Autechre ‎– Gantz Graf

autechre go industrial......in 2002. while a little unexpected and initially very disorienting, i'd encourage everyone to listen to this more closely. for years, autechre tried to write the perfect epic and yet always failed in some way. the success of this recording may actually be in the nature of it's short length.

confield was very poorly received. while the criticisms i've read of the record are at times comically off-base, i do agree with the general consensus that it likely did not fully realize what it is that the band sat down to accomplish. so, faced with what was for the first time a legitimate critical backlash by people the band actually respected the opinion of, they caved to the pressure and completely rethought the approach on the next album, which has the curious name of Draft 7.3 that even suggests that what exists between EP 7.2 and Draft 7.3 is to be discarded.

this ep seems to be testing the waters and seeing what the reaction will be, or perhaps preparing the audience for what's coming. certainly, the ep reasserts autechre's place on the dancefloor which is something they kind of needed to do.

really, it's not an ep so much as it is a two track single as the second and third tracks are really one track. what kind of single is this track gantz graf? well, it's a very odd one indeed. the buzz word here is "skronk". what is a skronk? a skronk is a sound that is created by either slowing a short sample down until it reaches a grating harshness or speeding a long sample up until it sounds like a tape being fast forwarded. gantz graf is bluntly an orchestration of skronks that needs to be heard. in an ideal universe, this would have been a number one hit single due to the force of it's creativity. in our world it did not reach such levels of success but it did surprisingly manage to actually chart in the UK.

the other two tracks, as mentioned, are one track but the partition does make sense as the track does pivot when the track number changes. the first half attaches an archetypal 808 pattern that can be heard prominently in the basslines of 80s hiphop to a rather dour soundfont, something sort of between a piano and a ceramic tile while the second opens it up a bit and introduces some more traditional melodies.

that doesn't sound exciting, but when there is virtually no melodic content (read: conventional music) in the first ten minutes of a record the introduction of melody is all of a sudden very satisfying and when it is paired to a bright synth pad it creates the aural equivalent of experiencing the sun finally appearing out from behind the clouds after a week of inclement weather. logically, the next thing that should happen is that the clouds should roll back in and the sun should disappear under a crescendo of digital noise.

now, had they pasted this to the end of 40 minutes of something else it would have lost some of it's effectiveness but as it is it's possibly the most enjoyable 20 minutes of continuous sound that autechre has yet to produce.

......and i hear the video for the track is pretty neat.

"Gantz Graf" blows out of the gate with the duo's most angular and disjointed piece ever. It doesn't sound composed so much as sculpted out of pure noise. It's hard to describe, but imagine a grinding waterfall of static intercut with horrifically timestretched drums that sound like an electric shock. That may not sound appealing, but this track has a frenetic rhythm and melody that puts it among Autechre's best.

"Dial" is a set of ascending arpeggios backed by (relatively) straightforward drums and weird processed talking. Unfortunately there is some crackling in the high frequencies of this track that hurt my ears.

"Cap.IV" is a reinterpretation of Confield's "Lentic Catachresis", a carefully-constructed piece of sound that gradually comes apart at the seams until nothing but chaos remains. Unlike its predecessor, however, it never really reaches a peak before beginning to disintegrate, so the whole thing sounds aimless to these ears.

Bottom line? I've given up trying to understand what's going on in the heads of Sean and Rob, but they're still one of the most entertaining and original electronic acts out there.

This is one of those CDs that you love to hate. As big of an Autechre fan as I am... Even I find this release to be pretty annoying. But I come back for more abuse from time time. The opening track, Gantz Graf, is an assault on your ears and honestly can't be classified as music. Sounds like a combination of a high pitched pinball machine and an engine trying to start up. Track two actually has a beat to it, but still isn't an easy listen. Cap.IV actually makes me feel sick to my stomach sometimes... Probably all in my head. Autechre goes beyond weird with this one. 3/5 simply because its so dang hard to enjoy... but the challenge is fun!

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.

This EP is a tough listen, but ultimately a rewarding experience. I listened to these 3 tracks 4 times in one day when I first got it. The first listen it almost sounded like noisey nonesense and I wasn't impressed. Not wanting to give up on it, I listened again and while it was more bearable that time around, it still seemed kinda crazy. The 3rd listen is when things started to click. I began hearing patterns and structures that I didn't notice before. The 4th listen I came to terms with it and accepted it for what it is... a noisey, clicky, multi-layered release. And I dare say i've come to love this little EP now!

Since it's beyond my abilities to formulate this in a way so as to not offend any parties where this EP might have been well-received, I'll just proceed in unfiltered mode.

As a person who appreciates many types of electronica, and who holds Autechre's "Amber" in quite high regard, I can safely say that this release is by far the most closed, overly "weird-for-the-purpose-of-being-weird", über-experimentalizing and inaccessible release that has ever managed to pass through my stereo.

Naturally, I was not totally unprepared for what was about to rampage through my hifi equipment, but..

Sweet jumping Jesus in an elastic pink rubber suit; this really is something to listen to if one were to grasp the whole concept of sonic warfare using randomized noises, coupled with elements of incomprehensible screaming static, superimposed on a background of delicious raw bitstream noise (except the fact that regular background noise is usually far more pleasant.)

First off, the title track. This is the least accessible of the three. If I ever were to try to torture (or kill) a prospective listener, this would be my track of choice. Actually, in addition to encouraging internal hemorrhaging in the victim, it would probably also do a pretty good job in obliterating a couple of vintage high-end tube-systems, as well as a wide selection of speaker systems. But enough about that.

If you were lucky enough to make it through the first track, the second - "Dial." - is actually melodic in comparison. Which is not to say it has any real rhythm or conceivable structure to it; however far-reaching interpretations of sound/melody/noise you would choose to apply to your particular definition of musicality.

Lastly, "Cap.IV". This one is an excruciating mesh of unconnected noises and static that seem to be playing backwards at around 170% speed. On the positive side, your torture session is now almost over.

The fact that someone actually tries to explain this CD in a conventional, approving manner, and in doing so attempts to justify it by employing a "pushing the envelope" kind of rationale, shows the willingness of certain individuals to try to distinguish themselves as self-proclaimed "elitist" listeners.
In my opinion this CD serves the sole purpose of creating such people who (in their mind) have the capacity to define structure where it does not exist, and thereby placing those listeners in a league of their own.

But for the rest of us: caveat emptor.

The first track, Gantz Graf, is one of the most complex things ever made by the band of musicians. It's rhythm is hypnotic, yet pounding, totally smashing the brain to the ground. The first minute cleans the head pretty well, much like the soft but cold needle-like rain.

Other two tracks are not such complicated, but rather cool anyways, Dial makes me think of some crazy pianist breaking loose in front of his instrument, and Cap IV resembles me of Lentic Catachresis and Under BOAC with their tendency to speed up progressively till the end of the track.

I recomment this to all you who aren't afraid of listening to different experiments in electronic music.

The Gantz Graf video is essential to demoscene freaks and other 3D-art lovers. Alex Rutterford made one of the most adequate IDM videos in the history, I think. There couldn't be more adequate video for this track, for example. :)

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.