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when it doesn't click


Draft78

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Generally, we know, many tracks take time to reveal themselves: sometimes they can appear anonymous until one day, when we think we already know everything well, listening distractedly we realize that those are extraordinary ideas (yes, this happens to me when I lower my guard and I don't listen analytically), and we are surprised at how we couldn't understand it from the first moment. Even on exceptionally minimal pieces such as TBM2, all of a sudden the combination of an elementary tempo and a few laconic sounds can turn into suggestions of barely hinted melodies, which are built on subtle relationships that, precisely in their not being manifest, put in motion of interpretative processes. Yet it happens that this does not happen. It is rare, but possible. I am not referring to pieces that leave us indifferent, but to cases in which listening is really tiring. Precisely because it's a rare thing, it's interesting to be analyze.

For example, I've never been able to like pce freeze 2.8i or bnc Castl (yes, I know, it's a tribute to a track by Kraftewerk, but it's not enough). Yet, as much as these songs make me hives, are the product of the same minds that combined Sublimit, vekoS, parhelic ririangle, surripere, os veix3 and all the rest.


What would you remove from Sum & Rumbla's discography?

 

PS: I suspect I have already opened a similar post time ago, but my memory has long since left me...

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What I really love about their process is how they play with repetition.

Which for me I noticed around lp5 and later to be more prominent (though they've always played with it)

The idea of having say, a snare (example the snare on LCC) be so beautiful crafted to sound different on particular repeated hits.

Of course they play with repetition in numerous other ways so for me I wouldn't really "remove" anything I would just prefer to listen to the works that encompass this idea of repetition more.

 

 

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9 minutes ago, cyanobacteria said:

where did this word click come from

my friend used it too many years ago and it feels like a good word

as a non-native speaker I could have written something completely wrong: I think it's an almost onopatopeic form, used when something suddenly starts to work, even in a figurative sense. Anyway yes, that's a good thing, but I realize that if I had used "work" it would have been better.

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34 minutes ago, sine nomine said:

What I really love about their process is how they play with repetition.

Which for me I noticed around lp5 and later to be more prominent (though they've always played with it)

The idea of having say, a snare (example the snare on LCC) be so beautiful crafted to sound different on particular repeated hits.

Of course they play with repetition in numerous other ways so for me I wouldn't really "remove" anything I would just prefer to listen to the works that encompass this idea of repetition more.

 

 

I can thus imagine that, probably, you are less tied to ovesrteps, which, although not lacking in obstinate, will rely more on "narrative" than mechanical paths ... ?

 

2 minutes ago, Draft78 said:

I can thus imagine that, probably, you are less tied to ovesrteps, which, although not lacking in obstinate, it's rely more on "narrative" than mechanical paths ... ?

ouch, I wanted to correct an error and inadvertently replied the answer...

 

Edited by Draft78
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1 minute ago, Draft78 said:

I can thus imagine that, probably, you are less tied to ovesrteps, which, although not lacking in obstinate, will rely more on "narrative" than mechanical paths ... ?

 

Indeed.

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47 minutes ago, thehauntingsoul said:

What's not to get about pce freeze? It's an exercise in discordant, dissonant chords

the main theme is a sequence of notes that is very distant from me (and is repeated with different sounds, equal to itself, from start to finish, without mercy), and even the rhythm on which it rests does not communicate anything to me except a slow dragging of boredom. There is a slightly more interesting moment, at 3:44, where some sort of solo comes to the surface (hard to tell if it's a heavily filtered vocal or a massacred synth ... the vocals certainly come shortly after): are the dissonances there? Even the glitch at 1:45 it's fine, but overall I feel pce freeze like a fracture in the MOT. The fact that I don't hear the dissonance tells me that I am missing something...

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1 hour ago, Draft78 said:

the main theme is a sequence of notes that is very distant from me (and is repeated with different sounds, equal to itself, from start to finish, without mercy), and even the rhythm on which it rests does not communicate anything to me except a slow dragging of boredom. There is a slightly more interesting moment, at 3:44, where some sort of solo comes to the surface (hard to tell if it's a heavily filtered vocal or a massacred synth ... the vocals certainly come shortly after): are the dissonances there? Even the glitch at 1:45 it's fine, but overall I feel pce freeze like a fracture in the MOT. The fact that I don't hear the dissonance tells me that I am missing something...

I think that main theme is very funky. And it's fascinating how many shapes it can hold with the different sounds. The way it's modulated makes it resemble on acid techno, but the modulations are much more distorted and extreme. Like it compares to acid techno like heavy metal to death metal. 

Funny, I listened to "bnc Castl" too, and I think they both have a very funky, groovy vibe. Is that something you don't like perhaps? For me, both are pretty straightforward tracks.

Edited by Chabraendeky
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ok, personally i guess i could do witout

mesh cinereaL - could be good, but has this grating feedback-y midrange sound and i just can't stand it

fLh - kinda silly. sounds like an in-joke i don't get

Fol3 - just cause fol4 is so much better

some of the 90101- remixes - the original beat is way groovier than the 4/4 and there is no need to put out 10 versions of that that sound pretty much the same

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 I understand that it’s impossible to satisfactory describe music but descriptions of ae tracks in this thread (and elsewhere on this forum) are really terrible! If I didn’t know what you’re talking I’d assume that you’re talking about a piece of cardboard on rain. 

Edited by xox
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5 hours ago, Chabraendeky said:

I think that main theme is very funky. And it's fascinating how many shapes it can hold with the different sounds. The way it's modulated makes it resemble on acid techno, but the modulations are much more distorted and extreme. Like it compares to acid techno like heavy metal to death metal. 

Funny, I listened to "bnc Castl" too, and I think they both have a very funky, groovy vibe. Is that something you don't like perhaps? For me, both are pretty straightforward tracks.

Yes, probably the reason lies in the combination of an immediacy which, apparently, does not hide particular textures behind the surface, and also in the sequence of notes, which I personally find very generic. For example, in the case of pce freeze 2.8i, I promptly have the mental image of a handful of hasty notes, jotted down as if it were a demo to test stuff like ableton presets, which are played in succession by all the instruments to get an idea of the various sounds of the archive. I mean ... 5 minutes of piriri pirì - pirì pi ri pi ...  

in this same category I also include splesh and elyc9 7hres, and I notice that in all these cases, the melody carries something common, and the sounds too are very straightforward, almost 8bit, all elements that are at the other end of the spectrum of reasons that lead me to Ae.

Interesting how Ae, more than anything else I know, manages to be perceived through a sovereign subjectivity: not only among those who cannot listen to them and those who have become obsessed with them, but also within this second category, the points of view and tastes can vary immensely, with the same fluctuation of possibilities found in the first division (that between those who hate them and those who love them, in fact).
This is interesting, in psychology there is a tendency to identify categories, certainly with a whole series of exceptions and singularities, but still more or less combinable under broad analogies, here instead this fact is largely eluded: the reason is not yet clear to me but it is certainly fascinating.

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11 hours ago, Draft78 said:

as a non-native speaker I could have written something completely wrong: I think it's an almost onopatopeic form, used when something suddenly starts to work, even in a figurative sense. Anyway yes, that's a good thing, but I realize that if I had used "work" it would have been better.

Nah you were completely right - 'click' is indeed the correct word to use. Don't think I've ever thought about the etymology of the work - Possibly cogs clicking into place on a working machine ?

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5 hours ago, custom knob said:

Bqbqbq

i find it irritating

bqbqbq is one of those tracks that initially hide a lot of its structure: it seems to hear the forced repetition of a screeching blips, but in my case at some point it's clicked, like when you manage to cross your eyes and see the 3d figure in a stereogram. Each blip is the sum of different heights, and each one, from blip to blip, follows its own path, building melodies and slowly becomes dark and melancholy ... try to give it another chance, it could do the same trick with you too :sorcerer:

Edited by Draft78
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Im also not a huge fan of bbq but Ive noticed if it is on in the background, it works for me but I cant really make it through the whole thing if I am actively listening.

The only other thing I could never get into was L—event.

 

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6 minutes ago, jules said:

Im also not a huge fan of bbq but Ive noticed if it is on in the background, it works for me but I cant really make it through the whole thing if I am actively listening.

The only other thing I could never get into was L—event.

 

tac Lacora for me really highlights my point about their playfulness with repetion and of course there's also their trademark stroke of genius 'irresolution to order' (entropy) which mostly if not always becomes seamlessly structured in it of itself - within a track or leading to another. 

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Man I love L-Event. Total high point for me. The first EP of Move Of Ten is more or less perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Oversteps indeed is the one that never clicked for me - I liked it at first (in fact I like it now) - but I've never had that moment where my attention switches into the correct gear and suddenly it's all magic.

That moment is maybe my favourite thing about Autechre though. I find it can only happen once with a record - after it does the record is different forever, but it never sounds quite as good as it does in that moment of 'click'.

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15 minutes ago, sine nomine said:

for me there's less of those "click" moments from elseq-aelive-nts... most tracks are just too monolithic. 

in this I partly agree: from elseq onwards there are more frequent cases in which I have rapidly assimilated the ideas, but I cannot say if this is caused by the composition itself, or if it's me who, completely assimilated by the Ae phenomenon , I feel in my natural habitat. The similarities between exai and those that came out later could have played a substantial role in this, which does not mean a stylistic deterioration (AE_LIVE could be the release that won me over the most), but rather the settling into a shape.

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17 minutes ago, Draft78 said:

in this I partly agree: from elseq onwards there are more frequent cases in which I have rapidly assimilated the ideas, but I cannot say if this is caused by the composition itself, or if it's me who, completely assimilated by the Ae phenomenon , I feel in my natural habitat. The similarities between exai and those that came out later could have played a substantial role in this, which does not mean a stylistic deterioration (AE_LIVE could be the release that won me over the most), but rather the settling into a shape.

You really echoed my thoughts exactly here (worded them better than I could've tbh) I agree, stylistically speaking their work hasn't deteriorated (though style is something rather subjective) 

But like you mentioned, their ideas in later releases are definitely assimilated quicker (especially for the seasoned listener) and hance (for me) there are less "ahh" or "click" moments and more of "I see what you did there" moments. 

There's a surprise element to the "click" moments that (to repeat myself) I just don't get from later releases - maybe, like you say, I'm also assimilated to the phenomenon. 

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33 minutes ago, sine nomine said:

You really echoed my thoughts exactly here (worded them better than I could've tbh) I agree, stylistically speaking their work hasn't deteriorated (though style is something rather subjective) 

But like you mentioned, their ideas in later releases are definitely assimilated quicker (especially for the seasoned listener) and hance (for me) there are less "ahh" or "click" moments and more of "I see what you did there" moments. 

There's a surprise element to the "click" moments that (to repeat myself) I just don't get from later releases - maybe, like you say, I'm also assimilated to the phenomenon. 

Well, if Sign presents itself as a metamorphosis into something new, we'll know if this whole question is due to a more immediate imprint of their way of composing (even in new territories) or if it was our being adapted to the previous form.

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