boys playing with toys is not the dis reynolds wishes it to be - he's willing to praise boards of canada for their fascination with childhood* bc it makes him nostalgic for his own boyhood but bc he doesn't vibe with autechre suddenly childhood is uncool and immature and, uh "inhuman." we should all be so lucky to experience child-like joy in the studio imo, lost in our own music worlds for a change.

music writing sucks, to me.

*https://pitchfork.com/features/article/why-boards-of-canadas-music-has-the-right-to-children-is-the-greatest-psychedelic-album-of-the-90s/

 

 

[Silent Member]

Reads to me like the author watched the Gantz Graf video once when it came out and never listened to autechre again.

Edited October 12, 2020 by Silent Member

[IDEM]

9 hours ago, Amen Lare said:

(I haven't read the book)

How is inhuman music concept bullshit even if banal? Loads of noise and algorhythmic stuff and whatnot is intentionally inhuman, what's the argument against? Some just have a different picture of the border disposition between human/inhuman. That there's still human decisions behind it -- well, Reynolds clearly doesn't forget that with autistic boys metaphor (not reptilians or something).

What i mean is that despite his own dismissive view towards Ae, the way he describes his troubles with it makes it seem cool if you don't follow on implications such as, schematically speaking, inhuman / autistic / pre-verbal = harmful to musical output.

I saw his 2019 article on IDM-related modern electronica and he seems to be much warmer towards that style now (mentions Ae once too) https://pitchfork.com/features/article/2010s-rise-of-conceptronica-electronic-music/

See here:

6 hours ago, Alcofribas said:

this sort of writing is so weird to me, it demonstrates such a lack of imagination. it's repeated constantly for practically any genre of music that a critic doesn't like or have the patience to try to comprehend. what is a "gnomic surface of sound" exactly? how does it riccochet emotions? lmao so corny. "heart and humanity" are not the opposite of "cold and machinic" in some profound way, it's silly. 

it's so easy to conceive of autechre as emotionally resonant and meaningful, even if you don't have those experiences personally. it seems ridiculous to point out that their work is full of emotional melodies ranging from melancholic to uplifting; there are exuberant and exciting gestures that could so easily cause listeners to feel elation and joy; the constant pairing of bold statements at massive scales with strange, moody, even fragile melodies is such a "human" thing - the tension between power and uncertainty, the volatile state of an explosive- will it combust into a joyous freedom or collapse into a kind of melancholic self-reflection? try to tell me "eutow" isn't pure cum, "VLetrmx" pure cry. 

calling autechre alien, autistic, cold, etc. is fucking lame. their music is beautiful and challenging and makes people feel lush af. i will say though, small boys playing with toys is not the dis reynolds wishes it to be - he's willing to praise boards of canada for their fascination with childhood* bc it makes him nostalgic for his own boyhood but bc he doesn't vibe with autechre suddenly childhood is uncool and immature and, uh "inhuman." we should all be so lucky to experience child-like joy in the studio imo, lost in our own music worlds for a change.

music writing sucks, to me.

*https://pitchfork.com/features/article/why-boards-of-canadas-music-has-the-right-to-children-is-the-greatest-psychedelic-album-of-the-90s/

 

 

 

[Alcofribas]

11 hours ago, Silent Member said:

Reads to me like the author watched the Gantz Graf video once when it came out and never listened to autechre again.

"honey what are you watching?"

"some kind of autistic imagery, the sounds are riccocheting my emotions tho"

[Amen Lare]

11 hours ago, IDEM said:

See here:

 

Unconvincing to me, a critic has absolutely understandable inhuman bias towards something he doesn't like, a fan has human bias towards something he listened thru a hundred times. A lot of people find Ae cold, alien etc. even while sympathising to it (i recall one robotic electro fan saying he liked to turn on Confield to be irradiated), so there must be a dimension of impenetrability. Of course there are fragile melodies and "emosh" stuff here and there, but that's not the general line, not why you come to Ae instead of BoC, for example.

My take is that being cold, alien, autistic is interesting in music coz music is heavily tied to a human perspective that is unavoidable, it's nothing to shy away from, the problem with that is it almost always doesn't deliver on those premises, you see the fabricated nature of it.

If somebody unknown gives me a choice to listen to something human or inhuman without any further clarification, i would prefer to listen to inhuman on average.

[Alcofribas]

It’s honestly a dumb dichotomy. “inhuman” doesn’t do anything interesting to describe music made by stoners who fuck with electronic gear until it sounds “lush.” 

a critic having an “inhuman bias” is not a thing. 

[Alcofribas]

*seinfeld voice* "these pretzels are making me inhuman"

[IDEM]

35 minutes ago, Amen Lare said:

Unconvincing to me, a critic has absolutely understandable inhuman bias towards something he doesn't like, a fan has human bias towards something he listened thru a hundred times. A lot of people find Ae cold, alien etc. even while sympathising to it (i recall one robotic electro fan saying he liked to turn on Confield to be irradiated), so there must be a dimension of impenetrability. Of course there are fragile melodies and "emosh" stuff here and there, but that's not the general line, not why you come to Ae instead of BoC, for example.

My take is that being cold, alien, autistic is interesting in music coz music is heavily tied to a human perspective that is unavoidable, it's nothing to shy away from, the problem with that is it almost always doesn't deliver on those premises, you see the fabricated nature of it.

If somebody unknown gives me a choice to listen to something human or inhuman without any further clarification, i would prefer to listen to inhuman on average.

But that's just the thing you see: as long as there are humans involved, the music will never be "inhuman". Autechre's music is generated by human beings. If you prefer listening to birdsong or waves rolling on the shore or whatever, that's your choice, but electronic music is just music manufactured by humans using electronic instruments; the degree of abstraction, for lack of a better word, might vary between BOC, Ae and Underworld, but in all cases, humans are very heavily involved in the production process.

[Roo]