Autechre – Exai

Uno de mis álbumes favoritos de Autechre ;)
Digamos es una mezcla entre lo viejo, lo nuevo, moderno y de lo mejor. Este álbum aprovecho mucho el potencial.
Mis canciones favoritas son:
jatevee C, 1 1 is, prac-f, bladelores, cloudline, YJY UX, deco Loc, spl9.
Les recomiendo a todos los fanaticos y los que quieren inicialmente a escuchar esta banda.

5/5

Listening to Exai now. It's one of those albums you listen to occasionally. Then feel guilty for that. Some of it is truly epic. I say this on a personal level but some of the tracks you'd like to play to the masses. THAT epic. Most of the fickle people won't get it. But a good percentage will find it most profound. Which is what counts.

Even by Autechre's typical standards, "Exai" is one unfriendly beast. I'm a longtime listener and I found it almost impenetrable at first. My usual strategy is to find some unguarded entry points that I can use to crawl inside the megastructure and explore. If you're looking for those, here they are: jatevee C, bladelores, 1 1 is, nodezsh, YJY UX. Venture beyond at your own risk.

The average track length is 7 minutes. Much like the "Versions" edition of "Quaristice", the longer tracks tend to begin chaotically, but then change into a quieter second movement. It's these second movements that interest me most: more melodic elements present themselves, themes emerge, and sometimes the track takes an abrupt left turn. Here and there, you get a tantalizing snatch of almost-recognizable musical styles (dubstep, dub, etc) viewed through Autechre's unique lens.

I pre-ordered the digital copy of Exai, listened a bit, and was initially put off. Some time later, I heard YJY UX almost by accident and suddenly connected with it, which led me to delve in further. But even now, I find Exai best in small doses. Yes, the sound design is flawless (use headphones), and yes, there are great moments waiting to be found. No, it doesn't cohere at all into a unified whole, and no, it doesn't have the same emotional weight as their early work (but hey, that ship has sailed). So my final opinion is mixed.

Still, I must hand it to these guys: while many musical acts mellow out with the passing of time, Autechre have gotten, if anything, even LESS accommodating. I mean that as a compliment. I really do respect their devotion to artistic rigor, even if it doesn't always stir the heart or agree with the eardrums.

Not sure what I think about this album yet. What I do feel is that CD 1 feels a bit formulaic and mechanical. CD2 strikes me as being both more inventive and emotionally grounded. It definitely doesn't have the impact for me of their best though - for me: Incunabula, EP7, Confield, Draft 7:30, and Chastic Slide. Don't know how anyone could declare as a masterpiece?

cloudline, hot shit.

In my opinion Autechre need to slow down with the releases or at least release something new or original. The past albums have sounded too similar to me and I feel that Exai also falls into that category. It has some good tracks on this album such as jatevee-C, T ess xi and 1 1 is but a lot of the others just sound like the other stuff they've released. Its worth a listen but don't expect it to be something new or original.

Amazing release, really happy to have it !

another great release from autechre, and now it's mechanical 8-bit-like schizophrenia, with notes of everything you ever heard from sean and rob - beautiful ambience of early releases, dnb-like glitch madness of lp5/ep7, melodic overstep-ish pieces, etc.. but, somthing different is indeed achieved here - particular style, that holds these, at a first sight, inconsistent tracks - it's undercurrent, as in every latest autechre release: 8-bit-alike dos ibm glitchiness (i cannot descibe it better, folks, but that's just me), and it's really amazing, counting the fact that tracks really differ one from another. the only thing i find exausting about this release is its length.. 2 hours of autechre non-stop seems too much for me, so i'm used to listen to only one of cds at the time (it really depends on a mood, both cds sound amazing).. well, all in all, it's an amazing release, i'm happy to own this badboy in my collection, one of the most reach and wealthy releases from autechre, and if you did not like it, it means that you cannot percept it right.. yet. peace!

Wo_w ok we get it same ol format. Not one thing new here. Same ol hey look at our cool computer graffx 8bitbullshit cover art. Trying tooooo hard boys . Time to hang up yr laptops boys.

Personally I find this album to be enjoyable. When I first heard it I was certainly amazed and it had an instant impact (which is odd because usually Autechre albums can take a while to grow on me). However, I find the staying power of this album didn't last long at all and it was probably among their worst records in that regard. I can't exactly explain why this is the case or if other people have had a similar experience however in my opinion I'll say this is a good album, but far from their best. Being released after oversteps and MOT, the melodies in contrast come across as a complete U-turn and sometimes the melodies are even non-existant. Which is unfortunate. It is however very much a beat driven album so it will suit people who prefer that. Overall this albums seems to have had relatively positive reviews, however, I think the test will come in 5+ years etc to see if this album will ripen with age / has the staying power of the likes of LP5, Chiastic Slide, EP7 etc.

cons - The one thing I dislike most about this album is the track progressions, which seem very 1 dimensional and can come across as rather repetitive/uninspired.

Summary:

Disc 1 sounds more immediate. Higher tempo. Some songs sound like what you would almost expect hearing autechre live. Disc 2 has an almost Gescom vibe. If Gescom were mixed with 'move of ten'. More abstract 'hip-hop'ish with reverb, weird vocal samples, unusual old school hip-hop drum machine patterns etc. Preference depends on your mood.

Favourite track is keyosc as it seems like the perfect contrast ending to finish the album off. After 2 hours of exai it's nice to have an ambient track!