IDM Mailing Archive

a very very quick review which i'll expand on very very soon. just got my promo copies of the new autechre and plaid albums. this quick review is based on a first listen and might change in a few days... autechre- what the fuck?? would somebody please send rob and sean some new code (errr.. objects) or something. wank, wank and wank. i like one song so far, but that's about it. a complete and total 'abuse' of current technology. void of any substance and 'feeling' whatsoever. granted, some music isn't made to provoke a feeling, but i was always under the impression that autechre took this into consideration. (farmers manual doesn't really provoke a certain feeling in me, but i don't believe they view their work as 'emotional.') anyway, back to ae. same fucking sounds as the last album with the exact (well, pretty damn close at least..) digital signal processing. i think they must have, let's say 20-30 songs total, and have remixed, re-hacked, and re-released the same damn thing over the past five years. miller puckette (and david zicarelli) would be extremely disappointed. (hint, hint, hint..) this isn't meant to offend any ae 'fans' (mainly those who i email frequently...), just getting tired of the same old same old. plaid- mellow, laid back and a little less 'diverse' than their last release. i'm not overly fond of this album yet, but it definitely has the potential to grow on me. though i still favor black dog over plaid, i think they're definitely forming a more concrete sound that is their own. (the BD residue is starting to 'fade') not much more to report since i've just finished listening. yes, this is a lame review but a revision is coming shortly. quite relaxing would be my best summation. (although it lacks variation and for the time being, it leans towards the boring side of things...) at least you can hum to it without convulsing or having to guess when the next time stretching sequence is going to 'interrupt.' (time stretching samples / sounds is nice, but in moderation.) more to come, christian : hoping that someone somewhere releases a truly spectacular album because this IDM stuff is wearing thin... maybe i'm just in a 'non-electronic' mood. laptops are cool, it's just the complete and total lack of creativity that's annoying. -- " Make More Juice! " ICQ# 15688864

quoted 4 lines just got my promo copies of the new autechre and plaid albums. this

> just got my promo copies of the new autechre and plaid albums. this > quick review is based on a first listen and might change in a few > days... >

It might - I wasn't too keen on the ae release when I first heard it, but it's now 3 weeks later I think it's pretty amazing. Then again if you weren't too keen on previous releases you're probably not going to like this.

quoted 16 lines autechre- what the fuck?? would somebody please send rob and sean some

> autechre- what the fuck?? would somebody please send rob and sean some > new code (errr.. objects) or something. wank, wank and wank. i like > one song so far, but that's about it. a complete and total 'abuse' of > current technology. void of any substance and 'feeling' whatsoever. > granted, some music isn't made to provoke a feeling, but i was always > under the impression that autechre took this into consideration. > (farmers manual doesn't really provoke a certain feeling in me, but i > don't believe they view their work as 'emotional.') anyway, back to > ae. same fucking sounds as the last album with the exact (well, pretty > damn close at least..) digital signal processing. i think they must > have, let's say 20-30 songs total, and have remixed, re-hacked, and > re-released the same damn thing over the past five years. miller > puckette (and david zicarelli) would be extremely disappointed. (hint, > hint, hint..) this isn't meant to offend any ae 'fans' (mainly those > who i email frequently...), just getting tired of the same old same old. >

I can understand you not liking it and finding it completely un-emotional, music is pretty subjective after all - none more so than ae that seem to inspire extreme love or hate a lot of the time. What I don't get is the statement that they've been releasing the same record for 5 years - I mean EP7 sounds nothing like Amber, sounds nothing like the LP5 either in my opinion. Maybe this is because I have no idea what digital signal processing is or the minutiae of how the tracks are made, but even if they are using the same processes, they do come out with wildly different results with each release. I think how a record sounds is more important than how it is made.

quoted 13 lines plaid- mellow, laid back and a little less 'diverse' than their last

> plaid- mellow, laid back and a little less 'diverse' than their last > release. i'm not overly fond of this album yet, but it definitely has > the potential to grow on me. though i still favor black dog over plaid, > i think they're definitely forming a more concrete sound that is their > own. (the BD residue is starting to 'fade') not much more to report > since i've just finished listening. yes, this is a lame review but a > revision is coming shortly. quite relaxing would be my best summation. > (although it lacks variation and for the time being, it leans towards > the boring side of things...) at least you can hum to it without > convulsing or having to guess when the next time stretching sequence is > going to 'interrupt.' (time stretching samples / sounds is nice, but in > moderation.) >

pleasant but slightly dull is pretty much my view of it. I got it about 5 days ago, listened to it intensely for about 3 days, the realised there really wasn't much to it and stopped. Better than that 'Babylon' though. Dan Shoebridge.