today we are very proud to give out the first ever GOLDEN SSG for lifetime achievement and contribution to electronic music. the first people to receive this very prestigious and special award are:
AUTECHRE!!!
listening to their new album, 'oversteps', once again i am filled with such deep respect and admiration for these guys. this is one of the rare times i wish electronic music was mainstream, because more should know how brilliant autechre is. they could have stopped 10 years ago and they still would have made an immense contribution to techno. instead, they kept going. and going. always challenging, always pushing forward, always inspiring. simply put, autechre is electronic music at its absolute peak.
thinking about autechre's unparalleled and completely unique approach and oeuvre, i found these words by sean booth in a new interview really interesting and revealing:
"There was kind of a cynicism that grew up during the 90’s. You had the club circuit people bringing up the new generation of young stars during the late 80’s. Production was limited to singing over awful backing tracks and churning out stuff on a production line. Then the KLF book came out, which was very cynically pointing this out. Then you had a generation of wiser producers who wanted to take this on board on a musical level. Cos no one likes mediocrity and being sold a shit idea, everyone wanted come out with fresh stuff. Which was nice for a bit. But nowadays, kids have grown up with X-Factor and all that shit. So it’s like gone full circle again, the club scene people running the show again. Kids thinking that they can sing and dance and make every single fucking genre of music, do you know what I mean? Its like taking away the personal element.
And kids are growing up now are thinking ‘Im being really expressive, I’m really in control of my life, I’ve got all these goals and agendas’. Whereas having that mindset is exactly the problem. The self image is being programmed externally. But, fuck it, whatever. (laughs)."
i dont really have to much more to say about ae. you could talk for ages about how amazing autechre is, then again, the music and their career speaks for itself. if you haven't heard the new album, 'oversteps', go out and buy it. now. this is clearly one of the stand out releases of 2010. i dont listen to albums as often as i should (i go for mixes, if you hadn't guessed...), but i've had this one on repeat since getting hold of it. the melodies, the patterns, the depth, it is all there, brilliant as ever.
and for all these reasons, and so many more, mnml ssgs wants to recognise autechre for an outstanding career of service to the advancement of electronic music. autechre, we salute you! thank you from the bottom of our hearts. we graciously give you the mighty golden ssg!
Their or theirs DJ team mix before official day of album release was stunning. Greatest thing I heared in ages.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't it be a gldn ssg?
ReplyDeleteHowever you call it, they deserve it... Who else has kept on going for so long?
seconded on that web mix, it was hours of awesome! looking forward to the album.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard the new Ae yet. I probably would have not even considered listening to it were it not for the fact that many (disparate) folks are saying it's quite good. Ae were a shining light to me for several years starting around 1995, but I had to wave goodbye to them a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked Confield, but since then, I've just felt like they were resting on their laurels...well, no, worse. When I saw them on the Untilted tour, I was offended. I left after 30 minutes and loudly booed them on my way out. It hurt. They were playing standard 4/4 beats from what sounded like a miswired 606. They added a new sound every 30 seconds or dropped one out, and the crowd went nuts each time. It reminded me of candy ravers in the early '90s, whooping and blowing on whistles each time the DJ dropped an air raid siren.
I was embarrassed for them, and I can't blame them for the quality of the crowd, but they actually seemed into it. What happened to Messrs Booth/Brown, I wondered. Didn't they care anymore? The Ae I grew up loving would have seen that reaction from those miserable chumps and broken out some 13/4 oddities, or just slowed things down to 30bpm time-stretched hellish noise. Instead, fucking 1999 snarerushes?
Sorry, I'm bitter and sad. So many people have said this new album has melody and soul and defies expectations, and shows the Ae of old. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't want them to grow (I love Confield/lp5 as much as I love Incunabula), I just want their aggressive attitude towards innovation back.
Ok, fine, I've ordered it.
the vinyl is overpriced. two-thirds the price for packaging, a huge tacky poster which looks like it's for the vagina monologues meets the matrix.
ReplyDeletenext time i'll remember to steal the album instead of shelling out cash on elaborate cardboard. love the album btw. great music, crap sleeve design.
i adore rob hall i dont like the new oversteps its blank , soulless , empty and boring copy of older works.
ReplyDeleteLoving this album. I'm a big AE fiend anyway, but i think you'd want a heart of stone not to fall in love with this.
ReplyDeleteI've fallen out of interest in most electronic dance music, i just couldn't be bothered keeping up with the latest.
any time i do dip in more often than not it fails to hold my interest.
Oversteps is fantastic, immersive, and built to last. roll on the next 20 years!
Nobody on the planet make music like Autechre do, their inventivness, experimentation and heterogeneity is unparalleled.
ReplyDeletemhh. i saw them 2001 ir something in berlin wmf and its was horrible for me. not danceable. unstatic sounds i cant feel any deepness, missing the trance feeling you know, the african bongo rhythm ;)
ReplyDeletemy award goes to mr hoesen.
and if you dont know the britsh boy called dfrnt
ceck his album or the new unbelievable release http://www.discogs.com/DFRNT-Saturation-Point/release/2220086
deep dub dark!
I never understand the point of comparing Autechre albums, probably a desire for familiarity or a benchmarking thing. But in their interviews Autechre always very clearly communicate that their albums are always where they are at that point, and that their live sets are not necessarily related to their releases.
ReplyDeleteWhen most musicians just tweak the margins of their signature motifs every release it's cool to follow the Autechre journey and not get too upset that their not doing heavy fucked up beats or that they are doing heavy fucked up beats... which are the two polar positions the critics seem to take. It seems to me that both those positions express conservative nostalgia.