Autechre - Chiastic Slide

The beginning of the change for Autechre...and it shows. All the tracks are great in their own right, but the only problem is that the longer tracks, like Recury, Hub, and Cichli just seem to go on and on and on with little variation. Track Rettic Ac is probably their nosiest track they've done to date. I rated this album as one of my least favorite but I still love it a lot as a turning point album for AE and I think Booth/Brown did an excellent job in that respect.

The beginning of the change for Autechre...and it shows. All the tracks are great in their own right, but the only problem is that the longer tracks, like Recury, Hub, and Cichli just seem to go on and on and on with little variation.
Track Rettic Ac is probably their nosiest track they've done to date. I love this album a lot as more of a turning point album for AE and I think Booth/Brown did an excellent job in that respect.

This is where Booth and Brown said goodbye to easy listening. Imagine Tri Repetae with even less organic sounds and even more machine clanks... I'll give them credit for wanting to re-invent themselves with this album, but it just kept getting more and more crazy with each release. They used to release several CDs a year (album and EPs) and now look at them, as of this date (june 2006) they release 1 album every 2 years. Its clear they are running out of ideas and the boundaries of complex IDM they produce have been breached. I'd say its high time for them to begin making more accessible music again.

This album is worth listening to if you liked their first 3 albums, as hints of those works are still here.. withing the machinery.

Chiastic Slide was the first IDM album I ever purchased. The track 'Tewe' was what attracted me, after hearing it in a skateboard film called 'One Step Beyond'. I quickly researched the artist and bought this album the first chance I saw it on a shelf. As an IDM virgin at the time I wasn't sure what to expect. It took a few listens but in no time I found myself engaged in the wide variety of sounds that I never would have imagined hearing in my life. It's been three years since I first purchased this album, and to this day it still stands the test of time, and exceeds boundaries I once set for myself.

A semi-tough release to get into. This album marks where Autechre began to change their style so to speak. Not quite as ambient as previous releases, and may even sound weird the first listen. If you give it a chance and listen a couple more times, you'll begin to appreciate what they've created here.. which a clicky glitch ambience with a structure. One of my favorite Autechre releases.

For me, this is Autechre's most emotional and human release. I would go so far as to call it personal - I think Sean and Rob put a lot of their feelings at the time into this record.

Some people look at Chiastic Slide as a rehash of the Tri Repetae "format," but I think that's really missing the point. While Tri Repetae seems highly abstracted from anything human, I feel like Chiastic Slide is human and organic on some level. Yes, it's still mechanical: the first track, Cipater, refers to an engine with its title and ignition/piston sounds. But this record is also very much human to me with its melancholic melodies, distant vocal samples, organic textures, and wide emotional palette.

Another reason why Chiastic Slide is a world apart from Tri Repetae is because Ae broke away from their traditional song structure in a few of the tracks. Tewe is the prime example. It's an amazing track that represesents a major leap forward. While Ae's previous work was unique, anyone who knows about audio production can listen to those earlier tracks and analyze more or less how they were made. A bizarre sample here, an old Roland there, a Nord Lead here, some delay and reverb, such and such time signature, etc. Tewe is structured in such a unique way that I'd be surprised if anyone besides Sean and Rob could reproduce anything close. In this respect, Tewe is more like Ae's later work than their earlier work. For this reason, I look at Chiastic Slide as the approximate turning point for Autechre, the link between their "old styles" (e.g. Incunabula, Amber, Garbage, Anvil Vapre, Tri Repetae) and "new styles" (e.g. Cichlisuite, LP5, EP7, Confield, Gantz Graf, Draft).

This is definitely one of my favorite Autechre releases. I like it more than any of their work that came after LP5, and it holds my interest much better than Incunabula and Amber. Essential.

This LP, along with Envane EP is their finest work to date. It is a very conscious departure from the comparitively normal-sounding works of their first three LPs. Dangerously avant-garde and uncompromising (I read that Trent Reznor refused US distribution on his Nothing Records imprint when it was released due to it being so experimental,) yet extremely confident.

It is the sound of machines singing in the darkness, it sounds as if there is no human intervention here whatsoever, yet despite the gritty sounds and it's often menacing mood it has an undeniable funk, depth, warmth and awesome beauty that I don't think has been captured in the releases since. This LP has to be listened to as a whole, from beginning to end.

This is a pure exhibition of warring machinery. There is nothing deeper or more important ever released in my opinion. Chiastic Slide is the my most influencial album that I own and will ever own. It is a classic that will stand through wind, water, and fire.

Critics weren't that thrilled with this album as they were with efforts such as "Tri Repetae" and "Amber". Even Booth & Brown were quoted as saying that "Chiastic Slide" wasn't a true follow-up to "Tri Repetae".

One listen, however, reveals something much deeper. "Cipater" is simply an amazing track; it leads directly into "Rettic Ac", a track that feels like you're thrashing about in the water, struggling for air. "Cichli" is very melodic, but crazy at the same time, and "Nuane" is definitely the highlight of the album; 13 minutes of insanity (and wonderful synth play; the last 3 minutes or so of the track are just one continuous static line).

While I wouldn't start here for the new Autechre fan (it is a little crazy. But, the first song by Ae that I heard was "Cipater" on WARPCD82 - WARP:ROUTINE, and was thus the 1st album of theirs that I got, however), I highly recommend it to anyone looking to break away from the norm.

I find that at this point on Autechre went bad. They just don't put enough effort into their new records and it shows!