Re: [microsound] new autechre

["Mr.D" <craque@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Booth and Brown have been 'getting back to their roots', so to speak,  
according to them. They've ditched generative music algorithm stuff  
that was so prevalent on Confield. I think one of their max/msp  
patches for that album got circulated.

I got Untilted a few days ago, and dived headlong into it driving to  
work (1.5 hours) this morning. This was my second listen, but the  
first deep one, and after my initial impression yesterday of "does it  
all sound like this?" I have grown to like parts of a few tracks, but  
not all of them. I am not real impressed by this outing.

Not a lot from this work draws me in. Track 3 and 8 are the most  
interesting musically for me, the rest of them feel loosely strung  
along, as if they are a lot of ideas with no common thread. Some of  
the ideas work, but a lot of them don't, or just don't present me  
personally with very rich depth or character. Of the other tracks,  
about 5 of them would have been more enjoyable if they only included  
the final 2-4 minutes of the track, because those minutes are more  
interesting and have nothing to do with the beginning for some  
reason. Track 5 is just plain boring.

Confield, EP5, and Tri Repetate are my favorite albums from those  
guys, and they haven't come close to presenting the same kind of  
unified, solidity that I expect from good Autechre. Very disappointed  
in this one. The sounds aren't new, the structures are basic and  
simple, and I'd probably 'accept' them more if they were live  
improvisations... because that's what they sound like, but with no  
beginning or end. It's like we dropped in on the middle of an improv  
that had 5 minutes of great lead-up and development beforehand. On  
this album, Autechre has perfected the mimicking of their mimickers!  
I do not like that it's heavy on the loop side either, it only adds  
to the tedium.

Straight up, it's interesting, it's not their worst, but they've done  
much much better.

m


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