Autechre is amazing, and I'm not just being a die hard fan. After hearing
the show on Friday, I went back and listened to Amber- I find that it sounds
simple now.
I think there is a phenomenon that happens with their music- it can either
sound orderd, wiht layers building upon layers, or they can sound very
chatoic. I've been to shows that sounded chaotic to me, and very clear to
other people. The show on Friday was very clear to me, and chaotic to some
other people I was with. You have to pay attention and not miss the hook- if
you are listening then you can fall into the fold and hear apparent and
playful patterns. The show on Friday was dark, and moody, and tight as hell.
Rob Hall is one of the smoothest dj's ever, and his label is amazing. Mad
props.
Russell Haswell's set on Friday was simply obnoxious, to the point of making
me dizzy-his set today at Princton was a bit more ordered- but he managed to
blow away the other cover bands playing on the neighboring lawns with brazen
abstract noise. That was awesome- everyone from the neighboring show was
turned around as if to say "what the fuck"- as their cover band struggled to
compete fort heir attention. Everyone was riveted to the meteor shower of
electronica. So funny!
Autechre rules- if you can't hear it- then you are missing the point. You
should just leave, and come back later.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Hoffman [mailto:supine@bway.net]
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2001 12:33 AM
To: IDM List
Subject: [idm] Autechre at Bowery Ballroom
just back from seeing Autechre at Bowery Ballroom, NYC.
Rob Hall, the tedious opener, chased the crowd downstairs for a few
drinks. Then Autechre came out and played some pretty good (and
occasionally great) music, but they never managed to electrify the
crowd, which wound up talking loudly through most of the set (one
could construe that to mean that the music wasn't loud enough, I
suppose). After a couple of things with a surprisingly
straightforward techno underpinning, they settled into their patented
random time-signiture onslaught. there were too many songs of similar
character and intensity -- drum heavy, uptempo. it was easy to glaze
over. The few times the crowd roused to cheers happened at a couple
of points where they finally switched to a slower groove.
nonetheless, if one closed one's eyes, there was plenty going on,
more riches than one could keep up with at times. no one does it
quite like them, despite routine allegations to the contrary. would
have been happier closing my eyes in a more comfortable and intimate
space than Bowery Ballroom, but what the hell.
k
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