Caltrops - No Stairway to Heaven - Re: Am I the only one that likes Autechre?

Forum Overview :: No Stairway to Heaven

by curst 06/18/2003, 1:11pm PDT

Fullofkittens wrote:

WTF? Okay - give me three Amon Tobin tracks to download. When we did this last year, Vagizseni or somebody said, you like IDM, go forth and get Amon Tobin, and I did, and it SUCKS.

Okay, whoever told you "if you like Autechre or IDM you'll LOVE Tobin" was sort of - nah, check that - VERY wrong. Maybe I made a mistake in calling Tobin IDM (most reviewers and so forth seem to, although he apparently dislikes the phrase) when he really isn't. I just can't come up with a better label because his music is sample-based and relies on a fair number of sounds you'd only hear in electronica, plus he distorts and chops up those samples like a motherfucker, therefore I call him IDM. For my purposes, he's IDM but on the opposite end of that particular spectrum from artists like Autechre.

Yet, every track I hear by Autechre is fun and good. I think the thing that I like about them is that their IDM is really (I)DM - they're pretty close to EBM or robot disco (which are my two other favorite styles) and they don't let their gigantic brains wreck the enjoyment of their music (I'm talking to YOU, mu-ziq!). They're smart dance music, but not "Intelligent" in that song-fucking anti-musical way.

See, their sort of out-of-control chaos is something I can't really dance to. I'm going to hunt down more samples of them when I'm done with this because I'm obviously missing something. The stuff I heard sounded like a demented man going fucking apeshit with all kinds of crazy electronic equipment I haven't even heard of, and while it was certainly intriguing (I don't dislike these guys, BTW, I just couldn't get into them), it wasn't exactly rockin' the house.

The two Tobin tracks I downloaded were really, really boring. I don't mind slow electronic music...

Whoa whoa whoa. "Slow"?! What the... oh shit, that sounds like someone told you to check out material from the LP "Permutation", which is a VERY BAD IDEA for anyone who's never heard the man's music. I still can't get into "Permutation" much, and this is AFTER I had to let it grow on me with repeated listens.

...if it has either A: interesting timbral progression and non-repetitive programming (Aphex Twin)

Repetitive? Hmm, maybe you got songs from "Bricolage" instead... ? From what I hear in most of Tobin's music, he may use one sample a lot, but the key is in how he disassembles and then pieces it back together in different patterns so that it rarely sounds the same. This is particularly true of his drum samples. A tune like "Chomp Samba" may be repetitive in a general sense - same basic bassline, a constant stream of non-stop breakneck-paced drumming, etc... but the devil's in the details. Not one measure of that drumming will sound like any other.

...or B: a luscious, edible surface texture (Boards of Canada), but Tobin had neither of these. I'm very suspicious of him.

Okay, maybe try these songs and see if they work better. If not, then we'll just have to agree to disagree and then scratch each others' eyes out. The first few are down-tempo and laidback, the second group is crazier shit (which may fall more in line with your tastes as an Autechre fan).

Keepin' It Steel
Searchers
Hey Blondie
Mighty Micro People
El Wraith

Mission
Chomp Samba
Get Your Snack On
Yards (my personal favorite Tobin track, that is if I had to pick just *one*)
Chronic Tronic