Autechre - Amber

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Autechre

TItle: Amber

Label: Warp Records

Date: November, 1994

 

1. Foil

2. Montreal

3. Silverside

4. Slip

5. Glitch

6. Piezo

7. Nine

8. Further

9. Yulquen

10. Nil

11. Teartear

 

 

 

I don't get it.

 

 

This project and this album in particular has a huge following so I figured I'd put it to the test. I don't want to piss on anyone's parade, but it's hard to see why people fawn all over this. I would put anything that Solar Fields, Aes Dana, Asura, Astropilot, or Koan has done over this. I realize it's almost twenty years old, but a classic should be a classic. The sound is techno combined with ambient textures. It's repetitive and doesn't evolve all that much. Perhaps it's a situation where those that grew up with this marked special times in their lives. Perhaps it was a soundtrack for those special and important moments. Because technically I'm not impressed.

 

I'm ok with not liking it. That's why there is so much music out there. Something for everyone. But for those that love it, I wouldn't mind hearing why.

 

Mdk

 

[franki]

Oh man, I love that album! (And Incunabula.)

I actually prefer it to Solar Fiields & Aes Dana.

I think there's much more going in in these tunes than your average Ultimae release (but I do find them a little tedious tbh), small nuggets of genius, like the string sounds as Silverside is finishing for example.
I can't really describe why I like Amber so much - a combination of things, I guess... it was way ahead of it's time, blended techno, electro, 80s electronica and more organic chilled sounds, plus seeing them perform amazing live gigs at that time probably added to my love for the album.

I still buy all their CDs today, but I'm not a big fan of the newer, more experimental glitchy noise they put out.

 

Just skipped through it again to confirm, but yes - it remains one of my all-time favourite electronic albums!

[Rotwang]

I don't want to piss on anyone's parade, but it's hard to see why people fawn all over this. I would put anything that Solar Fields, Aes Dana, Asura, Astropilot, or Koan has done over this.

 

 

 

But for those that love it, I wouldn't mind hearing why.

I dunno, it just has a certain je ne sais quoi. I'm sure my love of this album is partly due to when I heard it, but I don't think it's just that (there was a lot of electronic music I got into at the time but most of it hasn't managed to maintain such a special place in my heart). But I think you're doing it a disservice by comparing it to the likes of Solar Fields, Aes Dana or Asura (I'm not too familiar with the other two artists you mention); they make psybient, whereas Amber is much more of a "pure" ambient album. It's not something that can be enjoyed in a tent while sipping chai and discussing the military industrial complex with a man with dreadlocks, it's something that I listen to alone in the dark when I'm in just the right mood, and when I do so it messes with my head in a way that most other music can't.

 

Also DAT COVER

[Trance2MoveU]

Rotwang I am a big fan of the way your mind functions.

 

I knew the comparison I made was faux as it is apples and oranges. You make a good point that, like a lot of music, you have to be in the right mood. But when that mood hits, music can open the imagination like nothing else.

 

I mean how many times have we all been sitting alone in the dark and when that Alien Project comes on...

 

Who's with me? Anyone?

 

I'll see myself out.

 

Mdk

[Rotwang]