i know this has been covered a bit, but here's my personal account of the
two Autechre shows in NYC this past weekend. it's a bit wordy, but that's
partly coz i'm still really psyched to have seen them..
Friday_. 05/04/01 ::
i arrived at Bowery Ballroom around 9:30pm and missed most of Rob Hall's
set waiting for my friend, who arrived around 10:00pm. after running off
to an ATM we were inside and hooked up w/ our other friends. we proceeded
upstairs from the bar in time to catch Russell Haswell and Yasuono Tone..
and fled back downstairs after about 10 minutes. there was a point in my
life where i would've been really into what they were cranking out, which
was pretty brutal, but it's not what i was looking for that night. it made
me think of what it would be like to take a Merzbow CD, slice it into
1,000 samples, and spit them out again in a quasi-random manner. every now
and again it seemed like they might be in search of some kinda beat, but
they never did find it. anyway, their performance was much more tolerable
through the buffer of a really thick floor/ceiling. once their set ended
Rob Hall (i think) came on and spun some more quality tracks, and we
headed up to the balcony to get ready for Autechre. a few ppl have already
mentioned that Autechre's set was fairly repetitive, consisting mostly of
4 rather long tracks each based on one beat and a lot of interesting synth
work on top. i found that, while there was a pretty steady and repetitive
beat laying the ground for each track, there was also enough manipulation
of the drum pattern and time signature/tempo to keep things interesting.
also, there are so many layers of sound in their music that even a 20
minute track has a decent sense of progression throughout. they brought
different elements in and out quite nicely, creating some very interesting
textures, from the crunchy to the ear piercing. i was definitely
impressed. my memory's a bit distorted, but as far as i remember each
track kept a pretty fast pace and the sound/atmosphere was pretty heavy
and dark. if i were to have to pick an release which i was most reminded
of, it would prolly be Cichlisuite or LP5 in terms of the beats, and EP7
in terms of synth textures. definitely an excellent night..
Saturday_. 05/05/01 ::
this night i headed out to see Autechre w/ a different group of friends.
since we'd all been the first night, and hadn't been too impressed by
Haswell that time around, we decided to show up around 10:30 to catch some
of Hall's set and then be there the entirey of Autechre's performance.
when we got there Hall was already spinning, and as with the night before
it was a nice mix which got me in the right mood for the rest of the
night. around the time we expected Autechre to come on Sean Booth came out
and started getting set up. eventually Rob Hall's set ended and Sean started
playing solo, using just a laptop and some FX from what i could see. i had
been hoping that Ae's second night set would be at least a little
different than the night before, and i was not at all let down. he
completely ripped shit up! starting with a very ominous ambient piece
involving long segments of recorded speech and sonics which reminded of
Throbbing Gristle (i kept thinking of 'Hamburger Lady' for some reason) or
Coil, he built into something a bit more beat-oriented. i remember hearing
a loop which was a rather typical breakbeat, processed though the Autechre
machines, and other elements that had a nice hip-hop feel. what really
brought me (and much of the rest of the crowd) a lot of satisfaction was
when Sean started twisting and chopping up some ill death metal track.
this really got the crowd hyped, and most of them clearly wanted to hear
more. anyway, after a while Rob and someone else (maybe a sound guy?) come
out and start hooking up some more gear, and eventually Rob and Sean
kicked into a track using a beat that was familiar from the night before.
most ppl who've read a fairly recent interview w/ Autechre should know
that the way they're composing these days, no two performances of the same
"song" are really the same, as they're working magic inside their boxes.
so, while there were noticeable similaritie to the previous nights
performance, i thought they were actually a lot better on Saturday night.
first, they seemed to respond to the crowd more as they went about
tweaking knobs and whatever it is they do on their laptops. second, their
performance seemed much more dynamic. they seemed to put a bit more effort
into changing up the underlying beat of each song, at times almost
completely changing the beat into something very different before mutating
back to the original. on a couple of occasion they seemed to merge from
one track to another w/out stopping, as had been the case between most
tracks on Friday night. it was impressive to watch them work -- not that
you could see much, as they were only lit by their laptop screens and the
lights on their gear. as they got closer to the end of their set Sean left
the stage, leaving Rob to perform solo for about as long as Sean had at
the beginning of the night. for a while things slowed down and became
_almost_ ambient, then kicked back into a really nice chunky rhythm.
eventually Rob left the stage and the crowd applauded, stomped and cheered
for more, but that was the end. it was a great show, and while i would've
loved to have heard more, i was more than pleased already.
so.. if Autechre's coming somewhere near your part of the world, and you
don't already have tickets, i'd highly suggest you do whatever it takes to
get some. unlike many electronic acts i've seen lately, i wasn't left w/
the feeling that i should have stayed home and listened to their CD instead.
they put on an excellent live show (not that there's much to watch, but
like i said in an earlier post.. just close your eyes, or dance, and
enjoy). you're likely to hear something you'll never hear released on an
album. and besides, how often do you get the chance to see these guys
live anyway? :]
- jo5_h
beep boop muthafuckers
http://braineater.net/
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