Is Autechre relevant anymore?

Try setting aside your personal opinion about Autechre's music for a while and consider them in a larger cultural context. That is, how much you either like or dislike Exai or Oversteps, how relevant do you think Autechre are as a musical phenomenon today?

The release of Exai hardly had the flare of Tomorrow's Harvest when it was released, but then again, BoC have always appealed to a larger crowd. New artist come and take the spotlight, some stay and some quickly fade away, but I'm wondering if a new release from Autechre these days still has as much of a cultural impact as, say, Tomorrow's Harvest has had recently.

In their IDM hayday together with Aphex Twin and superstar Chris Cunningham directing videos for them, Autechre were (I am going out on a limb here since I was only around 10 years old at that time) part of a big cultural movement and phenomenon.

I mean you also have to take into account the specific subculture that Autechre was and is still, to much of the reason why I ask these questions, very much a part of. IDM and that style of electronic music that developed in the 90s and that Autechre evolved in new directions in the early 00's.

Whose more influential and/or relevant these days? What genres are hot?

I have a hard time mentioning other artists at the moment but one that comes to mind is definitely Actress. And Burial and Four Tet of course.

haha

You're in your own bubble mate.

All you're doing is projecting your opinion onto a reality that really doesn't give a shit.

  On 6/18/2013 at 9:29 PM, xpr said:

I have a hard time mentioning other artists at the moment but one that comes to mind is definitely Actress. And Burial and Four Tet of course.

Tee hee

Autechre doesn't need to be a part of any social phenomena because they have accumulated an adult fan base who have assimilated the music into their lives over 2 decades

boards of canada unfortunately never had the luxery of an adult fan base so they need to be a phenomena to satisfy their urge for purchasing new fast food franchises

People who care about ae have always been a subset of a subset. How would you define relevance here anyway? Younger producers name drop them often enough. People listen to them; they aren't a self parody. What else is there for middle aged experimentalists who were obscure even at their peak?

This topic reminds me of an NPR Facebook article.

But to answer the question - yes. Ae are relevant as fuck, byitch.

I don't know where to start with all assumptions and wrongness in the OP, but the posters above have summed it up quite nicely.

"How relevant is Improv and jazz in this age of Pitchfork approved music?"

lol.

Damn noob.

I'm sure the Shimano xpr guy is that hipster from The Sound Of My Voice......riding a fixed gear bike through the cityscapes, Will.i.am (Feat. Beiber) pounding out of his iPod 1, dwelling on the next cultural phenomenon, perhaps he may even do a documentary on it.

AuTEcHrE nEeDS A bIt OF BaSs DrOP fRom lAdY gAgAS ArTpOP

They never were "relevant" you know, like The National or Panda Bear is relevant.

lol op u no whos irrelevent

idm is so hot right now

  On 6/18/2013 at 9:29 PM, xpr said:

What genres are hot?

 

 

holy shit who cares

  On 6/18/2013 at 10:28 PM, cloud capture said:

idm is so hot right now

yeah look skreilex

I'm unsure on the relevance of the key word in the original question: 'relevance'

  On 6/18/2013 at 9:37 PM, RadarJammer said:

Autechre doesn't need to be a part of any social phenomena because they have accumulated an adult fan base who have assimilated the music into their lives over 2 decades

  On 6/18/2013 at 10:28 PM, cloud capture said:

idm is so hot right now

Artificial Intelligence reunion tour coming to a football stadium near u

AAAAHAHAHHAAAAA

Never understood how music can be relevant, unless it has a specific narrative relating to society at the time (e.g protest songs, etc.)

As for Autechre, in my opinion, they freakin' rule, they've still got it (as Exai shows) and I still love their work.

OP needs some smooth Will.i.am vocoder vocals to soften the intense impact on the eardrums when Skrillex does a cool bass drop

très harsh, bros, très harsh

where's that video of the Die Antwoord loons buying a copy of Oversteps? that's obviously relevant to this inane discussion.

So this was a minefield...

I'm sorry if I came off as ignorant, and I realize the topic perhaps wasn't the best wording.

  On 6/18/2013 at 10:52 PM, futureimage said:

Never understood how music can be relevant, unless it has a specific narrative relating to society at the time (e.g protest songs, etc.)

As for Autechre, in my opinion, they freakin' rule, they've still got it (as Exai shows) and I still love their work.

Now this is what I was talking about. Never mind if you like their music or not. To ME, Autechre will always "rule" and they will always be relevant to ME. Culturally though, and what's happening in electronic music today, I am wondering how big an influence and relevance they still have on new music.

If ideas an artists makes is taken up and expanded upon, I would consider that as "relevant".

Autechre has always had an "adult crowd" I agree, but the size of that crowd and the influence of that crowd might fluctuate.

I'm asking because I'm wondering if not Autechre has folded into its own "adult" crowd without making a wider cultural impact.

Again, I love Autechre and they will always be personally relevant to each who loves their music.