Autechre All albums best to worst

quaristice

draft 7.30

tri repetae

confield

amber

lp5

oversteps

untilted

chiastic slide

incunabula

This list came to me whilst rediscovering quaristice, dam what an album!

I have purposefully not posted in this thread yet as its so damn difficult. I enjoy each album in different ways - which is unique for any artist I enjoy, everyone else has at least 1 "dud" that I dont like for some reason.

Anyway, here goes, todays list, LP5 is at the bottom because it is probably the album I have been least able to connect with and is probably my least played out of the lot (for one reason or another...)

Top 5 change daily / hourly....

quaristice

draft 7.30

untilted

chiastic slide

oversteps

confield

tri repetae

amber

incunabula

lp5

Confield

Tri Repetae

Chiastic Slide

LP5

Incunabula

Amber

Draft 7.30

Oversteps

Untilted

Quaristice

Standouts: Confield has Pen Expers and Lentic Catachresis, which I will ever be thankful of. Also Surripere from Draft. Tri Repetae is the most consistent album which has the most tracks I like. Quaristice>/dev/null

As for the EPs, I was completely overwhelmed by the Gantz Graf track, as much as maybe Ventolin back in the days.

To me, Gantz or Lentic Catachresis were revolutions, whereas the stuff on Quaristice is just random crap. To me.

My hatred of oversteps is such that I find myself reading through peoples lists and thinking; if they've put that mellow bored turd of an album above any of their genuinely incredible albums then they must not actually like Autechre and should just spend more time in the Plaid forum.

Basically, you're not allowed to like oversteps more than LP5, Draft 7.30, Confield, Chiastic Slide, Quaristice and Untilted.

I had some strange experiences listening in Confield. I would lie quietly in the dark listening to each track in turn. When I woke up in the morning I would have these really simple catchy melodies in my head, as if my brain had been struggling to comprehend what I was hearing in real time and delayed processing until it could harness a larger fraction of my mind. Or something.

  On 3/9/2012 at 3:39 PM, Suffocate Peon said:

My hatred of oversteps is such that I find myself reading through peoples lists and thinking; if they've put that mellow bored turd of an album above any of their genuinely incredible albums then they must not actually like Autechre and should just spend more time in the Plaid forum.

 

Basically, you're not allowed to like oversteps more than LP5, Draft 7.30, Confield, Chiastic Slide, Quaristice and Untilted.

lol

Tri Repetae

LP5

Confield

Amber

Chiastic Slide

Untilted

Quaristice

Incunabula

Draft 7.30

Oversteps

Although, I've gotten Oversteps recently. Just hasn't clicked yet with me

I wonder why Untitled is in the top on everyones list..

It's a good album but not that good. Not better than LP5, EP7, Chiastic Slide, Quaristice etc..

Untitled is so hyped, Can anyone explain why?

sure.

sublimit, lcc, ipacial section, pro radii and lera.

also, augmatic disport, the trees and a dash of fermium.

Chiastic Slide

Tri Repetae

Confield

Amber

Untilted

Draft7.30

LP5

Incunabula

EP7

Oversteps

Quaristice

  On 4/2/2012 at 9:57 PM, cern said:

I wonder why Untitled is in the top on everyones list..

 

It's a good album but not that good. Not better than LP5, EP7, Chiastic Slide, Quaristice etc..

 

Untitled is so hyped, Can anyone explain why?

For me, more than any other autechre release this oozes a sense of crazy innocent fun. With the exception of maybe iera, the whole album is basically just a fun rollercoaster ride. It's also one of, if not the most energetically charged, mad autechre release.

Again, except for iera which sounds pretty dark imo, there is not really any of that impending evil that lurks in draft, quaristice and especially confield. It's also clearer sounding and perhaps more direct in that way, than the more murky sound mix on confield and draft.

Oh, and it's also definetely the best autechre album to dance to imo

Not sure if this explains why it's at the top of many peoples lists, but it's what makes it stand out to me.

I've come to like fermium quite a lot too actually ..

I like how each track is like a mini album with lots of great sections.

I like the beats, the sound of the beats and all the voices and melodies.

Even with shitey Fermium Untilted is the best.

  On 4/3/2012 at 4:31 PM, Balance said:

Even with shitey Fermium Untilted is the best.

still can't comprehend the fermium hate. if any song on that album had to go, the trees would be my candidate. just seems to go nowhere, while fermium has an sick buildup throughout the whole track

  On 4/3/2012 at 11:00 AM, Xenblake said:

  On 4/2/2012 at 9:57 PM, cern said:

Untitled is so hyped, Can anyone explain why?

For me, more than any other autechre release this oozes a sense of crazy innocent fun. With the exception of maybe iera, the whole album is basically just a fun rollercoaster ride. It's also one of, if not the most energetically charged, mad autechre release.

While I agree, I think the exact same could be said about Quaristice. And I think what gives Quaristice the edge is that it moves faster and covers more ground (making it A E Donuts) and also the fact that it has those menacing undertones at times as you said. Which completely rounds out the 'chre experience.

confield

chiastic slide

draft 7.30

lp5

untilted

quaristice

amber

tri repetae

incanabula - barely know it but i have no desire to revisit it at all.

oversteps - is a joke album, shouldn't really be included in lists.

amber

lp5

untilted

quaristice

tri repetae

chiastic slide

incunabula

oversteps

confield

draft 7.30

after doing this, i noticed this looks a right mess keeping in mind the chronological order. pretty positive about the top four, but tri rep and chiastic slide could get some slight reordering based on mood. as for the rest, i don't get confield despite repeated retries & draft is pretty shit other than reniform puls. ep7,cichisuite, and anvil vapre beat the pants off the bottom 3, imo.

  On 4/3/2012 at 4:46 PM, Joseph said:

  On 4/3/2012 at 11:00 AM, Xenblake said:

  On 4/2/2012 at 9:57 PM, cern said:

Untitled is so hyped, Can anyone explain why?

For me, more than any other autechre release this oozes a sense of crazy innocent fun. With the exception of maybe iera, the whole album is basically just a fun rollercoaster ride. It's also one of, if not the most energetically charged, mad autechre release.

 

While I agree, I think the exact same could be said about Quaristice. And I think what gives Quaristice the edge is that it moves faster and covers more ground (making it A E Donuts) and also the fact that it has those menacing undertones at times as you said. Which completely rounds out the 'chre experience.

aed 'o nuts

quaristice does feel like you've been on a longer and more varied journey that than with untilted. Although there are groups of tracks on quaristice that often seem to naturally mesh together and form a section in their on right, it still feels you gone through a whole heap of emotions and by the time you get to outh9x it really feels like you've been listening for ages (a bit like drukqs) that could be a slight weakness of the album too i reckon. In all honesty I think they could have axed som tracks and perhaps embellished on others (on quaristice proper) though the quadranges and versions were good too.

Untilted and quaristice often share that same spiky clean sound. But untilted as an album seems much more concise and focused. in comparison quaristice sounds a bit all over the place. Untilted packs that energy tighter, kind of making it a neat compact ae cube, not large but very heavy.

but hey, being a bit anal here of course, both great albums!

quaristice is muddy, subdued and brooding. lots of the tracks are minitracks, but i can't get into fwze, rale or chenc9 because there just isn't enough going on. i love chenc in the untilted sets, but for some reason when it's in its proper 6/4 ... blech.

untilted is perfectly polished, shiny and aggressive in a way that quaristice clearly is not. the sonic range is wider and the tracks fit the basic ae layer-a-track method but in reverse, so they start hectic and impenetrable but slowly break down.

aside from quaristice->overstabs and maybe ep7/peel sessions -> confield, untilted->quaristice is one of the biggest changes in direction ae have gone. obviously i don't know what they used for everything, but it seems the tools used on both albums have a big impact on the sound and arrangement. untilted, i'm assuming, was painstakingly sequenced in a computer, while quaristice was built almost entirely from a limited hardware setup.

edited for less stupid

I still can't get over how funny those bullfrogs in fol3 sound

but yeah, you're probably right thesun, although i'd say fermium exhibits some of that frantic icyness i connect with quaristice

I still find untilted too comically hectic to come across as aggresive but I know what you mean, it's very much up in your face all the time

rale, it's simple i know but so atmospheric and groovy i can't help but really like it

Confield

Untilted

Chiastic Slide

Tri Repetae

Quaristice

Oversteps

Amber

Draft 7.30

LP5

Incunabula

Confield is the ultimate album, took so long to get it but it is really special and their best work imo. All others switch over time (sign of a great artist I think) but love Untilted a lot. Interesting to hear the Quaristice love/ Oversteps hate being new to here and generally ingnorant of other ae fans' tastes. Quaristice has been slowly getting better for me and I think in time it may rival Untilted as my #2. As for Oversteps, I actually liked and still like the album but can see why it's hated on.

Have never got that into LP5 or Draft, but have listened to them way less. Will give them some more time eventually. Incunabula sadly sounds dated but I still think Tri is great and Chiastic Slide is just amazing. As has been said though- all Autechre's stuff is amazing and their body of work as a whole (including EPs etc) is just mindblowing.

confield

draft 7.30

untilted

amber

chiastic slide

tri repetae

lp5

oversteps

quaristice

incunabula

more balanced

Chiastic Slide

Untilted

Oversteps

Confield

LP5

Tri Repetae

Quaristice

Draft 7.30

Amber

Incunabula

I'll probably change my mind next time I listen to any of the albums.

oh man

draft and amber so far down?

I do like them, I just like the other albums more. Though I do change my mind quite a bit.

Truth is, I think they're all great.

LP5 (Vose In is my absolute favourite Autechre track, plus there's some other gems here too)

Oversteps

Confield (absolutely in love with Pen Expers and Eidetic Casein but the rest is meh for me)

Move of Ten

Amber

Incunabula

Tri Repetae

Quaristice (Quantity over quality)

Chiastic Slide

Untitled (only like Fermium)

Draft 7:30