Autechre - PLUS 20.11.20

lol I haven't even received my SIGN CD yet

Arrived in Ireland on Saturday. Sign took weeks to arrive, turned out they mistakenly sent it by standard mail instead of tracked (but sent a refund for the difference)

.... aaaaand it just dropped on my desk at work.

Yeah just through the door here. Still no dispatch email which is odd,but at least they're out.

  On 11/23/2020 at 12:23 PM, Soloman Tump said:

.... aaaaand it just dropped on my desk at work.

dto. : )

those metallic inner sleeves are proper seksy.

Arrived! the tee looks pretty good too. 

order was shipped last tuesday but still nothing here in france

Arrived today!!!

Hoe you guys get yours soon x

US SEC copy arrived one day late on Saturday. I believe all US shipped out of distro in NC. 

arrived today via royal mail from bleep, shipped a week ago Friday

just arrived !

  On 11/23/2020 at 7:11 PM, Lexicon said:

US SEC copy arrived one day late on Saturday. I believe all US shipped out of distro in NC. 

I got mine on the 20th (in California), so it seems possible that it was shipped out from the US -- despite charging for int'l shipping (unlike with SIGN, which clearly domestic shipping and was charged as such).  Not really complaining, but it's a bit weird.  

Either way, these both got here in a timely manner, which is rare for Bleep IME unless coming from US distro.  

this page full of shipping updates is riveting and all

but have you fuckers heard X4? 

PLUS does seem to have the famous autechre 'grower' effect in spades… first 2/3 of the album was sounding absolutely banging on the latest listen.

I still feel it drops off a bit on those last 3 tracks though, TM1 still isn't doing much for me and the 2 previous tracks sound very much like SIGN outtakes.

still stand by my inital impression: solid to great tracks not gelling all that well as an album (whatever that means). sign stays the main attaction. still more than glad to have both. ready for the accompanying live set.

i like the SIGN-ish tracks. good melodies

sign/plus review in croatian newspaper lol:

https://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/glazba/izmedu-musique-concrete-i-eksperimentalnog-techna-za-setnju-novim-zagrebom-15033498

google translate:

"The Manchester duo Autechre began their career in 1987 under the influence of Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk to gain the aura of avant-garde techno artists in the 90s; one would also say terrorists given the radicalism of their music. Two weeks apart, the albums “SIGN” and “PLUS” now offer two sides of their aesthetics. The first, conditionally speaking more melodic and ambient. And another, more rhythmic and fragmentary.

On "SIGN" they allow you to float and float before being pressed by coarser and harder synthesizer structures, while on "PLUS" they immediately shock you like an ice-cold shower on sun-burned skin. I’m not going to say that Rob Brown and Sean Booth had sadomasochism in mind as they created tapes for “SIGN” and “PLUS” that are instructive to listen to alternately or one after the other to get a complete impression, but they are definitely not easy to listen to.

On the contrary, they require engagement and concentration, and I personally find it interesting to walk through the architecture and urbanism of New Zagreb with the Autechre matrices because they are abstract sound sculptures, between musique concrète and experimental techno and algorithmic combinations of rhythms and melodic intrusions. The enigma is how Autechre managed to survive with such music, and "SIGN", close to the Top 40 best-selling UK albums, surpasses "PLUS" for my taste."

TM1 is so blunted. the smooth acid bassline, chill melody, spacious atmosphere. it's lovely to hear them making such a fun and lighthearted track that rewards but doesn't necessarily demand deep listening

I’m not sure whether others have noticed this, haven’t seen mention of it this far, but PLUS (and to a slightly lesser degree, SIGN) sound really different on vinyl when compared to lossy digital. TM1 and ecol4 have a huge dynamic range on vinyl and the layered-ness of it all really shines through. Interestingly to my ears however, spotify and headphones sounds busier and more frenetic. It’s fascinating - neither one edges it as such - the difference almost make them feel like different tracks...


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  On 11/23/2020 at 4:49 AM, modey said:

lol I haven't even received my SIGN CD yet

That’s a bit strange. Must be a Victoria thing with recent easing restrictions. My CD took forever, a few weeks, and still arrived in remote Queensland around Melbourne Cup day. PLUS I’m expecting to be mid-Dec.

Got the CD Friday. It'll be going into my car's CD changer on Monday.

As I think I said from my previous listens of the digital, I'm loving lux 106 mod, ecol4, and X4 the most. Both of these albums are really solid outputs and I love the maintained thematic artwork they've kept up with tDR since Quaristice with all the "surrounding" releases (whether versions, companions EPs, or and whatever you want to refer to the elseq series, NTS series, and live stuff as).

  On 11/29/2020 at 1:56 AM, Roo said:

That’s a bit strange. Must be a Victoria thing with recent easing restrictions. My CD took forever, a few weeks, and still arrived in remote Queensland around Melbourne Cup day. PLUS I’m expecting to be mid-Dec.

It turned up the next day lol. The CD preorder direct from Bleep (that I ordered when it was announced) took way longer than the vinyl preorder from JB Hifi..

some pops in the vinyl of this for me. hoping it's just because it's the first listen and it's really dry and so possibly some static electricity causing it. otherwise sounds nice on vinyl.  my Be Up A Hello vinyl is perfect though so perhaps the lathe cutting the autechre's vinyl is aging out. will have to see how it performs going forward. fingers crossed the pops aren't in the same places  

  On 12/2/2020 at 6:59 PM, ignatius said:

some pops in the vinyl of this for me. hoping it's just because it's the first listen and it's really dry and so possibly some static electricity causing it. otherwise sounds nice on vinyl.  my Be Up A Hello vinyl is perfect though so perhaps the lathe cutting the autechre's vinyl is aging out. will have to see how it performs going forward. fingers crossed the pops aren't in the same places  

 

incomplete without surface noise

  On 12/3/2020 at 5:08 PM, Chabraendeky said:

incomplete without surface noise

it's not surface noise.  i'm well acquainted with that. this is possibly artifacts in the pressing. maybe not. could've just been wicked static electricity.  but the []pusher record played perfectly.  

years ago i got some test pressings back and they were covered with the same type of noise. we didn't accept them and cancelled the order and got refunded. then found someone else to press the vinyl which was 100% right move.  i spoke w/a few people about this and turns out when lathes get old the cutting needle introduces lot's of artifacts like this.  you ever here DC voltage pop into a speaker? it's like a smaller version of that.