Exai

It took me years to get into this album. Though, now that I have, it's absolutely one of my favorite Autechre albums to date. Granted, Confield is my favorite, followed by Untilted, so the colder/darker Autechre has always drawn me to it. I know that some have said that this album is minimal compared to some previous work, and I'll admit that I thought the same for a while. However, listening with my first pair of good headphones over the last couple months, this album has really opened up for me. There's so much quiet detail that I had completely overlooked in the past, and really is quite dense. ATM, I'm still obsessivly listening to the AE_Live collection, but I can not wait to hear what Autechre gives us in the future.

I tend to prefer the more melodic ae (like Tri repetae) but I got a real kick out of Confield. With the exception of bladelores (amazing track btw) , this album has a very dark but thin atmosphere, which would be really nice if it had more memorable melodies. fleure is rather chaotic and kinda lacks melody; although an ae fan more used to their absurd and chaotic works would appreciate this a lot more than I do, as a fan of their more melodic works this was a bit disappointing. Hopefully I will enjoy this album more as I listen to it some more and find some melodies I have probably missed.

Warp Records doesn't quite! This is a strange, unpredictable album that takes you through some weird distopian ruins of a wrecked laboratory in the distant future. It has some strangly emotional moments now and again. It's a pretty unique experience. Autechre are unusual even among other unusual artists, and that's why I love them. The music is compelling. It lures you with it's innovation and challenges you to determine it's purpose and compositional value.

Autechre boast a discography spanning two decades, incorporating 11 full-length albums and many more EPs. During this time the duo of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, from Rochdale, Manchester, have constantly explored new ways of creating sound, testing the limits of what constitutes electronic music. While it is often said that their albums have formed a linear progression, gradually increasing in abstraction, complexity and inaccessibility, it is probably better to view each release as a standalone exploration of a particular concept. Often carried out in micro-detail, each one brings with it a new take on texture, style and technique. Their music is visual, sometimes cinematic, and has often brought to mind images of machines and aliens. What then of Exai, Autechre’s eleventh and longest album to date. Running at over two hours in length and extending over 17 tracks, I feared that Autechre’s tendency to explore ideas so meticulously may have finally tipped the balance. I was wrong. This is not just a superb record, it may well be Autechre’s magnum opus. Exai starts inconsistently and continues that way. Opening track “FLeure” is dense, frantic and beat laden. Sounding like the chatter of aliens, it’s probably what most people associate with Autechre at their most inaccessible. Yet “irlite (get O)” draws heavily on sharp synthesised strikes and seems quite retrospective in its outlook. Not quite Incunabula, but not a million miles away. Similarly on “T ess xi” a contrast is drawn between 90s sounding synth chords with a chaotic, otherworldly beat. The theme here seems to be about pulling things together; about contrast rather than focus. The rewards for a long-time listener are clear and the first disc closes with the twelve minute stunner “bladelores”. This is as striking an individual track as Autechre have produced for some time. Its slow, deliberate beats provide the anchor for the gorgeous landscape that unfold as the track progresses. The second disc opens with the head-nodding “1 1 is” which has a melody hidden within it that is reminiscent of EP7’s “rpeg”, while “nodezsh” uses similar drum programming techniques to much of Draft 7.30, particularly those found in “IV VV IV VV VIII”. “cloudline”, one of the most fascinating and structurally complex tracks on the album, seems to have elements of 2001’s Confield about it; the alien sounding atmosphere, the muffled beat and maybe even a hint of “Bine”. We again hear Autechre’s fondness for techno in “deco Loc” and “recks on” before the wonderful, symphonic closer “YJY UX”. You could write an essay about Exai - it is that diverse, complex and ambitious. And while I have not felt this excited about an Autechre album for many years, the scope of Exai means it feels like a different type of Autechre album altogether. Whereas previous albums have tended to explore a particular technique or concept, be it the ambience of Amber or the tempo of Untilted, Exai seems to be a symposium of ideas, drawn from many years of producing music. In this sense, it could almost be Autechre’s ‘best of’ album. However, in true Autechre fashion, it doesn’t comprise individual tracks from their numerous albums but instead splices together the many styles and techniques they have pioneered and then perfected over the past two decades. Overall, the sheer scale of what is on offer here is remarkable. It is a coming together of everything Autechre are good at, even if, like the tetris blocks on the album’s cover, they don’t always fit together perfectly. It even made me wonder if this is in fact a goodbye from Autechre. I truly hope not, but If it is then this is one heck of a send off.

I've been listening to Ae since "Incunabula". I haven't liked everything they've done, and I don't call them geniuses (although I do think they are quite talented, if overindulgent). I loved "Tri Repetae", I didn't care for "Confield" or "Draft 7.30"; but I think they're starting to find a sound that is a good mix of melody and noise. Exai showed promise the minute I listened to a sample of "bladelores". That track is almost worth the price of the album. Yes, there are a couple of tracks I skip over (may return to them one day); but, for the most part, Exai is very enjoyable. "recks on", "11 is" and "irlite (get 0)" are my favorites.

Exquisite. Ae have come full circle, and now incorporate everything they learned and every place they have explored throughout their career and deliver a beautiful album that is at once austere and lush…Full of texture and groove, filtered through an analytical process that to me has always been the beauty of Autechre's music--the fact that they find the organic structure in electronic sound... The electronic organism conjured by Sean and Rob has evolved quite nicely and finds its home where funk and math intersect. Nice.

It is the progressive music of our day.

Unbelievable. A true testament to their abilities. Any fan should buy this album. Side note, try this with a pair of high quality head phones.

The reviews and accolades here all pretty much spell out the brilliance of this album. These two have more class, and elegance than any outfit out there. The Autechre brand is brilliant. The sounds, packaging, down to the song titles. Nothing else out there like it…at all. And another reviewer stated the way they went about releasing this album was excellent. Very little fanfare, because little fanfare is needed when you're Autechre. That's my two cents. I'm not going to describe this albums sound in relation to other releases. If you're an Autechie, you will love this. If you're a newcomer, I can't imagine a better place to start investing. Brilliant, yes.

This shows a much more cohesive Autechre sound. I have listened to them since their imports first reached US soils. as well as having seen them live a few times. This is by far their crowning achievment. Booth/Brown at their finest!