Exai bottom three

Nodezsh, irlite and runrepik are starting to major grow on me. I will have to re-assess later and it will be very difficult this time, but YJY UX is unfortunately sliding onto my list. Not that it's not great, but it hasn't really taken me yet.

GAH! Why is this so hard? I can list my bottom three on every other album from them.

Fleure and Deco Loc aren`t doing much for me, they`re a couple of the least interesting/hypnotic tracks, but luckily they`re pretty short. There`s a couple of others that are quite working for me yet, but I`m not good [or bothered] with track names.

after a few rounds on the exai merrygoround these seem to always stick out as clear weaker tracks: jatavee c, deco loc and YJY UX. Jatavee-c is not bad, it's progression is just a bit samey and lacks excitement.

deco-loc is really disappointing, not just the vocal sampling here (that too) but it's all round lack of interesting ideas and enthisuasm, really doesn't do the album any good.

YJY UX I think I might come to like more with time, but for now it sounds a bit too long and meandering for it's own good. Seems like a bit of a let down as an album closer. Hope my opinion changes on this!

Deco loc

Fleure

runrepik

they should replace Deco loc by keyosc

i think mine have changed to

YJY UX
Jatavee-C
&
Bladelores

the first 2 because they seem almost to be too much like 'classic' AE with not much new happening besides various effects on the synth pads. The melodies are too overtly reminiscent of Amber era Autechre

Bladelores because i just don't like it.. at all. I don't like the sounds, i don't like that cheesy bassline. I don't like how the reverb is just constantly on. i don't like how the resonance of the bass synth is being turned unnecessarily high for effect. Just possibly one of their worst tracks all around

cloudline - this is really shaping up to be one of my most hated ae tracks. those synths are so annoying and there is just not much to distract me from them

the next 4 are tied for 2nd worst

t ess xi - don't like anything besides the beginning chords, it's like surripere with no balls

tuinorizn - hihats are painful to ears

runrepik - this is OK, just... blah

YJY UX - painful synth arpeg, i cannot listen to this loud. i love the beat palate but i will need to just mix out the highs in live or something.

Man I love tuinorizn. One of my faves.

when you turn it up, the hihats sound fine to you?

Yeah they don't bother me so much. I know a few people are really sensitive to highs though and for that reason Draft 7:30 was a problem. Think six had an issue with Draft for that reason at least.

indeed. draft is fine, but for example uviol is unlistenable for me.

Never liked those, never will:

jatevee -c (boring pad sequence)

T ess xi (ugly & boring pads - really sounds like some Ae wannabees, something you would have sworn it was fake)

runrepik (I don't like the beat).

edit: how could anyone not like Flep ? So funky, so 6IE.CR

Wow, never thought id see so much hate for bladelores. Great track, interesting direction and a nice change from the other tracks on the album.

  On 2/20/2013 at 5:00 PM, Obel said:

Yeah they don't bother me so much. I know a few people are really sensitive to highs though and for that reason Draft 7:30 was a problem. Think six had an issue with Draft for that reason at least.

Yup, that was me, some of the high frequency sounds on Draft give me an insta-headache, especially in Surripere, P.:ntil, Vproc, and Reniform Puls. The latter half of this album is very hard for me to enjoy. Somehow that is not a problem at all on Exai. These threads are always sad to read because you get disappointed when people are missing the brilliance you clearly see in a track.

As for my bottom three, after some thought...

Fleure

Spl9

Flep

The first two I actually kind of enjoy, just compared to the rest of the album they are not my favorites.

I loooove the bassline in Fleure and the deconstruction at the end is great, the sound of the bassline reminds me of something on Quaristice like Rale, but the sharp percussion and Acroyear2 style squeaky noises do my head in a bit on headphones. It's also kind of a hard groove to follow, the bassline still never repeats where I think it's going to, I will probably get used to that eventually. It's a hard way to begin an album, you're immediately thrust into one of the harshest and most manic tracks.

Spl9 I didn't like at all when I first heard the preview, and it's still not one of my favorites. Kudos for being a balls out aggressive track, been a while since one of those. Again, the groove is a bit hard for me in this one. I enjoy the beginning but it loses me for a couple minutes in the middle there. The ending is pure Ae rubbery badassery, totally redeems the track. This one could have been shorter for me, but I respect where they were going with it.

Flep I don't hate, but I don't get it. I can follow the groove, but it just seems noodly and boring and needlessly flanged into oblivion. Don't really get what people are seeing in this one, I'm happy to have someone try to change my mind.

I seem to disagree with a lot of the opinions in this thread. Irlite I like quite a lot, but it is far from my favorite on the album and I don't get people saying it is one of their favorite tracks. The progression of the first three tracks is actually probably my least favorite sequence on the whole album, I was very wary on my first listen until I got past this.

Don't get the hate for Jahtavee C and T Ess XI, these are great updates of their older sound to my ears. Tuinorizn I didn't like at first but has grown on me a ton, really enjoy the sounds on this track now. Bladelores I really enjoy, but I agree it is pretty simplistic and goes on for too long. I understand why people don't like it, but I enjoy it as a breather in between discs anyhow.

Aside from Spl9, which I shared my thought on before, and Deco Loc which is a bit meh, I don't know how anyone doesn't see disc 2 as some of their best work. Not going to go into detail, just think pretty much every track on here is brilliant!

I think the track arrangement on the second disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow (sans deco loc and YJY UX) compared to the first disc

  On 2/21/2013 at 1:36 AM, AJW said:

I think the track arrangement on the second disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow (sans deco loc and YJY UX) compared to the first disc

I think the track arrangement on the first disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow

  On 2/21/2013 at 5:35 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 2/21/2013 at 1:36 AM, AJW said:

I think the track arrangement on the second disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow (sans deco loc and YJY UX) compared to the first disc

 

I think the track arrangement on the first disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow

whatever floats your boat dude

  On 2/21/2013 at 5:35 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 2/21/2013 at 1:36 AM, AJW said:

I think the track arrangement on the second disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow (sans deco loc and YJY UX) compared to the first disc

 

I think the track arrangement on the first disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow

yes ,true AE fan here. no pussy shit!

Yeah flep is the bomb!

  On 2/21/2013 at 7:44 PM, AJW said:

 

  On 2/21/2013 at 5:35 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 2/21/2013 at 1:36 AM, AJW said:

I think the track arrangement on the second disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow (sans deco loc and YJY UX) compared to the first disc

 

I think the track arrangement on the first disc definetely gives it a more coherent, natural flow

whatever floats your boat dude

actually upon further reflection i'd say i really love half this album, meh about a quarter of it and don't like the other quarter.

i will make a chart to better illustrate this.

  On 2/10/2013 at 11:31 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

I won't stand for all this deco loc hate. It doesn't sound like flylo that much, maybe a tad. It definitely has that classic Autechre feel though, particularly through the fact that almost the entire beat is created by one teensy tiny little high pitched drum pop. The fact that this one sound can be used to craft any sort of beat is awesome.

 

I particulary enjoy deco loc though. I can think of lots of tracks I don't like quite as much. Not my favorite but far from my least fav.

Neither do I. The hip hop part of Deco Loc is one of the album highlights, and is something similar to what they have done on albums in the past (end of Augmatic Disport for example). It only superficially sounds like Flying Lotus.

To me the worst songs are FLeure (extremely annoying sounding), tuinorizn, and XJY UX.

The thing about this album is that there are many parts of songs I like, but most of the songs don't come with the same coherence as there previous (pre-Oversteps) albums.

I remember disliking Fleure on my very first listen. However it got rapidly better and is now one of my favourites.

Deco Loc ruins the flow a bit on the second half, it sounds out place amongst those darker, longer and more complex tracks.

jatvee C, cloudline and recks on

I considered adding 1 1 is for it's fucking annoying mind-sucking effect, but the melody is lovely. 2deep4me probably.

shocked at all the FLeure hate. My first listen to Exai was on headphones at night, figured I'd give myself just a taste before bed, and was so friggin blown away and excited about the album from this one track that I had trouble sleeping after. I actually found myself pretty disappointed at first that the rest of the album was so different.

Least favourite is irlite (get 0). I don't understand what everyone loves about this. It's messy and ugly and the random notes are irritating as hell. It gets better in the second half but overall just sounds awkward to me.

Recks on made me quite upset on first listen, just couldn't take those fucking snares seriously at all. Thank god they change it up throughout the track. It's growing on me, though.

Bladelores is also a low point for me. The snares are abrasive as fuck against the lush ambience and it just doesn't mesh for me; the bassline is cheesy and uninspired, and the panning glitches in the pads toward the end always make me think my headphone jack is shorting out. Just not really sure what they were trying to accomplish with this track as one element seems to conflict with the enjoyment of another. I want to like it but with these first few listens I just don't.

Everything else is wonderful. Keyosc is not only unusually great for a Japan bonus track, it's actually probably one of my favourite tracks from the whole ensemble.