Only three months, and we've got the EP to accompany Oversteps. Thank goodness Bleep is doing American distribution. With the dollar the way it is, this would have been about $623.95 if I'd ordered it from England.
No record is worth that much unless it has Tiny Tim. We've got a recession going here, and we have to hitch a ride with the Russians just to get into orbit these days. I mean, really. One has to have priorities.
But, is it worth ten bucks? Definitely.
As usual, I never know what to expect from a new Autechre record. The fact that the Designers Republic was back on board for artwork should have been something of a clue.
This is certainly the most consistent and approachable that they've been in years. The record is restrained and focused, and there's a real emphasis on melody. They've jettisoned the hyper-abstraction and claustrophobic mixing of Untilted, and the disjointed chaos of Quaristice has been reined in. What's left is an album that doesn't convey the need to prove anything.
It's all the more satisfying for that.
This is a patient record with a unified character. There's a sense of space and breathing room that's quite welcome. The atmosphere is reminiscent of Envane's quieter moments and several tracks lack percussion entirely.
Before everyone starts screaming, "OMG ambient record! They remade Amber FTW," bear in mind that this is a more mature animal. It's learned a few things since then, and its teeth are a bit sharper than they were fifteen years ago.
The aptly-named Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae is now up in its entirety on Bleep. It's another 13 versions of tracks from Quaristice, comprising 149 minutes of material.
If you're keeping count, that's 4:50:26 of material they've released this year.
I received my hardcopy of this today. I splurged and ordered the limited-edition, which has a second disc entitled, Quaristice (Versions).
I expected the second disc to be a set of one-off remixes, but it turned out to be quite different. To put it bluntly, this is the record Quaristice should have been.
My primary complaint with the album was that the individual pieces were too short, and that it lacked a sense of overaching structure. That's not the case here.
Eleven tracks from the album proper are represented, reworked and expanded. In almost every case, they benefit tremendously. While Quaristice felt like it had quite a bit of filler, this disc seems both more disciplined and better developed.
The new Autechre record has been released a month ahead of time for download. This is a strange tactic for Warp. After all, Autechre doesn't need the buzz. They've got a built-in fanbase who will likely buy the record no matter what.
Precedent shows that Booth and Brown are somewhat averse to having their material leaked beforehand, and this may be a way of cutting that off before it starts. Before Draft 7.30 was released, someone was distributing "bootleg" advance copies which were, in fact, completely fake.
If it's not early promotion, and it's not a means to circumvent leaks, why release the record early? It could be that Warp (or the artists) lack confidence in it.
It's a harsh judgment, but Autechre have not only released some truly great music, they've rewritten a great many of the rules along the way. It's rare for an artist to become an influence within their own career, and rarer still for them to avoid treading the same ground twice. They've done both, so it's only natural to look forward to each new release with certain expectations.
I've gotten quite a bit of mail asking me why I haven't reviewed Untilted yet. To put it as plainly as possible, I don't think I will.
You see, before reviewing something, I'll listen to it in its entirety at least twice–closely, and to the exclusion of all else. That's really the only reliable (and honest) way to get a true feel for a record.
Unfortunately, I've been unable to do that with the latest Autechre because it's just plain unlistenable.
I've bested every intellectual challenge they've thrown at me, and I've found beauty in their worst moments, but this is …
There's not much going on with boys as of late. Untilted's been out for a few months now, garnering the usual dichotomy of ecstatic/confused reviews.
NME called it, "so listener-unfriendly that it's almost amusing," and Contact offers this nugget of incisive criticism:
[Untilted] would be appreciated in a half-empty, smoky room by the sort of bearded, socially deficient males who would nod their heads enthusiastically at the sound of a broken tractor (…) If you like your music challenging, rhythmically taxing, melodically lacking and generally unnerving, then check out Autechre's latest.
Yep. Well, I'm enjoying it.
That …
Just came across a post-Untilted interview on Pitchfork. Sean opens up a bit more than usual.
Confield stands in retrospect as one Autechre's best records. It's certainly not their most widely beloved or even accepted album, but it represents an important step in that it clears the slate for their entire catalog.
I suppose it was about time. They've become an influence not just in their own lifetime, but in less than a decade after starting out. In almost every new electronic record I hear, I can spot their fingerprints somewhere. For all the praise given to Richard James, it's clear that Autechre has had the greatest effect in steering the electronic scene toward what it …
Alex Reynolds has a couple of interviews archived on his site. Quite good, especially the one from 092801, in which Sean Booth lays the generative-music rumors to rest.
Just found out that this site is linked from the Wikipedia. I'm just that cool.
It's a really good and well thought-out entry, too. Not the usual, "they used to be good, but then they got skronky and weird" stuff I'm used to seeing.
