Jeff Andrews wrote:
quoted 7 lines I personally think they are quite over-rated. They> I personally think they are quite over-rated. They
> are more interesting than good, in my opinion.
> I appreciate why they are important to the techno
> community, but I would liken their music to a lot of the
> cubist paintings by Picasso: I can respect the skill in
> making the art and understand its importance but can
> derive only slight pleasure from it.
Couldn't have put it better myself; I feel exactly the same way.
quoted 3 lines I have most of their stuff, and like listening to it> I have most of their stuff, and like listening to it
> once or twice, but I've never been able to get into
> an entire Autechre CD/LP.quoted 7 lines When they played live in Hollywood their music took> When they played live in Hollywood their music took
> a long time to develop. A lot of the stuff they did
> was very technically unique, but I thought a lot of the
> stuff they played didn't really go anywhere. Their music
> is clearly genuine, and this post is not intended
> to show any disrespect for them. I just wanted to
> offer a dissenting opinion...
I, too, am in awe of their technique--there are specific things that impress
me greatly--the tightness and micro-precision of their rhythms, and the sheer
discipline and control in general. Unfortunately, that is also (to my ears)
their downfall--there isn't a whole lot of spontenaity and emotion, which are
two qualities I admire, even (and perhaps especially) in the superficial
rigidity of programmed electronic music.
I would make the same criticism (to a lesser extent) of recent Atom Heart--
although the high goofiness factor lets him off the hook somewhat when it
comes to the spontenaity bit! I know I'm in a minority here but I miss the
raw, dark emotion of the early Lassigue Bendthaus stuff.
What this really boils down to is individual taste, but I have to say that
like Jeff, while I buy all the Autechre that I run into, my heart isn't in it--
it's more like reading an interesting textbook than getting swept away by an
amazing story.
Ashok