Exai Deflation has set in :(

  On 4/9/2013 at 12:09 PM, Obel said:

What's the opposite of diminishing returns? Exai is typical Autechre in that my first listen has a few highlight tracks which keep me coming back, but then when i listen through again other tracks show themselves to be incredible (see Untilted with The Trees and Fermium at first, everything later). I pretty much disliked Fleure at first and now I love it, same with Runrepik and spl9. I don't think there's a weak track on Exai, which is amazing for a two disc effort.

 

I honestly don't get how everybody loved it at first, for me it was an alienating listen (not a bad thing). All the muddy, low kick drums and weird, loose synth work made it so difficult a first listen. My favourite tracks were the more immediate ones like jatavee C, Deco Loc and Recks On, but over time it slowly unraveled and now I can't imagine skipping a track. They said with the opening of r ess that they wanted it to be like the listener has to reformat their brain to get into Oversteps, but I feel like that's even more necessary with Exai. It has it's own style, which is definitely varied but has its own set of rules that you have to adjust to before really understanding. I know that probably sounds like nonsense, but it's hard to crystallize this element of Autechre's music that keeps me coming back. Definitely up there with the best ae. I really want them to do an interview so I can get some sort of insight into what they were getting at.

nice post, i feel pretty much the same

  On 4/10/2013 at 12:55 AM, usagi said:

they definitely need to be doing some interviews. I actually haven't listened to Exai for a while now, as I've been wary of becoming numb to it by listening too much. gonna revisit it soon. I'm sure I've said it before but it doesn't even feel like a 2 hour album, it just flies. live shows

fixt

No deflation for me. Not by a long shot!

Because i lashed my Exai mp3s across two CDs for the car...i've been listening to it like its two LP's (including the japan track on cd 2).

so i've only really gotten into the first part tracks 1-11 and its a killer

I feel like i have a whole nother album .. ok EP - to get through. Sweet!

Exai INflation. You gotta cleanse the pallet with some jazz, reggae, or hip hop. Maybe some droney doom metal. Then listen to Exai and sink into the stew.

  On 4/9/2013 at 11:16 AM, lumpenprol said:

bladelores does keep sounding better. For the longest time I didn't get what the fuss was about. It sounded like "it could have been made by anyone", as one review said. Just kind of empty and dull, not minimal and amazing like, say, vletrmx21.

 

But I listened to it stoned last night and really liked it. I still don't think it's one of their best tunes, or even one of the best on the album, but it is interesting, and pleasurable. I think that's how I'd classify most of the album, "interesting, and pleasurable." Unlike, say, Confield, which I'd classify as "fascinating, but disturbing."

Exai is really weird to me, I still don't know what to think of it, because of that stoned vs. sober discrepancy. Bladelores sounds great and embracing while high on weed, but only "ok" at best while being sober. The same goes for a few other tracks, except T ess Xi which sounds like crap every time. Usually, weed makes me appreciate music better when I'm sober, but here, it's seems not to be doing the trick, for some tracks.

listen to this in headphones.

please everyone.

do it for me.

no shit, huh? It's frigging incredible on headphones. Listening to "1 1 is", the little squiggly scrunchies are burrowing up into my brainpan

i haven't listened on headphones and i don't think i will, they put a huge accent on the subs on this one and i just wanna feel it when i put the album on

i read that some think it has hiphop influences and even drum and bass wtf, i can't hear it

i can hear "dubstep" in it, it's just in a lot of the tracks, synthesized in autechre ofcourse

who cares i had a beer, puttin it back on for like the 30th time tonight

I thought it was a bit underwhelming on headphones, tbh. I enjoy it most on big speakers, loud as fuck.

  On 4/10/2013 at 6:55 PM, Candiru said:

Exai INflation. You gotta cleanse the pallet with some jazz, reggae, or hip hop. Maybe some droney doom metal. Then listen to Exai and sink into the stew.

Yeah, this is true. I hadn't listened in a long time, and went on a metal journey for a while. Now I'm listening to it at a high volume, the windows are shaking, and I'm fucking loving it.

  On 4/9/2013 at 12:09 PM, Obel said:

I don't think there's a weak track on Exai, which is amazing for a two disc effort.

I totally agree. It's up there with the best.

  On 4/9/2013 at 11:16 AM, lumpenprol said:

The same goes for a few other tracks, except T ess Xi which sounds like crap every time.

To me, this track is some top notch shit

I had a break from Exai for a while (too much great new music nowadays..) and when i came back, T ess Xi was the revelation that sucked me back into the world. All of a sudden it felt familiar - as though all the notes were in the perfect place and I could hear the changes before they happened - something that has only happened with Envane and EP7 to me before. Ae are really at the top of their game with this album, since I don't get those classic vibes very often.

had'nt listened to Exai for a good few weeks before today and have just finished listening to the wonderfull beast in its entirety... Sounded even more awesome than before defo up there with their best stuff.

So far no breaks taken from listening to Exai. Love this album.

  On 4/12/2013 at 7:23 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i haven't listened on headphones and i don't think i will,

this is a mistake. of course it sounds nice shaking the house, but there are things i noticed or heard much clearer through headphones. most notably all the ways they use reverb, either having it act as its own pad or the manipulation of lengthy, quaristice-type bits. these parts really came into their own on my headphones, probably because my headphones emphasize the mids.

why would you only want to listen to this on one system?

i have exclusively listened to it on headphones, just coz I don't have a nice home system (I know I'm an embarrassment to audiophiles everywhere). It sounds delicious to me.

As a sidenote, Campfire Headphase sounded awesome on my car stereo, for me that became a car stereo album. Exai is a yummy headphones album, regardless of how it sounds otherwise.

  On 4/19/2013 at 5:12 AM, lumpenprol said:

i have exclusively listened to it on headphones, just coz I don't have a nice home system (I know I'm an embarrassment to audiophiles everywhere). It sounds delicious to me.

No shame in that. I started Exai up on my truck speakers today, but still occasionally listen via headphones on the puter.

  On 4/18/2013 at 6:12 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 4/12/2013 at 7:23 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i haven't listened on headphones and i don't think i will,

 

this is a mistake. of course it sounds nice shaking the house, but there are things i noticed or heard much clearer through headphones. most notably all the ways they use reverb, either having it act as its own pad or the manipulation of lengthy, quaristice-type bits. these parts really came into their own on my headphones, probably because my headphones emphasize the mids.

 

why would you only want to listen to this on one system?

I agree. On headphones you start to notice other layers, or layers that you start to pay more attention to because of the sound. But shaking the house is also a must.

  On 4/19/2013 at 9:21 PM, Zantman said:

 

  On 4/18/2013 at 6:12 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 4/12/2013 at 7:23 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i haven't listened on headphones and i don't think i will,

this is a mistake. of course it sounds nice shaking the house, but there are things i noticed or heard much clearer through headphones. most notably all the ways they use reverb, either having it act as its own pad or the manipulation of lengthy, quaristice-type bits. these parts really came into their own on my headphones, probably because my headphones emphasize the mids.

 

why would you only want to listen to this on one system?

I agree. On headphones you start to notice other layers, or layers that you start to pay more attention to because of the sound. But shaking the house is also a must.

 

ok i'm gonna have to check this out when i get some good headphones, right now i'm just hooked on blasting it through the speakers of my panzerdivision soundsystem

  On 4/19/2013 at 9:39 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

 

  On 4/19/2013 at 9:21 PM, Zantman said:

 

  On 4/18/2013 at 6:12 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 4/12/2013 at 7:23 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i haven't listened on headphones and i don't think i will,

 

this is a mistake. of course it sounds nice shaking the house, but there are things i noticed or heard much clearer through headphones. most notably all the ways they use reverb, either having it act as its own pad or the manipulation of lengthy, quaristice-type bits. these parts really came into their own on my headphones, probably because my headphones emphasize the mids.

 

why would you only want to listen to this on one system?

I agree. On headphones you start to notice other layers, or layers that you start to pay more attention to because of the sound. But shaking the house is also a must.

ok i'm gonna have to check this out when i get some good headphones, right now i'm just hooked on blasting it through the speakers of my panzerdivision soundsystem

I wish to live in a house with no neighbours attached.

Over and over my brains are trying to map 'Exai'

Great album, fresh.. positive vibes.

Listening on vinyl again this very moment...

  On 4/19/2013 at 9:58 PM, Zantman said:

 

  On 4/19/2013 at 9:39 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

 

  On 4/19/2013 at 9:21 PM, Zantman said:

 

  On 4/18/2013 at 6:12 PM, theSun said:

 

  On 4/12/2013 at 7:23 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i haven't listened on headphones and i don't think i will,

this is a mistake. of course it sounds nice shaking the house, but there are things i noticed or heard much clearer through headphones. most notably all the ways they use reverb, either having it act as its own pad or the manipulation of lengthy, quaristice-type bits. these parts really came into their own on my headphones, probably because my headphones emphasize the mids.

 

why would you only want to listen to this on one system?

I agree. On headphones you start to notice other layers, or layers that you start to pay more attention to because of the sound. But shaking the house is also a must.

ok i'm gonna have to check this out when i get some good headphones, right now i'm just hooked on blasting it through the speakers of my panzerdivision soundsystem

I wish to live in a house with no neighbours attached.

 

Likewise, and living in NYC I have no car to blast this in either. If I want to listen to my music loud, it's had to be on headphones for over 5 years now.

I haven't listened to Exai in about two months now, but I have been listening to Oversteps and Untilted. I still think that Untilted is one of, if not THE best thing they've ever done, but I'm really loving Oversteps atm. It's amazing.

Damn, I have just forgotten to listen to this. Cool, now I have something to look forward to.

Have warmed to the album a little bit more in the past few weeks. Still quite let down by it though sadly. Do absolutely love "1 1 is" and "Spl9" though. "Bladelores" and "Irlite" would be faves too but they're too patchy to go mad over. Fond of a few other tracks but find them hard to go nuts for overall. Listening to "Flep" right now. Jesus, it really pains me to say it, but it's up there with the dullest autechre tracks going. Fahk