Re: [microsound] Autechre in the shade of mystical fetishes

[Assaf Gidron <agidron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I´d have to agree...and to me this is definitely not a good thing. So many
> Autechre tracks have been ruined because of the sheer triviality/banality of
> the melodies,

I think most of their melodies are quite beutyful although sometimes
trivial, mostly because of the way they are fitted so nicely with the rest
of the track, they have a way of creating tracks that are rich and yet sound
very tight, all the instruments flowing together to create this mass of
sound, beyond its components. I admit in their later outputs they have some
weaker points but I think thats because they experiment more and the outcome
is sometimes very successful.

> Parmegiani and Bayle and Randall Smith et al can do incredible things in the
> electroacoustic/acousmatic realm without resorting to melody. Why can´t
> Autechre do the same within Electronica?

I dont think they are resorting to melody, its always been their style - to
combine simple yet enchanting melodies with more complex structures, I think
the melodies are an importent component of their work.

> ....the not-so-elegant return to the original topic: perhaps Autechre have a
> bit of a fetish for sterile, hummable, sappy ^tunes^?

I dont see how a tune can be a fetish, and anyway I think their tune writing
capabilities are quite impressive - as tunes these melodies work admirably,
as they are catchy, sometimes melancholic and almost never ____ (I have no
idea how to say what I mean in english so i'll let you feel in the blank,
hoping that you think as I do :) though I do think they have a tendancy to
recycle themselves.

IMO melody can play a beutyful part in electronic music, especialy when its
kept simple and to the point, for example it supplie a well rounded contrast
to a more harsh-digi sounding complex counterpart, at least in the case of
the song like qualities of a peace. I do think that there are places in
music that you dont take your song bag with you when you visit them, but
thats another case, and autechre is a good exaple for the first case - a
more song oriented environment.

few positive examples:
4/chicli (chiastic slide)
3/rae (LP5)
9/zeiss... (EP7) (quite the opposite - simple beats to beutyful digi-melody)
11/pir (EP7)

Oh and in case you were wandering this isnt another 'praise autechre' mail,
but an argue for the use of melody in songs :)

- Assaf