From Mark Stevens Sent Sun, Jul 26th 1998, 22:37
From Mark Stevens Sent Sun, Jul 26th 1998, 22:37
On Sun, 26 Jul 1998 17:30:51 EDT, you wrote:
>I have been having my copy of this album for a couple of days now, and I have
>listened to it about a dozen times. It is another autechre album that I have
>fallen in love with, but at the same time, I am dissapointed in some ways. I
>just wish sometimes that they would get off the minimal tip for a couple of
>tracks and write some tracks in more of a poppy structure with more of an
>obvious hook. That would be the daring thing for Ae to do in my opinion.
I hear what you're saying, about a need for a return to melody, but
then we've already got the likes of Boards of Canada, Bola, Andre
Estermann and Fakesch/Funkstörung (amongst others) mixing crunchy
beats and ambience with melody, so why should Autechre slip back into
their old ways?
Besides, the recent Gescom vinyl ("Viral" and "Viral Rival") has been
very melodic. "Viral Rival" in particular is one of the best
Booth/Brown tracks of all-time.
>It is expected that most of their tracks will be in this minimal style of slowing
>changing over time.
Stick on all five Autechre albums back-to-back and you notice a
gradual change from melodic to chaotic. Perhaps "chaotic" isn't quite
the right word, because the tracks are carefully structured. But we're
currently hearing a multitude of cunning programming techniques --
ones that other people are slowly picking up on and emulating.
The question we should be asking is not when Autechre are going to
return to pure melody, but how far they can take their programming
techniques -- and how long will it be before listeners get bored of
this style of precision techno. We all loved drill & bass when Mike &
Rich got the ball rolling, but it's starting to get a bit tiresome
now.
>Can somebody point me to some reviews of this album, or send me one of theirs
>if anybody out there has typed one up? I am interested in hearing others
>opinions.
LP5 is a natural progression from Chiastic Slide. Whilst the
programming trickery in LP5 is *very* impressive and a lot more
intricate than CS, there's nothing particularly unexpected there. I'm
not disappointed with LP5 at all -- it's my fave full-length slice of
IDM this year -- but don't expect to hear anything radical. There is
*something* missing from LP5, but I'm not sure what. Perhaps a bit
more diversity -- previous Autechre albums, especially Amber & Tri
Repetae, had a nice mixture of in-yer-face brain-rape and
soul-stroking tranquility, but LP5's tracks all operate on pretty much
the same level. Different techniques and sonic trickery, but the feel
is constant all the way through.
My favourite Autechre album of all-time is still Amber. Why? Because
everything comes together perfectly. The purple/pink sand dunes on the
cover, the silver void on the inside cover, the silver writing, the
black CD, the titles of the tracks. All of those have created half the
album's feel and mood already -- and that's before you've even pressed
play! Then the tracks hit you and the shift of moods that unfold over
the subsequent 74 minutes and 23 seconds is perfect. By the time
you've hit 'Yulquen' (the most gorgeous Autechre track ever), you feel
spiritually refreshed.
No other Autechre album has managed to do that (although Tri Repetae
comes close), which has been a personal disappointment for me. But
then I do love Chiastic Slide and LP5. But I reckon there was a lot
more mileage left in Amber's style -- no-one else really copied it
either -- which is why I'm personally half-way through writing a bunch
of tracks in a similar style. I intend to MP3 them all and stick them
up for everyone to download free. Can't say when though.
/\/)ark
http://www.sonance.demon.co.uk/