Are Ae getting better as they age?

  On 11/14/2017 at 2:41 AM, auxien said:

Quaristice/Quadrange/etc. has some detailed sounds and tracks, but I don't know that there's anything that AE have ever done that's as detailed as Sublimit. I mean this may have to do with different perspectives on the word detailed in regards to music, but I dunno man...Quaristice is one of their least detailed albums, imo.

I agree with different perspectives regarding the word detailed, but the amount of detail does not correlate with quality or atmosphere. Untilted is a Hadron Collider, Quaristice is a Jules Verne novel (one day I'd like to make a 10,000 Leagues under the sea variant with Quaristice as a soundtrack). The reason Quaristice stands out among others is that it has this consistency, a story, a theme. That is of course just my personal view and does not mean I'm right or that you're wrong. Let's just enjoy music eh :)

hell yeah they are getting better as they age. onesix tour is the most astounding stuff i've ever heard, their live sets are just unreal i dont know how they do it. they just bang out hours of music as if its no big deal. i thought when listening to the older ae_live sets that they'd reached the pinnacle but they just go and outdo themselves once again (although the older ones are actually MENTAL good). once these soundboards come out i dont reckon id be able to listen to anything else for a while. 

i always find myself comparing pretty much every other artist to autechre going "hmm its good but it aint autechre...". they make me demand more from everyone else. 

  On 11/14/2017 at 3:52 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 11/14/2017 at 3:06 AM, auxien said:

I dunno if you were being rude, I was just being funny.

 

I'd be honestly curious to hear what you think 'detailed' means in music and how it relates to Untilted vs Quaristice.

Well I think Untilted had more discrete "events" as far as MIDI notes or whatever, and it may have even had more layers per track. But Quaristice had so much more nuance and atmosphere and subtle changes of color and light, and there was so much elegance and style. Untilted is sleeker and slicker, I think "sporty" is a good word. But Quaristice is so much more aesthetically sophisticated and psychedelic.

 

Take the reverb on the lead in The Plc for example. It starts out small and then it unfurls in such an organic way, then it turns into a snarl before it collapses back in on itself. And it does this subtly and musically, it's not just showing off, there's visceral feeling in it. It's not flashy drum fireworks but it sounds so lush and alive and alien. I think it sounds more like the mindbending contortions of their recent live material and elseq than anything they did in the interim years.

 

Then you have stuff like fol3 which I hated when I first heard it, skipped it every time, but I went back and started getting those weird concrète melodies stuck in my head. Maybe there aren't, like, objectively more details, but the ones that are there are so carefully curated. It all feels like the kind of dreamlike movie that lingers in your mind for weeks. Things don't appear to make sense at first but you start to see the internal logic of it all and then you can't imagine it any other way.

 

Also not to pick on the other feller but I resent the notion that live jams are somehow inferior to megalomaniacal musical planning. I don't trust a knob twiddler who always trusts his brain over his fingers.

Thanks for the detailed (HA) reply :)

I think I'm starting to see what you're seeing there, Q definitely has a lot more atmosphere and perhaps even more nuance. But to me that's not detail.

Detail in general refers to going over something specifically and particularly. A detailed report versus a regular report would have more specifics, more facts and contrasts, more research, more numbers...in my mind those very specific and exact things makes something more detailed, in general.

Also I'm sure there was a lot of detail put in when editing down those jams for Q...but yeah sweep, you've got a totally different definition of detailed music than me. Both are great albums of course :)

  On 11/15/2017 at 1:51 AM, auxien said:

I think I'm starting to see what you're seeing there, Q definitely has a lot more atmosphere and perhaps even more nuance. But to me that's not detail.

 

Detail in general refers to going over something specifically and particularly. A detailed report versus a regular report would have more specifics, more facts and contrasts, more research, more numbers...in my mind those very specific and exact things makes something more detailed, in general.

 

Also I'm sure there was a lot of detail put in when editing down those jams for Q...but yeah sweep, you've got a totally different definition of detailed music than me. Both are great albums of course :)

OK, we can agree to disagree, I don't really care about the definition of the stupid word. I will clarify that what annoyed me about Stickfigger's post wasn't the idea that there was less "detail" (whatever that means!) but that Quaristice was somehow an artistic step backward from Untilted, where I think it is orders of magnitude more mature and interesting. Which could be the result of life experience, introspection, and evolution in taste as much as technical ability. But for my money it's also technically more mature and exciting.

Also, it has an interesting history in the context of Untilted because it's made of mutations of its live set. This material spent time on the road getting tweaked, simmering (becoming more detailed, you might say, or even getting better with age!) in the dank Autechre pot, so it has a unique place in their catalog and I think its origin is important in understanding its aesthetics. It is almost by definition more fine-tuned than Untilted, even if there seems to be less going on there.

Like, maybe some of what you guys perceive as a lack of detail is itself actually another form of detail... you know what I mean? Trimming back, subtraction, moving things around a bit. And it replaced much of the vector/geometric/synthetic detail with photographic/textural/natural detail, which I love.

That dude likes Oversteps more than Exai, too, though, and I'm not even gonna go there, so, yeah, we're probably just at opposite ends of the Autechre/autism spectrum.

Exai was my favorite in a while. I like it more than Confield. 

Autechre is actually an anagram for salmon

Graevlaex

yes, they're getting better as they age, like good wine ! 

  On 11/14/2017 at 3:52 AM, sweepstakes said:

Well I think Untilted had more discrete "events" as far as MIDI notes or whatever, and it may have even had more layers per track. But Quaristice had so much more nuance and atmosphere and subtle changes of color and light, and there was so much elegance and style. Untilted is sleeker and slicker, I think "sporty" is a good word. But Quaristice is so much more aesthetically sophisticated and psychedelic.

 

Take the reverb on the lead in The Plc for example. It starts out small and then it unfurls in such an organic way, then it turns into a snarl before it collapses back in on itself. And it does this subtly and musically, it's not just showing off, there's visceral feeling in it. It's not flashy drum fireworks but it sounds so lush and alive and alien. I think it sounds more like the mindbending contortions of their recent live material and elseq than anything they did in the interim years.

 

Then you have stuff like fol3 which I hated when I first heard it, skipped it every time, but I went back and started getting those weird concrète melodies stuck in my head. Maybe there aren't, like, objectively more details, but the ones that are there are so carefully curated. It all feels like the kind of dreamlike movie that lingers in your mind for weeks. Things don't appear to make sense at first but you start to see the internal logic of it all and then you can't imagine it any other way.

 

Also not to pick on the other feller but I resent the notion that live jams are somehow inferior to megalomaniacal musical planning. I don't trust a knob twiddler who always trusts his brain over his fingers.

This post prompted me to listen to Quaristice over the weekend with your comments in mind, and as a result the album's gone way up in my estimation. So thanks for that.

  On 11/20/2017 at 4:01 PM, Rotwang said:

This post prompted me to listen to Quaristice over the weekend with your comments in mind, and as a result the album's gone way up in my estimation. So thanks for that.

  On 11/20/2017 at 4:01 PM, Rotwang said:

 

  On 11/14/2017 at 3:52 AM, sweepstakes said:

Well I think Untilted had more discrete "events" as far as MIDI notes or whatever, and it may have even had more layers per track. But Quaristice had so much more nuance and atmosphere and subtle changes of color and light, and there was so much elegance and style. Untilted is sleeker and slicker, I think "sporty" is a good word. But Quaristice is so much more aesthetically sophisticated and psychedelic.

 

Take the reverb on the lead in The Plc for example. It starts out small and then it unfurls in such an organic way, then it turns into a snarl before it collapses back in on itself. And it does this subtly and musically, it's not just showing off, there's visceral feeling in it. It's not flashy drum fireworks but it sounds so lush and alive and alien. I think it sounds more like the mindbending contortions of their recent live material and elseq than anything they did in the interim years.

 

Then you have stuff like fol3 which I hated when I first heard it, skipped it every time, but I went back and started getting those weird concrète melodies stuck in my head. Maybe there aren't, like, objectively more details, but the ones that are there are so carefully curated. It all feels like the kind of dreamlike movie that lingers in your mind for weeks. Things don't appear to make sense at first but you start to see the internal logic of it all and then you can't imagine it any other way.

 

Also not to pick on the other feller but I resent the notion that live jams are somehow inferior to megalomaniacal musical planning. I don't trust a knob twiddler who always trusts his brain over his fingers.

very nice review

Quaristice and Exai are my favourite Autechre albums, the new onesix stuff sounds amazing as well. 

"Yes."

  On 11/15/2017 at 3:37 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 11/15/2017 at 1:51 AM, auxien said:

I think I'm starting to see what you're seeing there, Q definitely has a lot more atmosphere and perhaps even more nuance. But to me that's not detail.

 

Detail in general refers to going over something specifically and particularly. A detailed report versus a regular report would have more specifics, more facts and contrasts, more research, more numbers...in my mind those very specific and exact things makes something more detailed, in general.

 

Also I'm sure there was a lot of detail put in when editing down those jams for Q...but yeah sweep, you've got a totally different definition of detailed music than me. Both are great albums of course :)

OK, we can agree to disagree, I don't really care about the definition of the stupid word. I will clarify that what annoyed me about Stickfigger's post wasn't the idea that there was less "detail" (whatever that means!) but that Quaristice was somehow an artistic step backward from Untilted, where I think it is orders of magnitude more mature and interesting. Which could be the result of life experience, introspection, and evolution in taste as much as technical ability. But for my money it's also technically more mature and exciting.

 

Also, it has an interesting history in the context of Untilted because it's made of mutations of its live set. This material spent time on the road getting tweaked, simmering (becoming more detailed, you might say, or even getting better with age!) in the dank Autechre pot, so it has a unique place in their catalog and I think its origin is important in understanding its aesthetics. It is almost by definition more fine-tuned than Untilted, even if there seems to be less going on there.

 

Like, maybe some of what you guys perceive as a lack of detail is itself actually another form of detail... you know what I mean? Trimming back, subtraction, moving things around a bit. And it replaced much of the vector/geometric/synthetic detail with photographic/textural/natural detail, which I love.

 

That dude likes Oversteps more than Exai, too, though, and I'm not even gonna go there, so, yeah, we're probably just at opposite ends of the Autechre/autism spectrum.

 

I totally forgot to reply to this...I'd say that Q was a step 'backwards' from Untilted in just the way of its actual execution and sounds, but that's NOT a bad thing! And it certainly doesn't mean one is 'better' than the other or more/less mature, etc., it's just approached and executed in different ways...and yes I'd say that Q does contain tons of detail, and if Q were written by nearly any other musicians I'd say you have an argument calling it 'detailed' but in the context of reality, it having been written by Autechre, it is not as detailed as much of their other work...again, you're using the word detail in much different ways than I really ever would to describe music, but that's whatever....it's all good. And I do totally get what you're saying.

Also, Oversteps is DEFINITELY better than Exai. Sorry. :D

I probably sound like I'm trying to be contrarian or just pick out shit with you but I promise I'm not! Just discussing. :)

  On 11/28/2017 at 5:21 AM, auxien said:

I totally forgot to reply to this...I'd say that Q was a step 'backwards' from Untilted in just the way of its actual execution and sounds, but that's NOT a bad thing! And it certainly doesn't mean one is 'better' than the other or more/less mature, etc., it's just approached and executed in different ways...and yes I'd say that Q does contain tons of detail, and if Q were written by nearly any other musicians I'd say you have an argument calling it 'detailed' but in the context of reality, it having been written by Autechre, it is not as detailed as much of their other work...again, you're using the word detail in much different ways than I really ever would to describe music, but that's whatever....it's all good. And I do totally get what you're saying.

 

Also, Oversteps is DEFINITELY better than Exai. Sorry. :D

 

I probably sound like I'm trying to be contrarian or just pick out shit with you but I promise I'm not! Just discussing. :)

Oh it's all good. No need to apologize, but I will say that when someone says Oversteps is better than Exai I seriously think to myself, OK, we have some irreconcilable differences in taste, lol. That is completely unfathomable to me, the statement can only be true in an aesthetic universe that my mind simply cannot enter. Strokes, folks, pineapples, pizzas, etc.

exai is still my go-to year 3040 albu

Exai is the only AE i cant enjoy at all , while i still discover new details on other records exai is too foreseeable and boring for me


 

  On 11/29/2017 at 9:17 PM, Kavinsky said:

Exai is the only AE i cant enjoy at all , while i still discover new details on other records exai is too foreseeable and boring for me

 

 

 

I feel that way towards about 1/3 of the tracks, but the good stuff is really good.

  On 11/28/2017 at 7:13 AM, sweepstakes said:

Strokes, folks, pineapples, pizzas, etc.

i don't know if 'detailed' is the word i would use for Quaristice. maybe 'subtle' is a better description. more nuanced than Untilted. more shades. more organic.

to me, Untilted is like some hyper detailed cubist painting. Quaristice is more like wildstyle graffiti. still technical but more loose & funky.

a lot of it comes down to how the 2 albums were made. Untilted was all intense midi programming. taking time to program & chain together all sorts of sequences. Quaristice was all jammed out realtime.

when i listen to Quaristice, i can really hear their hands on the controls. I think it's the album that is the most 'them' as people. when you hear something change on that album, you know for the most part a hand was moving a fader, or triggering a button, or whatever. i really felt their unique sense of rhythm & timing with all of their Quaristice stuff, and the relative sparseness of the tracks allows you to hear all the things they are doing more clearly.

  On 12/1/2017 at 6:24 AM, digit said:

i don't know if 'detailed' is the word i would use for Quaristice. maybe 'subtle' is a better description. more nuanced than Untilted. more shades. more organic.

 

to me, Untilted is like some hyper detailed cubist painting. Quaristice is more like wildstyle graffiti. still technical but more loose & funky.

 

a lot of it comes down to how the 2 albums were made. Untilted was all intense midi programming. taking time to program & chain together all sorts of sequences. Quaristice was all jammed out realtime.

 

when i listen to Quaristice, i can really hear their hands on the controls. I think it's the album that is the most 'them' as people. when you hear something change on that album, you know for the most part a hand was moving a fader, or triggering a button, or whatever. i really felt their unique sense of rhythm & timing with all of their Quaristice stuff, and the relative sparseness of the tracks allows you to hear all the things they are doing more clearly.

Yeah well put, I think this is the most accurate and also explains why I love it the most.

Would enjoy this thread if they were actually still releasing stuff.

Might as well change the title to "Were Ae getting better as they aged?"

  On 12/1/2017 at 7:50 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 12/1/2017 at 6:24 AM, digit said:

i don't know if 'detailed' is the word i would use for Quaristice. maybe 'subtle' is a better description. more nuanced than Untilted. more shades. more organic.

 

to me, Untilted is like some hyper detailed cubist painting. Quaristice is more like wildstyle graffiti. still technical but more loose & funky.

 

a lot of it comes down to how the 2 albums were made. Untilted was all intense midi programming. taking time to program & chain together all sorts of sequences. Quaristice was all jammed out realtime.

 

when i listen to Quaristice, i can really hear their hands on the controls. I think it's the album that is the most 'them' as people. when you hear something change on that album, you know for the most part a hand was moving a fader, or triggering a button, or whatever. i really felt their unique sense of rhythm & timing with all of their Quaristice stuff, and the relative sparseness of the tracks allows you to hear all the things they are doing more clearly.

Yeah well put, I think this is the most accurate and also explains why I love it the most.

 

Agreed, good description digit.

  On 12/1/2017 at 8:20 AM, goDel said:

Would enjoy this thread if they were actually still releasing stuff.

 

Might as well change the title to "Were Ae getting better as they aged?"

You, you shut the hell up. IT WILL HAPPEN. They've certainly been more consistently releasing over the last decade than any other featured artists around here so yeah. They can take a year off if they want.

  On 12/1/2017 at 8:20 AM, goDel said:

 

Would enjoy this thread if they were actually still releasing stuff.

 

Might as well change the title to "Were Ae getting better as they aged?"

You, you shut the hell up. IT WILL HAPPEN. They've certainly been more consistently releasing over the last decade than any other featured artists around here so yeah. They can take a year off if they want.

Lol, yeah.

No one knows what goes on in people's lives. For all we know they could have been dealing with death and sickness for the past year. And they've got no obligation to us anyway.

That being said in my head I'm going "Sean pls" every time I look at watmm.

Ffs

Argh quoting

I give up

  On 12/1/2017 at 2:45 PM, auxien said:

 

  On 12/1/2017 at 7:50 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 12/1/2017 at 6:24 AM, digit said:

i don't know if 'detailed' is the word i would use for Quaristice. maybe 'subtle' is a better description. more nuanced than Untilted. more shades. more organic.

 

to me, Untilted is like some hyper detailed cubist painting. Quaristice is more like wildstyle graffiti. still technical but more loose & funky.

 

a lot of it comes down to how the 2 albums were made. Untilted was all intense midi programming. taking time to program & chain together all sorts of sequences. Quaristice was all jammed out realtime.

 

when i listen to Quaristice, i can really hear their hands on the controls. I think it's the album that is the most 'them' as people. when you hear something change on that album, you know for the most part a hand was moving a fader, or triggering a button, or whatever. i really felt their unique sense of rhythm & timing with all of their Quaristice stuff, and the relative sparseness of the tracks allows you to hear all the things they are doing more clearly.

Yeah well put, I think this is the most accurate and also explains why I love it the most.

Agreed, good description digit.

 

  On 12/1/2017 at 8:20 AM, goDel said:

Would enjoy this thread if they were actually still releasing stuff.

 

Might as well change the title to "Were Ae getting better as they aged?"

You, you shut the hell up. IT WILL HAPPEN. They've certainly been more consistently releasing over the last decade than any other featured artists around here so yeah. They can take a year off if they want.

Yep, this.

I wonder if el-seq will be their DOS moment or not