Autechre - Gantz Graf

3 tracks - typical ae static noise. meh, see above on details for the tracks.

i bought this for the DVD.

3 videos on the dvd - wonderful to add to any ae fan's collection. the gantz_graf video is made up of CGI polys on a silver cylindar gyrating all over the damn place in sync with each noisy flutter coming from the track.

the bass_cadet video goes way back to 1994. i didn't care for it too much - it looks like a student arranged computer ladybug flying about in a dark computerized space. very boring.

second_bad_vilbel, however, is a CLASSIC. firstly, directed by Chris Cunningham. secondly, it's creepy! it's absolutely creepy - a mechanical living organism of some sort barely being made sharp enough for the viewers to understand what it is and what it's doing. this is painfully intoxicating.

I agree with cuntsucker on the video. I have and own the original video (recorded on VHS, somewhere) and was somewhat dissappointed, but the Granf vid, oh my GAWD, so spastic and insane. I was in utter aww. Kinda start out really listening to the music, but all of the sudden your so into it getting sucked into this off beat futuristic world. If you are a 3D animation artist or student, YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE IT!

With Gantz Graf, Autechre rises to the heights of electronic music, acheiving nothing less than equivalence with the best, most experimental composers of the 20th Century. At the same time, Autechre's genealogy as an IDM project comes through in albeit arrhythmic deep bass kicks and crackling snare perversions. To me, this combination makes for more visceral listening than the dry, academic oevres of Elektronische Musik, such as Stockhausen's Kontakte (not to be overly critical of the latter).

I´m very disappointed in the video of Second Bad Vilbel on this one.. it´s not the original version and it´s kind of boring, buying this was 40% of the idea to get the Second Bad Vilbel on DVD. crap. atleast the Gantz_Graf viddy is stunning.

gantz graf is the hardest, illest most amazing thing done in electronic music in years. for years autechre have been using max/msp, an audio programming environment, where you can literally program a little drummer for your track, and have access to hundreds if not thousands of objects which can manipulate sound in every way imaginable. i admit i do not know for a fact these tracks were done in max/msp or any other such environment, but it seems pretty obvious to me after using such tools that it must be. at any rate, here we have a little ai orchestra playing for us some of the most intense drill-and-bass ever done. and of course being autechre, there are layers within layers, and this is another recursive masterpiece at once drilling at you with layers of percussion and at the same time singing you a soft and lonely love song somewhere admist the storm.

'Gantz Graf' is the latest offering from Autechre, which contains three brand new tracks and a collection of three videos in DVD format. The music is most times, angular and quite aggressive, but not nearly as abstract as 'Confield'. Still, almost impossible to grasp on first attempts, the title track in particular is somewhat overwhelming with its avalanches of mindblowing beats. But subsequent listens reveal all, with 'Cap.Iv' proving an outstanding highlight. Always in a class of their own... the DVD portion features all three AE videos, including the new one for 'Gantz Graf,' directed by Alex Rutterford, plus 'Second Bad Vilbel,' directed by Chris Cunningham and 'Basscadet' from JS Hunter.

Gantz Graf is better than Confield. The title track is probably the worst of the three, but it's still pretty good. It has the angry feel of songs like "Second Bad Vilbel" or "Netlon Sentinel."
"dial" is my personal favorite, a very strange organ-ish sounding instrument plays all sorts of nonsensical riffs and chords at very very high speeds (at 2:16 is the best part in my humble opinion) until it eventually settles into a very slow climb, very suspenseful and builds tension very effectively. It's strange but the organ seems to be going up and down at the same time, like walking up the stairs one step up and two steps down.
"CapIV" is absolutely mindnumbing. It actually sounds a lot like "Lentic Catachresis" off of Confield in the way they both end with a repeating sort of drone melody and the "drums" go insane. Yeah. Very good.

Autechre have been treading increasingly shaking ground since LP5 and I find that individually, the tracks are very hit or miss. Most of Grantz_Graf is a miss for me, and it's only salvaged by the stupendous video that accompanies the title track. On its own, the track is unfocused and remarkable only for its sheer lack of any cohesive 'vibe' but as the soundtrack to the video, it's a great piece of futurist sound design. The other tracks on the ep are forgettable, and don't compare to Autechre's 'dancier' tracks from classic albums gone by. Track 3 actually makes me nauseous.

WOW- Autechre have done it again. The title track "Gantz Graf" is a sonic assault on the senses and the video is even more amazing. Imagine computer generated robotic shapes morphing with the music- on a black grid with title track info and a timer at the bottom of the screen- WOW. The other two videos, Second Bad Vibel and Basscadet, are also excellent but Gantz Graf is truly STATE OF THE ART.