Autechre - SIGN 16.10.20

sch.mefd 2 is the fav last day or so, easily followed by si00

sean pls, bonus track, can't wait. 

Oh Hi Rob

About psin AM, I'm the first to be surprised to go crazy about this track. It shoudn't be my thing. I ask myself the same question listening to it more and more.

It doesn't lack any details, there is so much evolving during the track. Some are really far, almost hidden (but in a different way than what we are used to). Others are so intrusive that they are barely discernible and you can miss them if you are focused too much on the background. And melody is sublime. What a stange mood ! Same for th red a.

Weird but… I found myself head dancing several times. 

It's just too short, should be 25 minutes long.

(these 2 guys make me write so uninteresting things !)

Just caught a complaint on left channel at 3:34, as an example.

Or an almost hidden melody at 4:00 (no weed promise)

The opening minutes of M4 Lema teased me into thinking we were in for an inhospitable sounding album, with all its distant grumbling and whizzing. Then those luminous pads hit and its pretty much all lush from there on out.

F7 sounds like a mix of those bagpipey Coil synths from know(1) but with a Lorenzo Senni abstract trance sensibility

si00, amazing bass, haunted underwater vibes reminded me a little of Sim Gishel

esc desc sounds like an extremely stripped back take on their emotional chord progression type track a la see on see or Vletrmx21, but with super smooth & syrupy chorus.

au14, some welcome beats. Shaky digital ghost blips rattle off EP7 type beats. Reminded me a little of veKos and Sublimit.

Metaz form8. A stunning highlight, luxuriant Vangelis synths play a stately impressionist chord progression as Fennesz style fizz forms around it. 

sch.mefd 2. Evil robot hiphop track like Cfern or Prac-f, understated with an unusually straight ahead bassline

gr4. More analogue sounding arpeggiated synths, with reverb fuckery. Beatless, but rhythmic, the closest thing I'm hearing to the BoC/OPN comparisons.

th red a. Takes the approach of something like eastre or acid mwan idle, but with these new pretty, bright synths and stricter editing. The old garbled robot voices lurk in the background.

psin AM. Sounds like Arch Carrier or Acroyear2 remixed by GAS. Richly chorused chords float by a distant 4/4 and quiet, relaxing chaos.

r cazt. Another highlight. Fm trumpets swim around in reverb tails, while the high end bell synths occassionally swell up and twinkle like c-beams.

A very positive first listen, a nice chill, sad but beautiful sounding ae is just what I needed. They havent been this 'easy listening' in 20 years. I dont mind cause Im still in backlog half processing the difficult tracks off NTS.

  On 10/13/2020 at 1:17 AM, Sub0 said:

Or an almost hidden melody at 4:00 (no weed promise)

excellent

A few days after my first listen and neutral/lukewarm response, I'm now finding Sign easy to listen to as a coherent whole in one go. Jumping around and using my concentration more like a laser is normally how I interpret new Autechre stuff, especially in the NTS/AE Live inundation period. But for this one, sitting back and taking it in more passively is working for me. So I agree with people who've been saying: it's certainly an easier listen than usual. In that sense I'm interpreting it more the way I more often interpret other kinds of music.

Esc desc has currently burrowed its way deep inside my brain...can't shake it...been playing on repeat all afternoon...help me

also, does anyone remember Julian Fane? guy released 2 albums on planet mu back in the day then pretty much disappeared...anyway, pain AN totally reminds me of a track from Special Forces "darknet" similar chords maybe, plus the 4/4. 

  On 10/13/2020 at 4:51 AM, zero said:

also, does anyone remember Julian Fane? guy released 2 albums on planet mu back in the day then pretty much disappeared...anyway, pain AN totally reminds me of a track from Special Forces "darknet" similar chords maybe, plus the 4/4. 

ahaha i'd been trying to remember that guy's name for years, thx. he does a nice thom yorke impression

  On 10/13/2020 at 4:51 AM, zero said:

also, does anyone remember Julian Fane? guy released 2 albums on planet mu back in the day then pretty much disappeared...anyway, pain AN totally reminds me of a track from Special Forces "darknet" similar chords maybe, plus the 4/4. 

Ah yes Julian Fane. One of the golden IDM era artists that just disappeared off the map...99-2006 a ton of pmu artists were so amazing at least in my books and then poof they just vanished..

i love SIGN

au14

  On 10/13/2020 at 5:03 AM, Hugh Mughnus said:

Ah yes Julian Fane. One of the golden IDM era artists that just disappeared off the map...99-2006 a ton of pmu artists were so amazing at least in my books and then poof they just vanished..

I can see a 2013 album on Spotify.

Those bells in M4 Lema around 2:05-2:09 & 2:19-2:22 

when is the other album coming?

  On 10/13/2020 at 11:10 AM, dingformung said:

when is the other album coming?

@Joyrex cryptically posted "november 13" in one of the first pages of this thread...

hype af if it's that

imagine it came out tomorrow...

or in 5 minutes...

OMG

Funny how instantly, genuinely loving a record seem to be so negative according to some here.

SIGN is explicitly lush AF imo, that’s quite a musical achievement in my books. No matter the complexity in the background or whatever, the tunes are instantly gorgeous and moving. Fantastic music, no matter how it’s done.

  On 10/13/2020 at 4:31 AM, zero said:

Esc desc has currently burrowed its way deep inside my brain...can't shake it...been playing on repeat all afternoon...help me

this one really is locked into my brain full force, the intro is unlike anything else

I'm having a similar journey with SIGN that I have with basically every new Ae release. I love it on the first listen. Then I stop posting for a while where I have an internal dilemma of wondering if it's as good as I first thought it was, meanwhile I have a different track stuck in my head every day and I've listened to the full album at least once a day since I heard it on Thursday. Then it dawns on me later that of course it's fucking good, I don't repeatedly listen to hardly anything anymore, but SIGN is on regular rotation and I appreciate different tracks each more on every relisten.

SIGN is a cracker. I don't know where it sits within their discography but generally I don't see the point in doings rankings of things you love. Looking forward to receiving the physical copies so they can just sit out of sight and never get opened.

Im all set for a good ol listen later.....

  On 10/13/2020 at 11:12 AM, very honest said:

@Joyrex cryptically posted "november 13" in one of the first pages of this thread...

hype af if it's that

theory time

SIGN was premiered and made available a week prior to release, so that the announcement of the 'green album' this friday wouldn't overshadow it TOO much.

there's also something on the SIGN packaging that suggests (or outright states) that a companion album exists, which is why norman aren't allowed to show the physical artwork yet (very unusual, but see below)

nov 13 is a quick lead time from announcement to release, but if the album has been pressed already (according to that tipster) then why not get it out sooner rather than later?

giddiness intensifies.

It's beautifully paced and sequenced. It's brevity and the abruptness of many of the tracks endings is unnerving and an oddity in itself. In some ways SIGN is as obtuse and alien as the more recent work.

Elseq and NTS were long, bloody and distant wars (that's a compliment btw), SIGN is the moment of reflection and lament once it's all over, looking across the battlefield.

  On 10/13/2020 at 1:27 PM, phudoshin said:

Im all set for a good ol listen later.....

                                                                                                          I taught I saw a mad one traipsing around the cows in the early am:)

another review