New Autechre interview - Metal Magazine

  On 10/23/2024 at 1:47 PM, thumbass said:

Sad to see the album format go, it will make me listen to new Autechre a whole lot less I imagine. Even though every liveset is album length, I want destinctive tracks. Also for some reason I don't think the live releases sound as varied as an album tbh. I don't have time to listen to 10 hours of soundboards and I don't want to have to remember where I left off in a soundboard whenever I can't listen to an entire liveset in one sitting. Shame.

this is a fair point. fans could easily cut up the sets with ‘track’ markers as has been done, but that gets janky quickly…

  On 10/23/2024 at 2:35 PM, auxien said:

this is a fair point. fans could easily cut up the sets with ‘track’ markers as has been done, but that gets janky quickly…

That, and it just feels different if it's not official. Also, I want physical releases damnit! Nothing beats a cool (in my case) Cd or a vinyl

yeah, CDs of the live sets would be cool but i think any approach to that would make it fall into ‘collectors’ territory quickly…unless they did a CD print on demand type thing maybe? idk how feasible that would be for a label like Warp or for distribution logistics & such…just thinking out loud here. 

  On 10/23/2024 at 1:47 PM, thumbass said:

Sad to see the album format go, it will make me listen to new Autechre a whole lot less I imagine. Even though every liveset is album length, I want destinctive tracks. Also for some reason I don't think the live releases sound as varied as an album tbh. I don't have time to listen to 10 hours of soundboards and I don't want to have to remember where I left off in a soundboard whenever I can't listen to an entire liveset in one sitting. Shame.

The lack of distinct tracks is the main detractor for me. I think that's part of why the AE LIVE material (2014-2015) worked so well for me - beyond its consistently high quality and energy. It was comprised of segments / passages that were, for the most part, clearly delineated.

The new live material is engaging enough and memorable enough that I'm not devastated by the idea that a new "album" proper isn't in the works. I need to get a CD burner that works so that I can listen in my car (fascinating story, I know). Also, he didn't say never. That this is the mode of expression that is most appealing right now doesn't guarantee some incoming ideas won't seem better suited to albums or EPs.

  On 10/23/2024 at 1:47 PM, thumbass said:

Sad to see the album format go, it will make me listen to new Autechre a whole lot less I imagine. Even though every liveset is album length, I want destinctive tracks. Also for some reason I don't think the live releases sound as varied as an album tbh. I don't have time to listen to 10 hours of soundboards and I don't want to have to remember where I left off in a soundboard whenever I can't listen to an entire liveset in one sitting. Shame.

i think the live releases are a kind of transition to whatever comes next. i like albums and tracks. we know they probably have a thousand tracks each or something on the hard drive sitting there. maybe they release an album later when the mood changes. to me the choice not to release an album and to release the live stuff seems based on mood. maybe they drop an album it feels right. that's kinda what they've done with elseq and NTS. 

as for how to listen to the live sets.. i press pause on my ipod and it remembers the place for me.. but  perhaps that's what they're interested in. active listening and challenging the listener to dedicate some time and focus. when ya think how passive a lot of music is and how people listen and consume music.. i kind of like the idea of bringing the idea of a dark room live set w/o distraction to the listener at home or wherever. but maybe it's just that meme?

but really.. it sounds like it's just what they're into at the moment and that can change right? a year from now who knows what they'll be into and what the world will look like.  they haven't been to USA in almost 10 years. so, for me, getting a bunch of live sets from the last couple years will be dope. i look forward obsessing over them once they are in my life. album format vs capture live seet does change the context though  doesn't it? somehow... ?

  On 10/23/2024 at 4:04 PM, ignatius said:

as for how to listen to the live sets.. i press pause on my ipod and it remembers theplace for me.. but  perhaps that's what they're interested in. active listening and challenging the listener to dedicate some time and focus. when ya think how passive a lot of music is and how people listen and consume music.. i kind of like the idea of bringing the idea of a dark room live set w/o distraction to the listener at home or wherever. but maybe it's just that meme?

I love they way their live shows are staged, I definitely agree with you on that. The passiveness of today's music consumption is a disservice to the people who actually put blood sweat and tears into their art. Personally, I just have a harder time getting into the live sets. They are intrinsically less memorable compared to an album. Of course every set has immense attention to detail but they don't have that special artwork or track titles that usually sets everything apart. All live sets sound a little bit like each other, in my opinion if you've heard one you've kind of heard them all (I know people are going to disagree on this). You really don't need to check out 8 sound boards to get a feel of the moods and sounds they are trying to go for. Idk, it's just less special to me.

I wonder if they´re under some kind of contractual obligation from Warp to release non live stuff in physical CD/vinyl format and this is what Sean means when he says he´s tired of the album format or whatever. Because otherwise what´s stopping them from releasing music as they are currently doing with the live sets, directly on digital and just doing away with the physical format altogether? Surely not just semantics of whether the word describing the release is this or that right? Maybe I´m missing something here xD

  On 10/23/2024 at 1:47 PM, thumbass said:

Sad to see the album format go, it will make me listen to new Autechre a whole lot less I imagine. Even though every liveset is album length, I want destinctive tracks. Also for some reason I don't think the live releases sound as varied as an album tbh. I don't have time to listen to 10 hours of soundboards and I don't want to have to remember where I left off in a soundboard whenever I can't listen to an entire liveset in one sitting. Shame.

i prefer albums as well simply because i like polish/production in electronic music. also agree about the “one giant track” for each set being hard to digest… even though honestly i typically listen to albums from beginning to end without stopping. 

i kinda doubt they will never put out a “studio album” again but i can understand what the live stuff is the focus at the moment

agreed with the already expressed feelings w/r/t studio albums. the biggest thing for me is that an entire live set is just kind of fatiguing to listen to; with albums, by definition a collection of things, tracks in this case, you of course have individual tracks that each have a beginning and an end and maybe a middle. theres usually a little space of silence in between them. you can usually count on hearing a completely new musical idea fairly soon if the track lengths are reasonable. listen to tracks you really like in isolation if you just feel like listening to "a song" at some moment. skip tracks you dont like. etc

what genuinely annoys me though is sean's whole "what is a studio album" routine. you know what a fuckin album is dude, you never needed a strict definition before. lol

like i like the live stuff for the most part, theres really cool shit going on there. but you have to have each section flow one into the other in particular ways, it's really a more limiting format i think. it demands a much stricter continuity

i think there's a potential problem with the conflation of the live set + the live set soundboards going out as 'released material' going on here too...i've been a fan of that model/concept for a long time now, i think it's great....but i wonder now how much they're (or anyone approaching performing music live that they know it's going to be recorded + released) being influenced by the recording of it. and with the AE guys planning on recording and releasing their sets (again, great!) they're in turn developing the set with that at least partly in mind, subconsciously or not...and i wonder if maybe that weight has dragged their live sets towards a more 'unique/refined/etc.' experience than they would've been otherwise? idk if that's making sense....

  On 10/24/2024 at 2:00 AM, auxien said:

i wonder if maybe that weight has dragged their live sets towards a more 'unique/refined/etc.' experience than they would've been otherwise? idk if that's making sense....

makes sense.. valid question to ask in the next round of AMAs! 

idk the answer. i think some of the recent non-live set things they've released have been quite adventurous. also, i think that they record everything and only release what they think is cool.. so not every set.. i suspect they do enough gigs to experiment and jam the material to whatever end instead of thinking "oh if i do this it might not be a good release".   also, it's worth remembering how long they've been playing live and doing what they do. they might even get into a frame of mind where they double down on the weird aspects of things because "fuck the release this is now!" or something.. i mean.. makes sense they're gonna bring it live and worry about the rest later when they listen back to the recordings. 

if no one else is gonna say it then I will: Autechre waged a sonic war with kurtis mantronix and other NYC electro luminaries and they clearly lost, and this is why they are endlessly noodling on their computers now, unable to accept defeat or embrace the only alternative that true fans really want (a Hip Hop album with beats like those beats on 6852). So tired of people fawning over these live sets that you would literally need to be an alien intelligence to truly understand or groove to.

BREAK OUT THE MPC YOU JERKS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ! ! !

  On 10/24/2024 at 2:53 AM, decibal cooper said:

you would literally need to be an alien intelligence to truly understand or groove to.

 

holy shit. i'm a fucking alien intelligence!

Like others have said I find their live sets often ramble and wear out their welcome and the production isn’t as good as their proper “albums”. 

  On 10/24/2024 at 1:04 AM, mushroom said:

what genuinely annoys me though is sean's whole "what is a studio album" routine. you know what a fuckin album is dude, you never needed a strict definition before. lol

Yes, the great existential dilemma of 'what is album' xD Though I think he did touch on it better in a previous interview when he said something along the lines of preferring the direct approach of playing live as opposed to polishing to perfection (album) which makes more sense.

  On 10/24/2024 at 1:07 AM, mushroom said:

like i like the live stuff for the most part, theres really cool shit going on there. but you have to have each section flow one into the other in particular ways, it's really a more limiting format i think. it demands a much stricter continuity

Exactly! The longform style of NTS suited their sound so well, only hampered by having to cram it onto vinyl. Where tracks have the time and space to come to full fruition, long studies on themes etc. and such variation in mood and style throughout.

Haven't been particularly blown away by much they've done since really, sign and plus were alright, but felt like a retreat backwards into the kind of territory he seems tired of ie the dreaded traditional length album. 

i still think people are making too much about all this.. let them do what they feel like doing and something else will come after. 

they've made departures from the previous album so many times. i don't get why this is unexpected or raising an eye brow. i understand preferences and people think one thing sounds better from a production stand point than something else... but when the krakow set came out in bootleg form in the 2015 era it was something monumental to my ears even though the recording was shit. this was the thing. this was new in every way to my ears. it was overwhelming. getting those sets in hi def was so nice. that shit was powerful. i sat there at work w/my thumbs pressing ear buds into my ears so i could hear it better then got up and walked around thinking about what i just heard. 

anyway, i love el seq and NTS and exai and all the things.. i listen to sign less often. something about it being too emotionally resonant but the sign/plus playlist i made still gets into the rotation. el seq more and the rennes live site more too.. that set is amazing and i hope i get to hear it in hi def. it's amazing where it goes.. the sort of "this is intense.. it's going to chillout after this bit because there's nowhere to go.. " and then it goes +1 level up and "holy shit where'd that come from?" I love all the beat munging wickedness and descending synth lines and all that. it's epic. and to me sounds like newer take on some themes from old patches or something.. like it's a more advanced form of that kind of beat/bass/synth organization in a way that no one else can or is doing.. there's just no one else who's ever done that how they do it that hits those buttons for me. so.. yeah.. i'm here for it.  and in 2 years when they release a studio album or 8 releases of vinyl w/1 track on each side.. that's fine too.. whatever..  they've more than earned being able to do it their way whenever that way takes shape. i'm glad Warp recognizes that. 

  On 10/24/2024 at 4:33 AM, ignatius said:

i still think people are making too much about all this.. let them do what they feel like doing and something else will come after.

i mean it's not like i could stop them even if i wanted to! im gonna buy whatever they put out as i always have, it'd just be nice if there were a best-of, broken up and sequenced more album-style, instead of several solid hour-long blocks of continuous sound, you know?

or in addition to, rather than instead of, the continuous live soundboard stuff

  On 10/24/2024 at 4:33 AM, ignatius said:

i still think people are making too much about all this.. let them do what they feel like doing and something else will come after. 

they've made departures from the previous album so many times. i don't get why this is unexpected or raising an eye brow.

this , 100%

My impression is that this is it unless something changes. Essentially an electronic version of the grateful dead.

  On 10/24/2024 at 11:58 AM, droid said:

My impression is that this is it unless something changes. Essentially an electronic version of the grateful dead.

I had the same thought. I'm unusual in that I prefer the Dead's more focused and earlier studio stuff to their live jams.

https://jsegel.wordpress.com/2021/11/30/listening-to-the-first-100-dark-stars/

This centipede of endless live set iterations is more like the walking dead  

I know the album format discussion is the big takeaway here, but I thought the comments around the overwhelming amount of music, coming out on an overwhelming number of platforms, resonated with me alot. I love Bandcamp and I also hate it - I can't possibly try to keep up with everything going on over there. Add to that Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. Maybe I'm just a boring old man thinking fondly of simpler times, but releases used to be a fuckin event. Now you get a trickle release of albums, digital releases coming months before physical, album announcements 4+ months out, etc. It's just alot.