A Guide to AUTECHRE

I‘m so addicted to Warp Tapes 89-93.
Nothing in common with today’s AE, but so much energy! Best stuff I discovered in a long time :ok_hand:

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people hanging out together. that’s weird.

seriously though i have to say my comments were a bit raw (in case anyone remembers)

i have been trying to absorb their catalogue a bit, and i really like EP7 especially. sounds a analogue.

oh, did i mention i got a monomachine? :slight_smile:

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Hi everyone,

I’m writing my musicology bachelor’s thesis on the development of Autechre’s music over the years, and I’ve just been starting this last month.
Since it’s a “scholarly work” I’ve been trying to find some academic articles to get a bit of inspiration for the analyses. So far I’ve found these:

Firstly, I thought this could be a cool place to post these links (especially the Mesker one looks interesting). And secondly: Do you know of any other academic articles or works on Rob and Sean?
Of course we’re blessed with the AAA thread and other in-depth features/interviews, but some more obscure tips would be very much appreciated.

Edit: Forgive me if this was slightly OT; I’m happy to receive direct messages if that’s the best way.

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I’m sure David Toop wrote about them a bit back in the day.

I’m sure I’ve got a book of his with at least some mention of them. I think it might have been Haunted Weather.

I’ll have a look in a bit.

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You certainly didn’t undersell that!! Looks a really fascinating (but definitely not a quick) read… so will look forward to reading that, I’m sure there will be plenty of inspiration. Sorry I can offer anymore academic research suggestions but good luck with your thesis. I’m sure I won’t be only person who’d like to read it if that were possible once you’ve completed it.

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Thanks for this , just checked that book out, looks really good

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Yeah, there’s not actually very much about Autechre in it after all.

Still a great book though.

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I’m glad you found it interesting!
Sadly, I think my assignment will be in Norwegian, but take a quick course, perhaps? :nerd_face:

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You probably already know this but if you go on pressreader.com and type Autechre there’s quite a lot of articles and features on there going back a few years although I think you have to pay for some of them . Not sure how academic they are though

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Academic papers about Autechre?! Wow lol
Can’t wait to read those. Is that the word needs?

I actually started reading the one by Mesker last night. It’s dry (of course) but there’s lots of interesting things in there and I found my mind jumping off into the realm of ideas many times. Don’t knock it before you try it :wink:

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I’ll try that one but I’ve never read an academic sci paper about music like Autechre that i found useful. They always miss the point! The world needs a well written purely philosophical perspective imo but that’s a hard one. All good philosophers that dealt with aesthetics are long dead (Schopenhauer, Kant, Wagner…) and no one managed to replace them. Modern papers about music in the best case scenario usually just reflect works of those philosophical geniuses.

“The focus of this research project is threefold. Firstly, to explore the ways in which Autechre work with reference to software and hardware. Secondly, to analyse how they sonically structure their work; and thirdly, to draw on these methods to create a supplementary creative work.”

See?! They think that the essence of a work is in its structure that follows a method! They just don’t understand how real art works.
I’m not planning to read it anymore. But thnx!

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Agreed. Even Autechre laugh at such endeavours and probably said something dismissive like ‘fuck all that’ in previous interviews I’ve listened to. But I was bored and found it quite useful for ideas and quotes from the likes of John Cage etc :slight_smile:

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It’s interesting that you got that from it! To me it sounds super digital; I think it was all Nords and maybe some Max stuff (and PMA5 for Maphive6.1).

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that’s a pretty bold statement :slight_smile:
i don’t think ‘replacing’ is the useful idea here, rather ‘adding to’ knowledge seems more fruitful, and in that way you of course reflect and challenge previously held assumptions… also important to remember that thread of western philosophy you mention silences a LOT of voices that we didn’t hear (e.g. the ‘classical’ philosophy of art sections in libraries is stocked full of books by white men, and they were definitely not the only people having philosophical thoughts in their respective historical periods) -

for some excellent contemporary writing about sound/music etc you could look at Kodwo Eshun (More Brilliant Than The Sun), Salome Voegelin (Sonic Possible Worlds), Steve Goodman (Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear ), … i definitely don’t agree with what they all think but their approaches definitely offer lots of new critical input to the field.

enjoy!

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That’s what I’ve meant, of course! Not replacing their views but being as important and brilliant today as they were at the time.
…and thx for the suggestions!

Schopenhauer and Kant are brilliant ie highest genius level 100% brilliant imo. Them being white men is not something that i can’t see as relevant at all. I’d be extremely glad to find another author that’s was as brilliant as they were regarding the subject.

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hmmm, well, as an example Kant thought that women are naturally weak and fearful, whereas men are strong and courageous, and that a husband has the right to give orders and that his wife should obey. (see Metaphysics of Morals, and Anthropologyfrom a Pragmatic Point of View)

I wouldn’t consider either of these 100% genius :).

If we agree someone’s philosophy is informed by the perspective of their gender I would say its very relevant to take into account.

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yeah, wonderfully digital :blush:

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What did you expect someone writing in 1797 to think?

Anyway, what’s any of this got to do with Autechre?

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