From Neal Thomas Sent Tue, Aug 4th 1998, 16:42
From Neal Thomas Sent Tue, Aug 4th 1998, 16:42
I just want to put in my 2 cents on the AE show in Vancouver. In
my opinion, and in those of my fellow concert goers, Autechre were
self-indulgent and noisy.
It was a real disappointment for me because I am a really big
fan. But as is often the case with live electronic acts, Autechre saw
fit to completely dissect all of their songs and reassemble the parts
into much grungier, less danceable, and in my opinion, less enjoyable
tracks.
The formula went like this for several songs: Start with a
stunning AE beat that causes the whole crowd to go nuts and scream and
begin to dance. Layer sound->layer->layer->layer->watch crowd stop
dancing and start scratching their heads. Either that or they were
I can appreciate that the audience would want to hear artful
rearrangement of their songs, but these tracks were beyond the pale in
terms of experimentation. They were frequently undanceable (when I say
that I don't mean 'they weren't 4/4 I couldn't handbag around the
dancefloor whine whine' I mean they were grating and inaccessible when
compared to the tens of songs that they have that make you want to wig
out).
Why don't they play the songs that are full of amazing melodies
that everyone loves? Why does a live concert from them (and others,
notably Aphex) consist of a sonic middle finger to people that pay good
money to hear what they like?
The argument goes, "If you just wanted to hear the same music
played live, then why not just stay home and crank up your stereo to get
the effect?" to which I reply that in this case, Autechre overshot the
space where artist and audience meet to have a good time.
Oh, and Perfume Tree were boilerplate d'n'b-ethereal woman's
voice.
Chantal played great tracks, but she didn't mix at all.
This review is over.