Are Ae getting better as they age?

They ain't taking their foot off the gas with these new sets, that's for damn sure. These mutha's are as obsessed with sound as they were in the 90's. Some of the sections in the new sets are otherworldly. I probably need to revisit confield soon to properly compare. I dunno, it seems like they've moved up a notch lately?

yeah ae are always next level though with anything new they put out

  On 12/11/2015 at 12:57 AM, Bread said:

yeah ae are always next level though with anything new they put out

Agreed

For my part, all their output stands one step ahead of the previous one. They never stopped, and have consistently passed over the present.

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

... while I was writing the post, Bread preceded me with an identical one, so I fell into a redundancy: sorry!

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:13 AM, Deer said:

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

 

epic!

From this:

... to this:

http://pro.beatport.com/track/osla-for-n-original-mix/4837269

And I am not even being facetious! I love it all!

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:16 AM, AE35unit said:

... while I was writing the post, Bread preceded me with an identical one, so I fell into a redundancy: sorry!

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:13 AM, Deer said:

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

 

epic!

Agreed!

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:13 AM, Deer said:

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

 

Top right corner is my fav

Anyway, in recent years I definitely see this as a big progression from the EP7/Confield/gantz days

Though to be honest I can't say "every" release improves on the last

Quaristice was a nice spin off of the ideas in untilted sort of, but not a forward step but more a branch sideways

But Exai is basically the perfect follow up to gantz/draft which was the perfect follow up to ep7/Confield

And this live stuff is probably the perfect apex of everything autechre is and has ever been

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:13 AM, Deer said:

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

 

perfect

  On 12/11/2015 at 2:43 AM, StephenG said:

 

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:13 AM, Deer said:

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

 

perfect

Hard to say wether or when they reached their peak when they continuously redefine what "peak" means.

In my book at least these days (Exai, L-Event, AE_Live) they reached a perfect marriage between viscerality and sophistication, a venture starting around Untilted after a tendency towards the more cerebral culminating with Draft.

Oversteps seemed to be more of a one-off sidestep.

Oh and their production skills also certainly improved, all recent releases have a sick plasticity turned up loud i miss when revisiting the older stuff. But that might stem from sound design choices.

Blah anyway: Good days to be an AE fan fo sho :)

I'm inclined to say yes. After everything I've experienced from their Ae Live soundboards plus actually seeing them IRL for the first time this year, I feel as though all of their studio releases up to this point were all one long warm-up exercise put together, more than two decades in the making.

They're basically an unstoppable force, if they so choose.

  On 12/11/2015 at 12:36 AM, Schlitze said:

They ain't taking their foot off the gas

This quote sums it up for me really. The better/best/worst discussion is pretty insignificant, imo. As I don't believe in better or worse when it comes to something subjective like art. It's more about the evolution. And it's exactly this where ae seems to excel at. They're almost the embodiment of evolution. And it doesn't sound like they're at some endphase.

  On 12/11/2015 at 8:40 AM, ambermonk said:

unstoppable force

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure this title https://venetiansnares.bandcamp.com/album/a-giant-alien-force-more-violent-sick-than-anything-you-can-imagine is paraphrased from an LP5 review but can't seem to find it now.

Anyone remember it?

absolutely yes! they are one of few musicians keeps getting better and being creative, every album is a quality release and distinct from previous ones, imho, can't find anyone else keep being that much creative for 20+ years.

Yeah the AE LIVE sets are some of my favorite autechrian releases, as a die hard fan, i'm totally impressed (even surprised) by the brillance of their latest work.

I'd love to see some "People listening to Ae for the first time" videos and i mean a sit through of one of their AE_LIVE sets on decent speakers.. from teens to grannys, dj's to ISIS members.

Hell i'd love to see even a die-hard fan reaction!

Youtube gold

  On 12/11/2015 at 1:13 AM, Deer said:

Autechre's evolution in my opinion ..

 

this could not be more any more accurate

I wouldn't say they're getting better, or worse (Chiastic Slide is still my favourite album, perhaps mainly due to nostalgia, but Exai definitely gives it a run for its money). But they've never rested on their laurels or been content to settle into a particular sound and flog it to death. They're still consistently pushing the envelope and every release sounds like something new.

Even when I don't necessarily love an album or track, I can hear that they're trying to progress.

They've made so many quality releases that if I don't like something it's probably my fault :)

While imo most bands would profit if they'd just call it quits after releasing 2-3 good albums before producing mediocre/bad stuff, Autechre are one of the few groups that constantly progress and create interesting music. Cheers to Sam and Bob for almost 30 years of amazing sounds!

Aint nobody in 2015 getting up there playing shows as good as this shit. And its 21 years old. Honestly when you think about it, we probably only really seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of what they have done and are capable of. I kind of see them as this untouchable pillar in music that no one will ever truly ever come close to or fully comprehend.

And yea Exai and all of the 2014 / 2015 live sets are totally pushing boundaries in ways that no one else really is.

They are the ones who know how to tread the perfect path between a tune and experimental sound. They are the navigators of the highest order.

Liking the cat drawing analogy. To my nerdy mind, Ae's evolution is like the bifurcation deriving from the logistic equation

http://hypertech.deviantart.com/art/bifurcation-theory-155672953