Autechre Draft 7.30 / Gantz Graf EP

I love how the album starts and progresses I think more than any other album by them. Its a bit dry, almost like untilted, but a little bit crunchier than untilted. The glitchy beats in xylin room provide the melody for a while as industrial plonks make their way into providing another underarching melody and the beats stretch out and get stranger and stranger and almost melt into chaos. then half way through XYLIN bells and difficult rhythms meander in the background of my mind, almost as an afterthought to the first half of the song.

the intro to IV VV IV VV VIII is amazing as the insanely fucked beats and insanely fucked synths rush in to the song and melt into the background reverb. lots of timestretch and granular processing of everything. amazing things start to happen at around 2:30, beats getting cut off and delaying in to the background. I've listened to this song so many times I can anticipate every second of it. I think this is a prime example of digital sample manipulation for autechre.

6IE.CR is super groovy and crunchy, filtery grungy glitched out beats that grab your ear almost just as strongly as the amazing grinding glitch breakdown in 54 cymru beats. This song evolves to the euphoric climax of skittering beats, a glitched bassline, and beutiful resolving flutes melodies. I'm glad they end on that note of beauty as the bass notes of melody detunes a bit at the end

TAPR is a bit hard to listen to but it does carry a lot of emotion. Lot of random sample manipulation, repeating motifs that seem to have little to do with each other except having the same reverb sends.

SURRIPERE - simply amazing. The cfern(and more) of draft for me. the beats are constantly being analyzed by my mind as everything seems a lot more deliberate than the previous song TAPR.

thats all for now.

Awesome with those pics thehauntingsoul, nice one!

Gonna listen the album through now.....

I highly agree with the entire post above ^

My mother has officially said that she likes six Autechre songs I think. This is excellent progress. One of them is Surripere. =D

my personal fav excerpt from the above quote is my description of the chopped up piano chords in P.:Ntil

  Quote

lol no its like this

ka-kablah

ka-kableh

a-kackablehk?

ka-KAH bleck!

  On 11/2/2009 at 3:43 AM, Calx Sherbet said:

  On 11/1/2009 at 11:54 PM, Balance said:

  On 11/1/2009 at 9:21 PM, Calx Sherbet said:

i never feel like i can just listen to autechre at any time.

 

Why's that?

I don't mind having it on in the background, I think it's a mistake to treat music as as some kind of exam or something.

 

seems more like a delicacy than something you can snack on.

nah, when i listen to autechre i tend to gorge

Draft starts of nice with xylin room. Lovley chunky sounds abound, I'd go as far to say as those are the literal translations of the word 'chunk' into sound. Like lovely huge harg chunks of good quality chocolate. Not the best here but still not bad. This song generally reminds me of a chunky chocolate vessel creaking to the sway of the waves around it

then IV VV IV VV VIII zooms down from outer space and stops, hovering right infront of your eyeballs, shimmering and takes you back with it to whene it came. Which is some slow motioned intergalactic boxing match between two champions. Surrounded by fantastic lights and massive things unfolding like petals. Awesome track.

61e.CR has alot of that bass that has been described as being 'farty' which I liked in the song Laten Quarter but frind it too prevalent and irritating on this track.

tapr doesn't entirely do it for me either, starts of very creepy like something from an avant garde horror flick, but only gets less creepy and doesn't really go anywhere else.

Totally back on form with Surripere, what a delightfully creepy track!

Theme Of Sudden Roundabout is also awesome, beautifully squelchy and dark. I read in an interview that the 'Sudden' in the title is a placename. 'Sudden' can just imagine in being almost swampy, Sean & Rob and their equipment all soggy and muddyand booming out this fine melody.

vlai5 is a track that has passed me by on previous listens. But I actually really enjoyed it this tim, it's surprisingly chilled for an Ae track on this album. Nice circular scratchy sounds etc.

p.:ntil sounds a bit like a continuation of vlai5 but darker still. Doesn't really seem to go anywhere for me but is nicely made all the same.

v-proc is rocky and crunchy with frantic washes of stuff backdropping in, mixed with hip hoppish beats makes for an interesting ride.

reniform puls this track irritated me because I could hear it was good, lushly made and all but I didn't like it for some reason. I think it's a case of not having broken it's enjoyment code yet, like with several other tracks on Draft.

My favs here atm are IV VV IV VV VIII, Surripere and Theme of Sudden Roundabout.

Gantz Graf I have never been big on and can only enjoy Cap.IV the other two are just too chaotic and noisy for me. I do however like the Gantz Graf video and find the music more digestable whilst watching the video.

Cap.IV is awesome and reminiscent of Lentic Catachresis.

Anyone know if there's a link between the title Gantz Graf and the manga / anime also called Gantz?

  On 11/1/2009 at 11:21 PM, verticalhold said:

  On 11/1/2009 at 4:04 PM, extherium said:

  On 11/1/2009 at 12:24 PM, verticalhold said:

  On 11/1/2009 at 12:19 PM, extherium said:

I walked into JB one day and sitting there was half of Autechre's album discography and a few EPs. Needless to say I was thrilled, but I've never seen them have anything more than Untilted, Confield or Quaristice since.

this never happens!

 

The one on Adelaide St, in the city. ;)

 

In the one trip I managed to pick up Confield, Untilted, Draft 7.30, Tri Repetae and Incunabula... along with Gantz Graf and both Peel Sessions.

 

I just got extremely lucky. Even I was surprised that they had all that there. I remember I was going in there to pick up something I really wanted (Air's Moon Safari DVD, I think it was) and I just happen to be near where they stored their Autechre stock. Blew all the money I had on the CDs and got the DVD the following week. :P

 

  On 11/1/2009 at 1:27 PM, verticalhold said:

some kind person has a habit of trading in all of their Autechre and Clark cds at Rockinghorse Records in Brisbane. Every second week I seem to score something or other. Draft 7.30 was my latest find, haven't been in for about a month though. Otherwise, the only Autechre cds I've seen in stores are Incunabula (pounced on that), Quaristice and Confield. When I was in Canada Sonic Boom had a shitload of ae stuff, should've cleaned that place out.

 

Sonic Boom Toronto!?

 

I was there in July this year! They had a huge stock of Autechre when I went there.

 

are we brothers?

 

 

PS did you leave any AE at JB?

If you mean, did I clean out their Autechre stock at the time, then nearly. ;) They had a spare copy of Confield.

i've got to say i quite enjoy surripere but it's nowhere near the top for me. i fancy it's a beautiful track but it doesn't move as much as my favorite tracks. i never understood why 61E.CR doesn't get more love. this was the first track i liked when i heard the album -- it hit me instantly. everyone always cites arch carrier as bein a gangsta' track... 61E.CR just does it harder. i love the breakdowns and build ups and the beat is just to die for. draft on a whole is an amazing work... i got it much faster than confield, though i had already gotten through confield when it came out so perhaps its experience. v-proc is probs one of my favorite ae tracks... the sounds are FUCKING AMAZING and the beat that it thrashes is just awe inspiring. this track, to me, feels like one of the more intense ae tracks. p.-ntil and vl ai 5 are some other highlights for me. i also think xylin room is a wonderful opener for this album, setting the stage well.

yeah 6ie.cr has tons of awesome shit underneath that big scratchy chalky beat. and the ending is freakin' genius!

i never really got into v-proc though. interesting beats, but not a lot more, imo. maybe i need to listen more.

the thing that stands out to me on this album is the quality of their samples. each bass hit, each "snare" hit whether it sounds like slapping a stack of papers or slamming your friend's cat into a sheet of iron, everything on the album is so fucking clear. it's a pretty common production strategy to EQ each track (or group of tracks) into its own little space, but ae does it soooo fucking well on this album that it's almost unbelievable.

xylin room is a perfect example of what i love about ae. the beat is obviously the lead part with tons of changes and stops and editing etc and that bass hit is so big on any sound system. i've listened to this song quite a bit so i'm used to its groove, but i can easily see how people are turned off by this song. as with 85% of ae, greatness can be achieved by just turning up the volume. this is probably the most emotional ae track for me, the way the drums are always stumbling, not sure if they want to keep going, then all at once the whole song is together for a few beats. this song is pro radii's dad.

i'm not going to say how much i jizz when surripiere's first booms come in, because i have a feeling you fucks know what i'm talking about.

v-proc. best ae intro ever. the first minute and a half is bliss and then it kicks into it with a bass hit that falls apart at 1:28. it would be great to hear someone rapping (well) over the middle/end part. i feel like this song goes a little too long though.

more later on draft

gantz graf is great for what it is. dial is a headache if i'm not realllllly in the mood for this style, but gantz graf and cap iv are masterpieces.

Over half way through the week and I still haven't gotten into this album, and probably won't. I'm finding it incredibly mundane.

1. 
    
   
2. Xylin Room is clunky noises, and actually manages to deeply annoy me.
   
3. IV VV IV VV VIII is listenable, and the ending is ace.
   
4. 6IE.CR is dull until about 2:55 onwards.
   
5. Tapr is wonderful but a bit too long for what it is.
   
6. We've already made it evident how incredible Surripere is, I have nothing to add.
   
7. Theme of Sudden Roundabout is both cute and annoying, nice melody.
   
8. VL AL 5 is alright. Need to be in the right mood to listen to it.
   
9. P.:NTIL I cannot bring myself to sit through again.
   
10. V-PROC isn't bad, especially not when compared to most tracks leading up to it, but it doesn't feel like enough is going on.
    
11. Reniform Puls I simply don't have an opinion on.
    

The overall impression I've gotten from this album is that it is such a large step backwards from Confield. Most things here aren't very interesting, listenable, or even impressive - they just exist.

I haven't heard Draft as much as most of Ae's earlier albums, but I really enjoy it. It holds my interest much more than Confield does. I find it quite sinister though, and listening to it all in one go is still a little challenging when I can't devote my full attention to it.

I love Xylin Room - some of Ae's most interesting tracks are their album openers.

Probably the best artwork or any album so far as well.

I might try and do a more comprehensive review at the end of the week as I'm still fairly new to this album (& this forum).

draft sounds more like dancing machines than any of their other albums.

I'm listening to IV VV IV VV VIII right now. Holy shit, the intro is just absolutely flawless. Would listen again.

  On 11/5/2009 at 9:27 AM, ataraxy2 said:

Over half way through the week and I still haven't gotten into this album, and probably won't. I'm finding it incredibly mundane.

 

1. 
    
   
2. Xylin Room is clunky noises, and actually manages to deeply annoy me.
   
3. IV VV IV VV VIII is listenable, and the ending is ace.
   
4. 6IE.CR is dull until about 2:55 onwards.
   
5. Tapr is wonderful but a bit too long for what it is.
   
6. We've already made it evident how incredible Surripere is, I have nothing to add.
   
7. Theme of Sudden Roundabout is both cute and annoying, nice melody.
   
8. VL AL 5 is alright. Need to be in the right mood to listen to it.
   
9. P.:NTIL I cannot bring myself to sit through again.
   
10. V-PROC isn't bad, especially not when compared to most tracks leading up to it, but it doesn't feel like enough is going on.
    
11. Reniform Puls I simply don't have an opinion on.
    

 

The overall impression I've gotten from this album is that it is such a large step backwards from Confield. Most things here aren't very interesting, listenable, or even impressive - they just exist.

Shit man, I mean you are entitled to your own opinions but if you're going to rip the album apart like that you should go into a bit more detail so it doesn't just seem like unwarranted hatred.

That being said I used to feel somewhat the same about this album as you do. As with any Autechre, it really grows on you so don't be surprised if you don't fall completely in love with it at first. I would just recommend you take a break from it for a while and go back and listen all the way through some time (preferably while high) and repeat until you dig it. If you like Ae you will enjoy this album if you work at it, and that's like 90% of the fun of Ae

  On 11/5/2009 at 8:34 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Shit man, I mean you are entitled to your own opinions but if you're going to rip the album apart like that you should go into a bit more detail so it doesn't just seem like unwarranted hatred.

Hatred is the wrong word I think... By short descriptions what I'm trying to get across is the complete lack of any strong reaction most of the songs have gotten from me. Again - they just exist. There is little listener involvement because there so few emotions on display. Occasionally I listen to a track from the album that I usually don't like and enjoy it.

I should've added that I now love Cap.IV.

You're a noob.

Just as i thought

  Quote

just exists

  On 11/2/2009 at 7:56 PM, AJW said:

Theme Of Sudden Roundabout is also awesome, beautifully squelchy and dark. I read in an interview that the 'Sudden' in the title is a placename.

Sudden is an area of Rochdale, England; Autechre's hometown

  On 11/4/2009 at 10:43 PM, theSun said:

xylin room is a perfect example of what i love about ae. this song is pro radii's dad.

Whoa, I never thought of it that way, but it's a pretty spot on comparison. brb going to listen to both again

And Draft's artwork is the most beautiful and has the most concrete imagery of their albums. I find it fitting for the music on this album, all the songs feel like they could exist somewhere within or around the spaces created by the figure on the cover

  On 11/5/2009 at 10:52 PM, ataraxy2 said:

complete lack of any strong reaction most of the songs have gotten from me. Again - they just exist. There is little listener involvement because there so few emotions on display.

how many times have you heard the album?

i thought the same about confield the first 5 or so times i heard it. then i just didn't listen to it for a while, came back to it after getting really into lp5 and chiastic slide, and it was the best thing ever. now i'm starting to think draft will dethrone confield as my favourite autechre album. you just have to put it down for a while before you can understand its context, i think. and hey, i find autechre's later output to be highly emotional, even more so than their early stuff.

V-Proc is one of my most favorite songs ever.