Favorite Exai Minutiae

So this thread should be for the little tiny details buried away in Exai that you may or may not have caught on the first listen. The aim here is to call attention to stuff we may not have noticed, or that occurs for a very short time. To establish some sort of constraint I'll say these snippets ideally should be around 5 seconds long or so, but up to 20 or 30 seconds is ok. Try to keep them closer to 5 or 10 second segments though (i.e. no "the last 2 minutes of x track" stuff). Additionally we can include elements that are buried away in the background even if they last throughout the whole track, but I'm just trying to use this thread to highlight the more fleeting awesome stuff in the limelight rather than the stuff that pounds out predominantly throughout the whole track

The following bits and pieces give me a huge Ae boner.

Irlite @ 8:50 ish: really the whole synth line surrounding this point is awesome, but in particular at around 8:55-9:00 there's this cool stumble with the synth rhythm, but I said 8:50 because the switch up makes no sense out of context. Anyways it's really awesome and I will always rewind if I wasn't paying attention when it happens.

nodezsh @ 2:46: the 3 note synth line that occurs here gets me every time. It repeats in some variation a few times but this particular one gets me every time.

spl9 @ 2:41 a synth line starts that has this strange gradient effect towards the end. It's hard to explain but it's like two notes meshed into each other in a grid. That sounds nuts but that's how my ears take it. The specific sound I'm talking about occurs at 2:44.

cloudline @ 3:13 and more importantly at 3:31-3:40: Yeah I know it's pretty obvious but it's torture how fleeting this amazing bass line is.

deco loc @ 2:40 the samples closely approximate a very soft 'k' sound, sort of like how it sounds to say the c in cookie when you have a mouth full of cookies. For some reason this pleases me greatly. Also of worthy mention is the little tick of a snare drum that pokes into your eardrums the whole track. I also love right at 3:20 when the samples fade into white noise. God I just blew a huge load all over this track.

recks on @ 2:03 the growliest bass ever. Sooo dark and amazing. Also around 3:34 the flanged-to-fuck vocal sample becomes pretty easy to hear and it completely does my head in, I love it. Lastly and probably my favorite little segment on the album occurs at 8:45. It's basically straight out of lentic catachresis with the alien transmission sounds. I really, sincerely wish there was more of that scattered throughout the track because the little 3 second snippet of it right at the end of recks on is such a cock tease I can't even.......

Anyways that's all I can extract off the top of my head. Agree, disagree? Found others that I haven't? Post away and we'll find all the gold in them hills.

/fanboy

Great thread! I think it applies more to this album than perhaps any other ae album. It is almost sadistic the way they give you a tease of something beautiful, then snatch it away. Sometimes it may not be deliberate...

One you missed is Flep, the hidden melody towards the end. It's hidden low in the mix and sounds a bit like a harpsichord. This was definitely deliberate and makes the track for me.

Unfortunately I can't tell you exactly what minute it is, as my media player refuses to let me skip on these damn itunes mp4s or whatever they are...

the bit in flep is from about 3:50 to 4:00

That's crazy, I had heard that but never thought about it. Upon closer inspection it appears to be very awesome.

I also just caught this little beat buried away in the mix in irlite that I never noticed before!!!

Go to around 8:10 and you can hear this really crazy fast paced squeaky beat very faintly, hanging out mostly in the high end. It's pretty fucking awesome. not sure where else in the track it occurs for now but it seems to keep going for the rest of the track after that point. After a second listen it does occur in a lot of the second half of the track, but it's hard to hear.

First time listening to FLeure on quality headphones, what distinctly sounds like a Perlence/90101- snare sound at 3:59 jerked me out of the haze. I think their overuse of that sound in that batch of releases has made me hypersensitive to it, like a sound heard repeatedly in an acid trip. Wouldn't call it a favourite moment but definitely a notable one.

I haven't done much more easter egg hunting as I'm still adjusting to the tunes, but I guess it's also worth mentioning that I really enjoy how the snare sounds in Runrepik subtly change over time, and become quite snappy around the middle part.

444th post!

I just heard a really deep bass in vekoS I never heard before, it happens at the end every bar between the second bar and 0:40, buried way far away into the low end. It's like 2 deep notes at the very end of each bar in a deep sawtooth bass. There's also some Rsdio stuff happening around 3:16, which continues in a very mangled form for a while after that. Fuck, this track is a gold mine for hidden goods.

irlite @ 8:30 (synth horn comes back in), there's a sort of 'triple' kick pattern that sounds kinda clumsy and 'human', the way it accommodates the change. love it

Fleure

4:00 where everything drops and you can just hear the reverb. excellent. Also 4:19 where there's almost this sort of similarly reverbed symbal a few times til the end

jatevee C

2:16 the slight change in melody and timing of the grating textured synth that is like a less intense of the forthcoming "drop" as some would call it where it goes silent for a moment. Gets my hairs standing up every time in anticipation

vekoS

3:44 melody when the most intense part of the glitchiness ends.

tuinorizn

0:26 where the synth sort of makes this whinging noise that rises and lowers then dies off in this sort of high pitched yet seemingly melancholy tone. love it

spl9

0:33 the little click before the drum beat, repeated throughout and sometimes twice during a pause. gets me every time

oh no, i've made the mistake of imagining that deco Loc's android vocal is singing "ass hole" for several bars at 2:00 and now i can't unhear it... this may forever change the way i relate to what has been one of my favorite tracks.

  On 3/7/2013 at 6:09 AM, Chogg said:

First time listening to FLeure on quality headphones, what distinctly sounds like a Perlence/90101- snare sound at 3:59 jerked me out of the haze. I think their overuse of that sound in that batch of releases has made me hypersensitive to it, like a sound heard repeatedly in an acid trip. Wouldn't call it a favourite moment but definitely a notable one.

This! I always noticed that bit as something I've heard, but I didn't make the explicit association until you said it.

That snare feels like it teleported in from the Quaristice-universe to make a lone appearance. I really love this moment now

Wow I just noticed that now

That's cool ;p

at 1:58 or so (maybe a bit earlier) in Nodezsh there's a sound that sounds like the "fingers moving over the strings" sound you get when guitar playing. I think it only sounds once, but it's cool.

3:19ish in tuinorizn when the crazy high pitched synth starts jamming out, there is a sound distinctly similar to that classic cartoon "BOING" sound effect, gets me every time.

lol

Today was the first time I heard the whalesong synths surrounding all the glitchy sounds at the beginning of Fleure, a really cool little set of pads. Well, they're the same pads that get more prominent and have a delay on them like the 'plonks' at the end of Augmatic Disport (you can really hear them from 8:07 on).

I also love the sixteenth-note machine gun fire on the metallic pan drum sounds that comes in at the end of the second bar once the main bass melody starts (e.g., 0:55, 3:18).

prac-f,m 1:45 on, with the hyper delay on the snare hits

I've mentioned it before, but the two ticks at 3:59 in jatevee C

The cool reversed glissando-piano sounding sample you can hear best at 3:20 in bladelores -- reminds me of BOC, and a lot like the repeated sample after 2:15 in cloudline

i love how the high synth sounds in 1 1 is are, if I am hearing correctly, made wholly out of the bass synth's bell-like overtones, fucking awesome

  On 3/7/2013 at 7:15 AM, Marked x 0ne said:

 

  On 3/7/2013 at 6:09 AM, Chogg said:

First time listening to FLeure on quality headphones, what distinctly sounds like a Perlence/90101- snare sound at 3:59 jerked me out of the haze. I think their overuse of that sound in that batch of releases has made me hypersensitive to it, like a sound heard repeatedly in an acid trip. Wouldn't call it a favourite moment but definitely a notable one.

 

This! I always noticed that bit as something I've heard, but I didn't make the explicit association until you said it.

 

That snare feels like it teleported in from the Quaristice-universe to make a lone appearance. I really love this moment now

the mighty Clap Of Perlence

ae-clap.wavFetching info...

ugh.. seems i'm not competent enough to record audio. but that snare is a clap

clp-2.wavFetching info...

it's like clapping two wood blocks together in a closet

The first 12 seconds of irlite (get 0) - probably one of the best openers to a track on the album.

The introduction of the "grating" synth in jatevee C at 0:55.

The catchy, repeated melody throughout the beginning of vekoS from the start to 0:40 - I wish they kept developing this melody some more instead of letting it die out in the first minute.

0:16 - 0:17 of tuinorizn, where the synth gets really high pitched before the beat comes in.

The entirety of 1 1 is, where the bassline/melody slowly becomes more and more organised, evolved and takes more control, leading towards the last segment of the track where the melodic pattern repeats itself until the end.

4:19 - 4:24 of nodezsh, where the synth melody forms into a short, organised riff, before coming under heavy reverb throughout the rest of the track.

That really short pause from the main synth in spl9 between 2:47 - 2:48 before the chaos kicks in.

The really dark, 'extraterrestrial' synth that occurs throughout the background of recks on.

The first to come to mind;

The 4 min mark of Fleure is beautiful, the Perlency sounds and the dropped fart.

The first 12-15 seconds of Irlite is godlike, a clumsy, start up of a machine which hits gear about 15 seconds in.

The end rhythm note of vekoS about 10 seconds from the end

Flep - 0:55. Flep the dolphin starts to perk up and swamp the funky/dorky stuttering rhythm.

When Bladelores reverts to original form at about 5:38

Spl9 3:20 - when that loud train express to hell wooshes past

Cloudlines has several cool moments, just doesnt gell as a whole for me yet.

snare, clap, tomato, tomahto. It's electronic music lol

Thx for isolating that sound. That could come in handy!

yes i was referring to the trx-clap from the elektron machinedrum, which is the source of this sound. but maybe it can also be done using a tomato in a closet.

Haha. I wasn't taking the piss about it. I love it. I use that Trx-clap on the MD all the time. :)

same here, I was dancing with joy when I figured out how to make That Mighty Massive Perlence Clap with the MD.

also i had to lol at the thought of Sean pulling out the MD from the closet to put that one clap into Fleure for Quaristice backwards compatibility reasons.

Haha.

Isn't the MD the best? Seriously best drum machine invented in 20+ years. I just recently upgraded to the MKIIUW after 7 years with the MKI. Next level. Will definitely go down as a future classic. Think about the current electronic music landscape and then try and think of it sans Machinedrum and it gives you an idea of how important it is.

ugh i'm not sure i'll ever be able to afford a machinedrum. been considering scrounging for an electribe er-1 instead.

also, on topic...the 'breath' right before the drums and bass and all kick in on spl9, about 0:14 seconds into the track......i've loved that since i first heard it.