Amber / Garbage EP

Yeah I forgot how seriously good this album is. Foil is, as everyone else is saying, a brilliant opener. When the marble-beat drops for Montreal, that's when this album gets serious. The chords towards the end of Montreal are absolutely one of my favorite and most emotional Autechre moments ever

Silverside I'm not really into for some reason although I used to thoroughly enjoy it. Slip is a great little melody that forms into a supremely solid track. Glitch is one of the bounciest ae tracks ever, and the imagery and the raw mechanical squelching noises are so technical.

Piezo is a brooding depressing bit but it has a special place in my heart. To me, the ending sounds like a robot crying. I can't really say why but this is a perfect track.

I used to hate nine but its one of their greatest ambient bits ever. Even after hearing it over 30-40 times I still can't really follow the timing for it but I love it and it loves me.

Not enough good things can be said about further. I always forget how epically long this track is, and the drop noises, tons of reverb etc. Sounds like machines in a cave or something and there's this airplane sound that comes in every now and then that just has great imagery.

Yulquen, I still don't really get, that's about all I can say. Its like Nine's ugly little brother.

Nil, on the other hand, is another brilliant track, very plaid-esque with all the synth noises they use. I would seriously bet that this track is one of the main influences of artistic direction for Plaid.

Teartear is a really deep whomper of a closing track. Starts out really evil and progresses from there. Kinda sounds like the last boss of the game if you want to look at it like that. The way the melodies play around each other is great.

Thats all I will say about Amber for now. I have much to say about Garbage but I must deliberate.

nine is my favorite on the album. i think "cute" and "happy" is the best way to put it

I love Slip and Piezo.

So Amber... I didn't like this album that much... probably my least favorite until the more recent stuff. Very alien like melodies / beats. Unlike everyone i'm not gonna jizz over Foil. It was alrite.

Montreal was one of the first Autechre songs I'd ever heard along with Eutow (i think). I dled it on napster or some p2p thing and I was like - wow this is some of the most weirdest Electro I've ever heard.

Favs of this album now gotta be Piezo, Further, & Nil.

Piezo is like the soundtrack to being abducted by aliens. REALLY. One of my faves in this album. The sad tone to it is really beautiful.

Further is like one of those long dark tunnel style tracks - that builds up epicly - but in a downbeat format.

Nil has great melodies to it tough to explain why I like it though.

Never got into Teartear before but this is really speaking to me right now. Hell of a closing track.

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I LOVE Autechre's EPs. I really do. Garbage is no exception. I really like a specific era of Autechre and this EP kinda starts it I think. This is some of Autechre's best ambient work.

garbagemx36 is EPIC. First it sounds like a chill roller in the beginning. Then the scatterbeats roll in - the music turns sinister! Great build up toward the end.

Piobmx19 and Bronchusevenmx24 are such broody track - especially Bronchusevenmx24. It's one of those ambient tracks that you can leave on and don't even notice it passing by.

Vletrmx21 is so beautiful - probably one of the most haunting Autechre songs.

  On 9/21/2009 at 7:15 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Silverside I'm not really into for some reason although I used to thoroughly enjoy it.

i completely agree -- i really enjoy it but it doesn't have enough movement (not tempo, but progression) to really capture me. it's great as an ambient track and has a very well defined feeling beneath it, but (as seems to be the only problem i've encountered with their tracks) it drags on too long for how little was to that idea. the string sounds are very nice, but not enough to give it more depth.

  On 9/21/2009 at 7:15 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Slip is a great little melody that forms into a supremely solid track.

what's masterful about this track for me is the way in which the drum break enters and exits the scene. such a minor difference creates an incredibly different sound (i would probably attribute it to the drum breaks being, seemingly, out of phase with the overarching melody -- this accents them). to me it sounds like the seed for rdj's donkey rhubarb only... much more elegant. what rdj approaches with chaos, cynicism and intensity (and much less focus), autechre brings to light with calm, equally playful melodies and a much more thought out song structure/progression with a perfect finish.

  On 9/21/2009 at 7:15 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Glitch is one of the bounciest ae tracks ever, and the imagery and the raw mechanical squelching noises are so technical.

 

Piezo is a brooding depressing bit but it has a special place in my heart. To me, the ending sounds like a robot crying. I can't really say why but this is a perfect track.

glitch has always felt a little lifeless for me. it does have a very mechanical sound, but the beat feels primitive -- kind of like a mashed up soup of ae beats past and present, it suffers from indecision. it never develops enough for me (while the percussive track certainly does evolve none of it feels that significant -- though i will say it has a fairly dramatic finish).

i agree completely with your thoughts on piezo. this track is, for whatever reason, the first song that comes to mind when i think of this album. it goes from being abrasive and insecure to an almost divine state. the ending of this track is, in my opinion, one of the best in album. the droning synth at the end reeks of melancholy and has brought me close to tears on a few occasions.

i don't even know what to say about nine, but i will say it is a beautiful track, pumped with emotion.

  On 9/21/2009 at 7:15 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Not enough good things can be said about further. I always forget how epically long this track is, and the drop noises, tons of reverb etc. Sounds like machines in a cave or something and there's this airplane sound that comes in every now and then that just has great imagery.

agreeeeeeeeement. it feels like what a cave would sound like at night, after its dwellers no longer have to worry about intruders spying on their practices. it brings order to sounds usually associated with chaos/randomness: water, rock and earth falling to the ground; animals peering around. let's dig further!

  On 9/21/2009 at 7:15 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Yulquen, I still don't really get, that's about all I can say. Its like Nine's ugly little brother.

i definitely understand likening yulquen to nine, but i don't see it as a shitty off-shoot. i see it as more of an extension or re-visitation to the thought. it's a reminder of the comfortable pleasantries we found in nine. i also think it would be more appropriate if it were ~3 minutes long rather than 6, but i understand why they made it so long as the feelings it brings only seem to grow as time goes on.

i fancy nil is a brilliant track that sounds like going through the motions of a slightly-more-epic-than-usual day ending in a glorious sunset.

teartear is an amazing track and a fantastic closer. one of the elements of ae's music i enjoy most is the shifting tempos that end up with drastically different beats. this song (starting around 2:30 or so) has one of those epic shifts and carries it out amazingly well, forming a pseudo breakdown and (before you know it) builds up into epicness. great finish, great album.

sorry to get all music review-y... i got way into it! it's a fantastic album and an interesting point in the progression of ae's music!

Oh man, I love Bronchusevenmx24. It always makes me feel like I'm meditating in some epic temple.

  On 9/22/2009 at 5:02 AM, bigs said:

if it were ~3 minutes long rather than 6,

Oh my fuck! My copy of amber must be wrong because for me yulquen is 1:44

I think TearTear is short too its only 6:01 for me

fuck me I've never heard the full tracks for these. this is a fucking revelation! I must download when I get home.

I adore Nil especially. It's blatantly filled with a lot of emotive qualities - I'd rate it as a very accessible track for newcomers to Ae.

There seems to be a lot of atmosphere created on this album, just like Incunabula. The kind of atmosphere I am describing is being constantly emitted from the background ambient drones found in practically all the tracks on Amber. For example, Nine has a constant ambient noise in the background which satisfies the listening experience even more. The reverb is masterful on this track as well.

Silverside is ok, it doesn't stand out as a constantly playable track off Amber - I think I would prefer it if it was made shorter and if the muffled voices throughout were erased; it destroys the pads a little and takes away the more serious tone of the track itself.

When I first got into Autechre's music, I didn't really take too much notice of this album. Progressively it has grown on me and admittedly I had discovered this album in the Winter season (just like Incunabula), so my brain will always associate the music off the album with cold surroundings but to me that makes Amber even more enjoyable to listen to when you feel comfortable associating it with a time in the past or a season which you particularly liked, and I'm a bit of a Winter person anyway..

Stand out tracks: Nine, Further, Nil and Teartear (an epic ending to an excellent album)

Listening to Piezo right now. This tune have what I like in Ae : complexity, minimalism and strong emotions together.

Minimalism?

How so?

  On 9/22/2009 at 8:21 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

  On 9/22/2009 at 5:02 AM, bigs said:

if it were ~3 minutes long rather than 6,

 

Oh my fuck! My copy of amber must be wrong because for me yulquen is 1:44

 

I think TearTear is short too its only 6:01 for me

 

fuck me I've never heard the full tracks for these. this is a fucking revelation! I must download when I get home.

lol what are your track lengths?

1 Foil (6:04)

2 Montreal (7:15)

3 Silverside (5:31)

4 Slip (6:21)

5 Glitch (6:15)

6 Piezo (8:00)

7 Nine (3:40)

8 Further (10:07)

9 Yulquen (6:37)

10 Nil (7:48)

11 Teartear (6:45)

amber always seems like an OK release until i give it a proper, loud dedicated listen. more later omg though i <3 b+b

Allright, which one of you is a discogs developer?

http://blog.discogs.com/2009/09/design-change-sneak-preview.html

hahahaha, ego, that's amazing! i'm not sure who it is but the review towards the bottom is hilarious. it's a raging river run placid, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. <scrolls up, looks at his own review and shuts up>.

  On 9/22/2009 at 11:36 PM, Obel said:

Minimalism?

 

How so?

What do you mean ?

That's what I'm asking you.

Should Peel Sesh 1 be discussed here or with Tri Repetae? I love that ep

  On 9/23/2009 at 2:07 PM, fox said:

Should Peel Sesh 1 be discussed here or with Tri Repetae? I love that ep

If they're not putting Anvil Vapre in here I don't see why Peel Session would be

  On 9/23/2009 at 11:18 AM, Obel said:

That's what I'm asking you.

Well I love minimalism, and most of my favourites Ae tunes are minimalist (like Cap.IV, Lentic Catachresis, Ipacial Section...)

  On 9/23/2009 at 5:50 PM, Goum Le Chat said:

  On 9/23/2009 at 11:18 AM, Obel said:

That's what I'm asking you.

Well I love minimalism, and most of my favourites Ae tunes are minimalist (like Cap.IV, Lentic Catachresis, Ipacial Section...)

No, I mean how is Piezo minimal? And those three for that matter?

cap iv is minimalist? ipacial section?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalist_music

that high lead synth in nil is so tense. and montreal grew on me about 100x when i listened to it yesterday, the city is still a piece of shit though.

The hi hats or whatever you call the things that Nil opens with are too loud, quite unpleasant to listen to on headphones I find. Otherwise I love Nil. 4:38 onwards is so beautiful, those reverbed gunshot like sounds at 5:00 add so much to it too.

Glitch is probably the top AE tune I don't get along with, that, Pule and Uviol. But they're for discussion later.

To my ears it sounds minimalist. Don't ask me to explain, it's already to hard in french.

  On 9/22/2009 at 8:21 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

  On 9/22/2009 at 5:02 AM, bigs said:

if it were ~3 minutes long rather than 6,

 

Oh my fuck! My copy of amber must be wrong because for me yulquen is 1:44

 

I think TearTear is short too its only 6:01 for me

 

fuck me I've never heard the full tracks for these. this is a fucking revelation! I must download when I get home.

Sometimes, when my MP3s have IDE v.2 tags and VBR, the given track length for that MP3 becomes incorrect when I start playing it. When you listen to Amber, do you find that the given track length is growing or shrinking?

Anyway, I have been a bit busy this week, but I'm ready to give Amber a full, continuous listen now (for the first time ever!). I'll be back in the next hour or so...