quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN Ok, i think that this "experimental/abstract" thread needs some "emotion" (lol) and hence, i think "Port-Royal" (a band that blends experimental/ electronical/IDM with post-rock) are very appropriate for the job. Their second album, "Afraid To Dance" (released last year) has allready worn-out from extensive playing! Port-Royal - "Bahnhof Zoo" (one of their darker works. Sounds like a cross between Telefon Tel Aviv and Labradford) Port-Royal - "Roliga Timmen (Longing Macines)" (nice and emotional. Almost a cross between Telefon Tel Aviv and M83)

I love that album. It has a nice balance and an intresting mixture of elements, it doesn't scream "idm" to your face and tbh i don't think it's very idm or abstract at all. But i love those crunchy beats in tracks like Putin vs Valery, great stuff.

The timing is impeccable, and the tracks edits are very impressive. Notably the retrigger effect which then pitch shifts down into a star wars like explosion.

Bloody clever.

But listenable by 99.99% of the population? Negative.

It even gives me a headache after a while.

___________________
Nothing lasts, nothing lasts, everything is changing into something else. Nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong, everything is on track...

You know, William Blake said... uh, nothing is lost. Nothing is lost and I... I really believe that, we only move on...

It's not complex, it's complicated.

That said, I don't find it the track very clever, as pointed above, Amon Tobin actually makes better and smarter track. Autechre has

It's not complex, it's complicated.

That said, I don't find it the track very clever, as pointed above, Amon Tobin actually makes better and smarter tracks. Autechre has all the qualities applying for snobbery.

quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN If it is Autechre, its all about the first two albums mate, "Incanabula" and "Amber". Seriously they are both very emotional(!), very melodic and atmospheric, they have nothing to do with later works (whilst "Tri Repetae++" was also interesting, it doesn't match the brilliance of those two IMO) which are just interesting experimentally, but dull musically. The first one, "Incanabula" is very futuristic and atmospheric, i always get pictures of cities shocked in neon-lites and stuff and it is quite emotional as well. The second one-"Amber" is a persoanl favorite of mine. It has this ambient-childhood innocence to it and also radiates a kind of strange spiritualism as well. MUST listen!

That's nice to hear, I might check 'em out when I catch some more free time.

quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN As for Aphex Twin, i think that he is equally-or even more-experimental in comparison to Autechre. Remember, experimental does not equal noise and number of glitches per minute. Listen to "Richard D. James album" and to "I Care Because You Do". Both are very experimental and you'll see very forward-thinking stuff like glitch-core (?) mixed with classical-style violins (!). He was deffinitely one of the first (or even the first) to do such stuff.

Well, this is how I see things... It's very hard to define boundaries of IDM and such music, but I always considered Aphex Twin to be pure and definitive IDM (or braindance, as he likes to classify his music), and Autechre to be on the far experimental side of things. I've got all of Aphex Twins albums and now that I think of it, it's funny to say "this is more experimental and this is less experimental". Actually, both artists are equally experimental because IDM itself is experimental, it's just that Autechre (from what I've heard) has more glitchy works (such as Gantz Graf) than Aphex Twin and Aphex Twin has more works such as 4 and Milkman that sound more musical than Autechre... If you get my drift. But then again, Aphex Twin has works like Ventolin and Complex Mathematical Equation which further proves my point, it's all experimental.

Last edited by Gauss on Jul-26-2008 at 14:55

quote:

Originally posted by SMC I love that album. It has a nice balance and an intresting mixture of elements, it doesn't scream "idm" to your face and tbh i don't think it's very idm or abstract at all. But i love those crunchy beats in tracks like Putin vs Valery, great stuff.

Yes, its probably not IDM, more to the ambient/post-rock/shoegazey type of stuff. It just uses IDM-type beats for the rhythmical component which makes a very interesting result together with the reverbarated quitars, the ethereal synths and stuff. Its not that abstract yes, but then again ,i never got what we mean by "abstract"? Because i've seen it used for all (kinda leftfield/alternative) downtempo/electronica releases, not for some "abstract" (in the literal sense) non-linear noisy and obscure sound (as is the case here). If its only the second then i don't thing there is much to find in Youtube.

awesome. truly the video makes it worth watching.

quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN If it is Autechre, its all about the first two albums mate, "Incanabula" and "Amber". Seriously they are both very emotional(!), very melodic and atmospheric, they have nothing to do with later works (whilst "Tri Repetae++" was also interesting, it doesn't match the brilliance of those two IMO) which are just interesting experimentally, but dull musically. The first one, "Incanabula" is very futuristic and atmospheric, i always get pictures of cities shocked in neon-lites and stuff and it is quite emotional as well. The second one-"Amber" is a persoanl favorite of mine. It has this ambient-childhood innocence to it and also radiates a kind of strange spiritualism as well. MUST listen!

I think that departure from melodic sound of Incunabula and especially Amber to highly experimental sound of, for example, LP5, Confield and Untilted is the greatest move Ae could make. With these early albums they proved that they can make beautiful and musically very interesting music, but they would became pretty dull if they continued with this sound. So they moved towards music that can truly reveal how technically skilled they really are. Without that transition, they would never become what they are today. I mean, I absolutely love Incunabula and Amber, but that two albums are very easy to get into, they are not detailed as their later works and if I want to hear some real experimentation I won't listen to them. And let's not forget the fact that there are plenty of IDM albums out there similar to them, while there's significantly lower number of albums similar to LP5 for example. So maybe for you it's all about their first two albums, but the great(er) part of Ae fanbase (me included) loves their later phase more than their first phase.

You gotta listen to the later stuff loud!!!!!

But on the new Ae album they have some more accessible tracks on there too.

quote:

Originally posted by JakeC You gotta listen to the later stuff loud!!!!!

Agreed. And it's all about the details, so repeat listens are a must.


BTW, I saw Luke Vibert for the first time last night and he played some fucked up stuff. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything like that on YT, so here's Natural Suction (very cool transition to jungle in the middle) also known as Snapping Fuss from Avantgardism EP:

quote:

Originally posted by sljiva I think that departure from melodic sound of Incunabula and especially Amber to highly experimental sound of, for example, LP5, Confield and Untilted is the greatest move Ae could make. With these early albums they proved that they can make beautiful and musically very interesting music, but they would became pretty dull if they continued with this sound. So they moved towards music that can truly reveal how technically skilled they really are. Without that transition, they would never become what they are today. I mean, I absolutely love Incunabula and Amber, but that two albums are very easy to get into, they are not detailed as their later works and if I want to hear some real experimentation I won't listen to them. And let's not forget the fact that there are plenty of IDM albums out there similar to them, while there's significantly lower number of albums similar to LP5 for example. So maybe for you it's all about their first two albums, but the great(er) part of Ae fanbase (me included) loves their later phase more than their first phase.

I don't think that many people think of Autechre today as something great. I mean i have the impression that Autechre are all about the classic Warp records. I think that everyone things that the first three albums are the absolute Autechre masterpieces, in the same way that the first albym by Bola "Soup" is the masterpiece and so on. Also you are wrong in saying that these albums are "easy" and "similar" to other ones. When these albums were released, they were a few of a kind and not that "easy"! I personally find albums like "Amber" magical because they are in balance between the cold and the warm, the machine and the soul, the artificial and the natural. Listen to the harsh-at-times exploding beats accompanying the enigmatic ambient melodies, it is really a second-to-none musical experience that arises from such contrasts. I can understand that later albums are interesting and complex experiments, but IMO there is nothing musical about them.


I also thing that you over-stretch the word "technical" as well. Autechre are no Jazz musicians building their so-complex tunes on live improvisation. They are standard electronic musicians and being standard electronic musicians, they build their tunes on sequencers. And when you put a sequence of drum-beats on a sequencer, selecting the speed and the automated filtration, then, the so-called complexity some-how decreases to only some-really good- studio-trickery. Yes, Autechre are "technical", but not "technical musicians", just very good studio engineers. I mean i could be impressed if i saw the first track you posted played by someone live in a synth(!!!), but this is definitelly not the case. More like programmed excellently in Cu-Base. being such, i could see that later Autechre works are interesting, but to me they are just that, interesting auditory experiments, rather then interesting pieces of music. One can really don't have a clue about the basic notes and still create this stuff. Is it experimental? Yes it is. Is it glorious music? Hell no! Just my opinion

Last edited by PETRAN on Mar-31-2008 at 02:19