Autechre - Gantz Graf

Rating:
Summary: This DVD has warped my fragile little mind
Review: A lot of people let their musical appreciation muscles atrophy. They end up listening to the same stuff they listened to in college, for the rest of their lives. Hence the popularity of oldies radio stations. It's not too late, though. If you want to give your musical appreciation muscles a good workout, this is the DVD & CD for you. Forget easy listening; this is difficult listening.

The title track, gantz_graf, is almost overwhelming in its complexity--and so is the video. Don't expect it to be on MTV any time soon. (Stunning fact: The video was animated by hand.)

The video for second bad vilbel is here too, newly remastered. It's a disturbing vision of alien robotics by Chris Cunningham.

The basscadet video is sadly dated, but hey, it's there for completists.

The CD included with the DVD includes two more tracks, which manage to pack an album's worth of progression into fifteen minutes.

Rating:
Summary: Back In Top Form
Review: Autechre blazed new pathways for electronica in the mid 90's. Now they're doing it again with this great double CD set. I watched the DVD the other night and when it ended, after pushing my jaw back up, whispered... "...". Tonight I listened to the audio CD and I must say it's good to hear Autechre taking risks again. There's nothing like listening to Autechre in the dark.

Rating:
Summary: Back In Top Form
Review: I think that the 1'st vid is underrated. There is a total theme in the Robot chasing the insect. If you look closely you will see Kanji on the wings of the insect. If you know Japanese this would be an added benefit, (my friend knows).

[...]

Rating:
Summary: Audiovisual/Musical Purity
Review: I think that the 1'st vid is underrated. There is a total theme in the Robot chasing the insect. If you look closely you will see Kanji on the wings of the insect. If you know Japanese this would be an added benefit, (my friend knows).

[...]

Rating:
Summary: A pretty cool package.
Review: In one jewel case (about as thick as two CD jewel cases, and both a little taller and deeper than a standard jewel case) you get two discs, both the "Grantz Graf" CD EP and an accompanying DVD (which plays fine on US players). The CD itself is great, of course -a more or less expected continuation of the direction Ae had been moving in with "Confield." Short length (under 20 mins) stops this from being the most crucial Autechre recording, but I very much recommend it (but then I recommend every Autechre and Gescom release). The DVD features Alex Rutterford's animated video for the title track, which is impressive and a good fit to the insane rhythm of the music. And as a bonus, the DVD also includes two archival videos. The first is a video for an abridged version of "Second Bad Vilbel," directed by Aphex Twin and Björk vid director Chris Cunningham. Its really quite nice (it would be great to see a DVD come out compiling his video work). The second is a video for "Bass Cadet," directed by Jess Scott Hunter. This one's pretty dated. Its the kind of old-school computer graphics and techno-y looking atmospherics you'd expect for an electronic music video from the early '90s.

All in all, a very nice offering for all of us longtime Ae fans. Be advised that, as this DVD package DOES come with the CD as well, there is no need to buy both this and the "Grantz Graf" CD. There's nothing on the individually packaged CD to necessitate purchasing both, as I unwisely did (although the CD packaging fits more neatly on the shelf than the DVD packaging does - see above). But for new Ae fans, I probably recommend something like "EP7," "LP5," or "Chiastic Slide" to start with instead.

Rating:
Summary: Completely Ineffable
Review: It probably wasn't evident with their first few releases but it seems that Autechre has been drifting further and further away from any hope of comprehension since Incunabula. Each release gets more and more immediately inaccessible, and is met with either direct disgust, cautious head-scratching, or unfounded adoration. Reading more and more reviews of this release I suddenly came to the realization that Autechre is completely unreviewable. Some reviews call it a return to dancier beats, some complain of a complete lack of direction. Admittedly, upon first listen of the title track I was totally confounded that anyone could think of attaching danceable with this. However, to even begin describing it would be insulting to both the written word and Autechre's audio.

So what happens now; this is supposed to be a review, but I've explicitly said that the CD is unreviewable. My only suggestion is that you listen to nothing, expect nothing, and read nothing on this band, but that you just dive in head first and buy something, perhaps start with Incunabula, perhaps start with this. My only caveat is: if you do not want challenging music, go nowhere near this. If you have had experiences before where a piece of music has elicited horror or apathy only to be embraced as the savior of music upon further listens, then check into Autechre.

Buying the DVD version offers a perfect representation of this ineffableness, Gantz-Graft is imagined as a spiraling bursting ball of electronic wave, whereas Chris Cunningham's revamped Second Bad Vilbel Video shows the track as video noise.

Rating:
Summary: Autechre's Finest Hour...or 20 min
Review: Sean Booth and Rob Brown are complicated guys. Both out of Manchester, the duo form Autechre and perhaps Electronica's best kept secret. They are the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow. But that's not to say their music is a rainbow to easily ride on; for if it was, Gantz Graf would not be here today.

Sean and Rob came together through a love of hip hop and graffiti back in 1987. It's no wonder then that their music is truely inspired by that style of music. Mostly all their tracks carry a rhythm section that is easy on the neck surrounded by alien landscapes and textures that only they could think up. Some may nod away at the music and fail to realize they're standing on a glass floor -- a floor that, if they only took the time to look down, could expose what all is going on. For there is a lot.

Gantz Graf has a lot going on, certainly. It's probably Ae's densest, most room filling cd there is aside from the perfect Confield (their latest LP). GG carries on where Confield left off and, while adding new concepts and ideas, it also re-interprets it. The title track running at 3:58 rummbles and trips and explodes in front of you caring not about the look on your face. Where Bine (from Confield) was about the organic side to absolute chaos, GG interprets the concept as mechanical. One could easily see machines becoming alive and stretching their years old rusty parts, twisting their metal waists and letting out a cacophonous noise.

Dial comes on next and begins (and ends) the cd's more danceable beats. Although the dancing comes and stops quite soon, it's one the best best tracks on here. One must be warned that there are very high frequencies on this track so if you're listening for the first time (especially on headphones) it would be advisable to turn it down at first. Dial also is a nice showcase piece of Ae's 'generative music' style. For a more elaborate explaination on that one can easily look it up at search engines. The beats change and shift time signatures fairly quickly and one will need to hear this track multiple times to both get used to it and to get their bearings on how this track evolves.

Cap. IV quite surpisingly comes on without letting the listener take a breather from Dial -- the maddness is just starting up again. The track unfolds for 9:02 and builds up to one of the noisiest and hauntingly most beautiful climaxes Ae have ever managed to produce. It also is a re-interpretation of Lentic Catachresis (off Confield) in this reviewer's opinion. Both tracks share the same ideas and look at a concept at different directions. Where it starts off slow, the track begins to make a very unique hummable tune. After the track has dealt with all applicable variations, it closes things off effortlessly by combining all sounds and shooting up the bpm chart to unimaginable speeds. How things shut down is for you to find out.

All in all, if you can deal with abstract concepts and enjoy musical challenges I would whole-heartedly recommend this double-disk package (with the dvd) to you. If not, this is definatly the worst place to start. If you're new to Ae and don't know where to start I would say to begin with Incunabula (their first LP) or Amber (their 2nd) or even LP5 (well...their 5th). All explain Autechre's sound well and one can get an idea of what they do and where they are going and most importantly why GG sounds the way it does.

It's been a 10 year ride so far with great sounds along the way. Sean and Rob have done a lot but a lot can be expected for the next 10 years to come. Who knows what new stories they'll tell through their sound. A good one for sure.

Rating:
Summary: Autechre's Finest Hour...or 20 min
Review: Sean Booth and Rob Brown are complicated guys. Both out of Manchester, the duo form Autechre and perhaps Electronica's best kept secret. They are the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow. But that's not to say their music is a rainbow to easily ride on; for if it was, Gantz Graf would not be here today.

Sean and Rob came together through a love of hip hop and graffiti back in 1987. It's no wonder then that their music is truely inspired by that style of music. Mostly all their tracks carry a rhythm section that is easy on the neck surrounded by alien landscapes and textures that only they could think up. Some may nod away at the music and fail to realize they're standing on a glass floor -- a floor that, if they only took the time to look down, could expose what all is going on. For there is a lot.

Gantz Graf has a lot going on, certainly. It's probably Ae's densest, most room filling cd there is aside from the perfect Confield (their latest LP). GG carries on where Confield left off and, while adding new concepts and ideas, it also re-interprets it. The title track running at 3:58 rummbles and trips and explodes in front of you caring not about the look on your face. Where Bine (from Confield) was about the organic side to absolute chaos, GG interprets the concept as mechanical. One could easily see machines becoming alive and stretching their years old rusty parts, twisting their metal waists and letting out a cacophonous noise.

Dial comes on next and begins (and ends) the cd's more danceable beats. Although the dancing comes and stops quite soon, it's one the best best tracks on here. One must be warned that there are very high frequencies on this track so if you're listening for the first time (especially on headphones) it would be advisable to turn it down at first. Dial also is a nice showcase piece of Ae's 'generative music' style. For a more elaborate explaination on that one can easily look it up at search engines. The beats change and shift time signatures fairly quickly and one will need to hear this track multiple times to both get used to it and to get their bearings on how this track evolves.

Cap. IV quite surpisingly comes on without letting the listener take a breather from Dial -- the maddness is just starting up again. The track unfolds for 9:02 and builds up to one of the noisiest and hauntingly most beautiful climaxes Ae have ever managed to produce. It also is a re-interpretation of Lentic Catachresis (off Confield) in this reviewer's opinion. Both tracks share the same ideas and look at a concept at different directions. Where it starts off slow, the track begins to make a very unique hummable tune. After the track has dealt with all applicable variations, it closes things off effortlessly by combining all sounds and shooting up the bpm chart to unimaginable speeds. How things shut down is for you to find out.

All in all, if you can deal with abstract concepts and enjoy musical challenges I would whole-heartedly recommend this double-disk package (with the dvd) to you. If not, this is definatly the worst place to start. If you're new to Ae and don't know where to start I would say to begin with Incunabula (their first LP) or Amber (their 2nd) or even LP5 (well...their 5th). All explain Autechre's sound well and one can get an idea of what they do and where they are going and most importantly why GG sounds the way it does.

It's been a 10 year ride so far with great sounds along the way. Sean and Rob have done a lot but a lot can be expected for the next 10 years to come. Who knows what new stories they'll tell through their sound. A good one for sure.