Re: (idm) Future Autechre?

From Ed Hall
Sent Mon, Jun 14th 1999, 05:22

> >>trying to predict the future is as pointless as this posting.
> >
> >That may be so, but that doesn't preclude the fact that trying to
> >predict the future can also be fun. All I'm trying to do is guess when
> >the human element will be completely removed from Autechre's music.
> 
> Maybe it already has has been ;)

Something interesting: if you ask someone to compose a list of random
numbers, they will always create a list with some sort of pattern.
Humanity will appear--it just isn't possible for humans to produce
things which don't have humanity.

I frankly think AE are headed in an exciting direction.  LP5 showed
very clearly that they were departing from earlier forms, but to me
at least it wasn't fully formed--it was pretty hit-and-miss.  EP7 shows
that they've developed greater facility with their new textures and
techniques.  It has more warmth than anything they've done since Amber,
IMHO.

I've been listening to electronic music for decades, and "lack of
human element" is almost always the first thing that people damn
it with.  It's funny to read the same types of criticisms here from
folks who should know better.  I take it as a sign that Messrs Booth
and Brown might well be onto something when the general reaction here
is "I don't know what it is, but I don't like it."

As for messages from "personal name"--they may be a hoax, or we may
have been the recipient of one of the biggest raspberries in the
history of the Internet.  In either case, I found them pretty damn
entertaining.

                -Ed