NTS Sessions 4, second half, by Autechre.
Label Link: NTS Sessions 1-4
Number 8 in the wire magazine (@thewiremagazine) Top 50 releases of 2018.
The second half of NTS Sessions 4 is a single hour long track called, “all end”.
I had skimmed a review in the wire magazine, so I sort of knew what to expect.
I am somewhat obsessed by the idea of the physicality of sound.
When I think of “all end” it reminds me of an opaque block of ice.
From a distance, it looks solid and homogeneous. But, as you listen closer, you realize that there are little things happening in the background underneath the veneer of homogeneity.
It has texture and color and expresses something.
It may be melting as we look at it, changing phase, from solid to liquid to gas.
Anyway, to get back to the idea of autechre’s music as music that could be made by algorithms, I really do think that is unfair. You can hear them touching this music as it is being made.
I mean, unlike most music, when you see a performer on a late night show, and all there is is a laptop, some actors pretending to be musicians, and a vocalist singing backup to their pre-recorded and pitch corrected vocal track.
Now that, whether it is country pop, punk pop, or urban pop, is the real sound of algorithms.
#Autechre #NTSSessions #todayscommutesoundtrack #wiremagazine #wiremagazinetop50 #wiremagazinetop502018
