I think I'm beginning to understand Autechre. Maybe.

thedisavowed · Post by **thedisavowed** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:43 am

We've all bitched on this board about not liking Autechre's latest records (myself included). And I'm still not totally down with them. But....

I don't know if I'm just in a weird mood, or if as you become an older IDM fan you just logically jump to this.. but....

Lately I find myself getting stranger and stranger in my listening habits with IDM. It used to be that I liked IDM because a lot of it was mellow and mood driven etc. etc. etc.

But as I get older I find myself thinking more and more "the MORE FUCKED UP THE BETTER!" and instead of listening to "Moodkid" or "Olson" I find myself turning a lot to songs like Clark's "Autumnal Crash" or Afx's "Ziggomatic" or equally harsh tracks. The more crazy, the more outlandish, the better, it seems.

And it's all coupled with this simultaneous sense that somehow the music I like really has no inherent meaning, and that somehow this crazy stuff reflects my experience more than the old ambient stuff I used to get off on more. I don't know why that's the case. But it is.

And so I think I understand why Autechre seems so out there. It's not cause they're deliberatley trying to fuck with you. Maybe it's because after you've been listening to electronica for long... that kind of stuff just logically follows.

I hope that made sense. Thoughts? Anyone else experienced this? Is it just a phase?

nlogax · Post by **nlogax** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:49 am

not me. still no likey the autechrey.

zander two · Post by **zander two** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:55 am

Same thing happened to me a few months ago. Now everything has flipped and I can mainly stand to listen to the later three albums, though I still like the oldies. Not sure what to chalk it up to, maturity, seeking new/fresh sounds, losing interest in hearing the same old styles being repeated and repackaged. Or, just getting older and more grizzled.

Derail · Post by **Derail** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:07 am

Ditto to what zander said. I can appreciate their whole catalog except for parts of Draft 7.30 and the latter half of Confield which is still just too "out there" for me. I'd recomend you give another listen to the Cichli Suite ep. The tracks are'nt as long, there's plenty of tempo/beat changes to keep things interesting, and it's a nice blend of their early melodic sound and more recent technical stuff. Right now it's not only my favorite ep from them, but my favorite overall release from AE. After hearing some of the new material played at various live performances I'm foaming at the mouth for a new release.

isawdrones · Post by **isawdrones** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:40 am

just look at a decaying urban enviroment while listening to confield and you will understand Autechre.

Goiter Sanchez · Post by **Goiter Sanchez** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:16 am

I've had to listen to years of comparatively simple electronic music before I was anywhere near able to appreciate albums like Untilted, or AFX's Drukqs.

Now I think it would take something pretty unbelievable to fuck me around as I can hear musical patterns in some very outlandish music that would be unlistenable to most.

hexagon son · Post by **hexagon son** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:20 am

the same thing happenned to me, but it was with brothomstates. i still have to be in the mood though to listen to anything that glitchy!

sinkfield · Post by **sinkfield** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:57 am

autechre are my faves.

i've never understood the whole "getting" music, i think you either like it or you move along

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:02 am

sinkfield wrote:autechre are my faves.

i've never understood the whole "getting" music, i think you either like it or you move along

Not necessarily - It can take time for something to sink in, or sometimes you can hear music in a different context: Live, travelling, outside - it can sound completely different and suddenly make sense.

I had a post ages ago about cLOUDDEAD - loved the tunes, but just couldn't enjoy it 'cos of the vocals, but a bit of determined listening with an open mind and I "get" it.

Still need convincing about Autechre though.

Lone · Post by **Lone** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:47 pm

the older i get, the more i want mellow shit - melodies and that...

when i was a younger dude it was ALL about 'lp5' autechre, brothomstates first ep, hard afx etc... with exception of boc (of course - my fave music then and now) thats what pushed my buttons so to speak..

these days i can only listen to the calmer, more beautiful stuff. dont listen to any autechre / aphex type stuff anymore.. a shame maybe, but your tastes change dont they.

on a different note - check flying lotus, that new warp signing... if you can get hold of his first album '1983' i strongly recommend you do - thats where its 'at' these days i reckon

niknak · Post by **niknak** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:57 pm

I kind of agree with Lone. With so much good music out there i find i don't have the time to give the more challenging stuff a good listen. Occasionally i want something really out there, but more often than not i'm in a mellow mood and just want something nice to listen to. Lazy in way, but there you go.

thedisavowed · Post by **thedisavowed** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:15 pm

A_Northern_Soul wrote:
sinkfield wrote:autechre are my faves.

i've never understood the whole "getting" music, i think you either like it or you move along
Not necessarily - It can take time for something to sink in, or sometimes you can hear music in a different context: Live, travelling, outside - it can sound completely different and suddenly make sense.

I totally agree. I remember feeling pretty ambivalent about Amon Tobin the first time I heard him. His brand of 'drill-n-bass' was just too wild for me at first. By my current standards, Tobin's music is pretty easy listening.

I remember it took me a while to develop a taste for BoC too. But then one day I was playing it in my car and Éverything You Do is a Balloon'hit me and I've been an addict ever since.

I think with Autechre it's especially difficult because, with the exception of a few moments on Amber and Incunabula, most Autechre doesn't seem to want to be liked. And maybe ;like' is the wrong word to apply to Autechre anyway. It's not shower music, it's not really driving music, it's not club music, but somehow it's still really, really fascinating. But it does need time.

thedisavowed · Post by **thedisavowed** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:36 pm

And, you know, talking about Tobin makes me realize how he probably eased me into IDM. I often wonder what I need to do to get people I know into IDM, but sometimes I feel like mixes I make for them fall short of the mark because I make the mistake of trying to take them from, say, Greenday, to Aphex, and it seems like most people get lost along the way. Is Ninja Tune maybe like prep for Warp Records? Do we need some middleground for them to make the jump? Maybe old Mo'Wax records?

I only say this because honestly, as much as I love a lot of electronic music, Warp still rules my LASTFM. Afx, Autechre, and BoC (and increasingly, Clark) are kind of the government of my LASTFM. No matter what happens.

sinkfield · Post by **sinkfield** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:49 pm

aight, eat some dose and put on confield, i guarantee you'll "get it"

Wrathschild · Post by **Wrathschild** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:51 pm

Alex Rutherford's ace Grantz Graf video actually makes the tune make more sense if you know what I mean.

hills west · Post by **hills west** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:04 pm

shrink yourself down so that you can fit inside your computer...travel on its subways and do grafitti along the cracks and stare at the lights and noises....take psychedelics if necessary and then you'll understand or hear the nuances of the new autechres, which still have a high resemblance to the emotion of the old stuff....use high end headphones if possible....everything ae makes is like what geogaddi took to get through to us...it takes a looong time to hear everything thats in their music...
and just for the record, i am a bigger fan of ae than boc...

thedisavowed · Post by **thedisavowed** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:14 pm

Well, I just bought the .flac of Confield off of Bleep a few minutes ago. I remember listening to sound samples of this on I-Tunes a long time ago (the worst way to get into electronica) and decided it was ridiculous. But..... it looks like things are different now. Parahelic Triangle in particular is pretty captivating to me. I'm going to pod this for school today. Should make for a pretty postmodern campus experience.

milieu · Post by **milieu** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:49 pm

hills west wrote:i am a bigger fan of ae than boc...

seconded

Derail · Post by **Derail** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:55 pm

milieu wrote:
hills west wrote:i am a bigger fan of ae than boc...
seconded

Thirded. (right now at least)

milieu · Post by **milieu** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:02 pm

corc

that's all i have to say