XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

Exai is brought to you by RECKSON. A division of Soilent Green Realty Corporation. In connection with REXON recking tools.

  On 2/13/2013 at 9:37 PM, encey said:

One thing I think they do really well on this album compared to Oversteps is having interesting 'B sections' -- not in the sense that every song has a 'Part A - Part B - Part A - Part B' structure, but that they don't let a certain section go on for too long, and when they change it, the change is meaningful and interesting. I thought there were a bunch of changes on Oversteps that just didn't take the track anywhere new or contrast interestingly with the previous section. I can give specifics, but I'll have to listen again. I hope someone will get what I'm trying to say!

I agree that there are more changes, but after a few listens to exai I think the sections go on too long. I've always felt ae was a bit too repetitive - they are so brilliant at small scale detail but they almost always tend to jam on a given sound palette/beat/melody longer than necessary imo.

someone should plot out an events per second track scale.. the tracks with highest amount of events per second are special

I highly advise a really baked walk in the woods to this album. It was terrifying and amazing at the same time. Perfectly suited the album.

Downloaded Exai from Bleep (I'm such an idiot, chose 24B WAV+mp3 instead of 24b WAV+CDs).

Listened to it and skipped over stuff. I have to say:

THIS IS THE BEST STUFF I'VE HEARD FROM THEM SINCE CONFIELD.

I must say I criticized Quaristice a lot and Oversteps, Untilted and Draft were rather mediocre for me. Confield was real innovation, I loved it and old school Ae before...

I can feel I'll spend a lot of time with Exai. The boys are back for me.

irlite ending is sooo oldschool. Exai is Ae being Ae. Modern Ae, great craftsmen, and it has slightly more darkness, which I like. YESYESYESYESYES

Cloudline is 2013's Eidetic Casein. Hello.

  On 2/13/2013 at 6:16 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

So I did my stoned-as-all-hell walk in the woods last night. I walked to the start of the path into the woods, smoked a huge bowl and started the album.

 

FLeure was fun although once the track fell away the fear started to set in. Like what if there is a bear, because I totally would not hear it at all until it was eating my guts. I pondered turning around but decided to continue. By the time irlite was on I was very afraid and looking around everywhere. When prac-f came on I started to feel a bit more comfortable. By Jatevee C I realized I was being paranoid and the forest wasn't dangerous and that was pretty blissful. By t ess xi I realized I had to piss really badly so did so but I was so high I put my dick away before shaking and leaked quite a lot of piss in my pants. By the time vekoS was playing I was full on stomping and marching through the woods. Then Flep came on as I came to a very long boardwalk across a swamp. I shambled robotically to the rhythm. Tuinorizn was another fun stomper, and Bladelores came on just as I was beginning to get lost.

 

1 1 is marked the point where the pink sky began to turn pitch black but I was about an hour into the woods and totally lost anyways so I wasn't getting out of there soon. I smoked another fat bowl and when nodezsh came on I began to become afraid again. Like nocturnal predators might be coming out now, like wolves or something. They would all probably be hungry.Then I almost ran smack into a deer and only noticed it a few feet away. I pulled out my flashlight and its eyes lit up freaking me out. I backed away because I couldn't tell if it was a deer or a wolf. I decided I would break into a full on run when runrepik came on (for obvious reasons) and that was pretty intense. I had resolved to stop running at cloudline but spl9 surprised me somehow and so I decided I had to continue running for spl9. Some point around this time I found my way onto a main trail. When cloudline came on I was on a very long perfectly straight path all the way to my house, but decided to march slowly in the snowbank off to the side because of the pacing. for deco Loc nothing particularly interesting. Recks on had me back into the suburbs and YJY UX had me fondly remembering my experience. I passed by the first school I ever attended when keyosc was playing which made me remember those days. Then I got home and my feet hurt like motherfuck.

 

And that's why I don't do psychedelics anymore.

This is great. Fuck the Wire.

hauntingsoul for promo in 2016!

Woot woot!

  On 2/13/2013 at 11:53 AM, the anonymous forumite said:

I'm inclined to say that the last part of irlite (@ 8.30) is the most thrilling part of Exai. Brilliant stuff.

same

what are the thoughts on tuinorizn? I'm obsessed with it. dark and drippy funk.

the run of that, bladelores and 1 1 is my favorite sequence right now

Exai sounds like

Bok Bok & Cubic Zirconia - Reclash (Dub)

&

Philipp Quehenberger - Wives With Knives

i was checking up on some of the names they dropped in this interview from 2011: http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/7973/1/autechre-return

  Quote

 

Sog, Mmm, Trim, Cylob, Bok Bok, Philipp Quehenberger, Black Milk, Phat Kat, The U.N., Oddisee, 9th Wonder, Slum Village Fantastic Vol2 Instrumentals, Little Brother, Roddy Rod, Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, Kyle Hall, Altered Natives, Maniac, G Frsh, S-X, Terror Danjah, Oneohtrix Point Never, Slugabed, Africa Hitech, Devlin, Dark Sky, Zomby, Ramadanman, Pinch, Untold, Dot Rotten, Rob Hood, Becoming Real, Mike Slott, Last Step, Decapitated, Unreleased AE, and tons of old stuff

Mike Slott's stuff on Lucky9teen also sounds familiar.. especially something like Amanallah or 6 am

Reclash is a jam.

I really cannot understand the 'meh' sentiment many of you have towards deco Loc. This one reallly gets me, its a current favorite.

Its nice to have a more digestible 5.5m track amidst longer tracks. The gated vocals seem to slow down time, and make my brain dance along at half-time when everything is in motion at the middle of the track. Then the latter half is face-melting, sub-deep, and psychadelic. All in all, the track reminds me of a much more interesting Perlence Losid 2

in fact, god DAMN the 3 tracks deco Loc > recks on > YJY UX take the cake for me, strongest string on the album

deco loc is probably the trippiest song on this imo. still haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet tbh

I love this album. Great going Sean and Rob!

  On 2/14/2013 at 4:35 AM, jules said:

what are the thoughts on tuinorizn? I'm obsessed with it. dark and drippy funk.

Agree!

all the pieces are starting to fall together now. i couldnt stop myself from skipping around before because it is so massive and huge and i was so excited. but now i am listening more to big chunks together. loving deco loc now too.

starting to really feel this amazing album! Cannot point one single track that i really don't like. Great start of 2013!!!

I don't know how I'd be feeling right now without Exai. I'm going through some rough shit in my life, which normally turns me to some B.O.C, or some roots Reggae, or if it's Autechre I'd listen to Amber, or something more sentimental really... But THIS album. This fucking EPIC beast of an album.. It's got me fucking happy. I don't know what to say. I'm thankful for it, and so glad it's playing on my stereo

This may end up to be my most favorite Autechre album of all time. And I've been listening to them since I was young, when they were just starting up some 20 years ago. I'm loving Exai.

  On 2/14/2013 at 3:39 PM, exm said:

starting to really feel this amazing album! Cannot point one single track that i really don't like. Great start of 2013!!!

This album could take third for me (behind chi and draft). Like other people the pieces are finally snapping into place -- first it was little parts of tracks that I liked, then whole tracks, and now I'm starting to get a glimpse of the bigger picture.

I'm astonished, mindfucked, that they can be making music this compelling and deep after two decades at it.

Fleure is their best opener since xylin room (at least).