Customer Reviews

Tri Repetae++

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One may divide the LPs of Autechre in two categories: refined and experimental. Refined means that the album has an extremely well defined style and unity to it. Once you have found the proper mindset to the album, you can enjoy it from start to finish, in awe of its architecture; however it can be hard to find this proper mindset and so the first listens are difficult and unrewarding. Refined style albums include Tri Repetae++, LP5, Confield and Untitled. Experimetal means that there is no one mindset to the album, but several; such albums are generally more immediatly accessible but keep mysteries to themselves for longer. Experimental albums include Chiastic Slide, ep7, Draft 7.30 and Quaristice.

With that in mind, Tri Repetae++ is an excellent place to start in IDM because it manages to sit with incredible confidence at the frontier of mainstream, melody-repetition-driven techno, and the intricate later works of Autechre. People I know who usually call Autechre « noise » are still seduced by the sheer beauty of dael, clipper, eutow... My favorite here on the Tri Repetae CD is stud, a rather contemplative track featuring a mesmerizing, evolving texture composed of highly contrasting timbres. When the beats stop at the end and you start sinking for 2:30 in the expanding reverberation, it's a great moment. I'm not going to describe all the other tracks, it wouldn't mean much to anyone except those who already heard them.

The most remarquable track however is on the Garbage CD, and is called garbagemx36. This is the equivalent of Draft 7.30's SURRIPERE, but in the melody-driven and straightforward style of early Autechre. Garbagemx36 is an almost strictly linear progression, from a minimalistic beat to a breath-taking symphonic piece. 14 minutes of delight. The remainder of the second CD is rather weak, including the ill-praised vletrmx21 which is basically the synth strings layer of garbagemx36 looping on itself for 8:27. Autechre's melodies do best when desperatly trying to erupt from under a few hundred layers of metallic clanks, not out naked in the air like that. But fans of Incunabula or Amber would say otherwise. I must admit Second scepe is cool though, if a bit long.

So, the first cd here is a classic Autechre work, a point of agreement for fans of early Autechre (Amber) vs fans of later Autechre (Confield), a great introduction to IDM, and a fascinating listen throughout. The second CD would be a bad excuse for a double album if not for the infinite redeeming power of garbagemx36, which I urge anyone sympathetic to electronic music to try.

definitely the best autechre album i have heard - their best work yet. beautifully and intricately mixed - the electronic complexity of it all makes for one of the best experimental cd's i've heard.
and not without variety either - tracks such as 'leterel' and 'stud' compare to leftfield's 'rhythm and stealth' album while 'rsdio' sounds like a bass test track with middle eastern influenced percussion.
the general feel of the cd however is very experimental, with a distorted, noisy sound, very sweet drum beats to ride to (perfect for cruising or chilling) and still a unique, unexpectedly french flavor all to its own.
if your looking for that new, underground, experimental sound this is it.

The first notes of the opening number recalled very early Human League to me, but then the track settles into a mechanical beat, like a conversation between machines. Clipper has a fuller sound, with bubbling beats and a slow, mournful melody, whilst Leterel is an impressive symphony of whooshes and Rotar is an edgy number, again with a melancholy tune over the jerky beats.

The next one, Stud, has moody synth loops and a slowly building ambient structure. My favorite is the hypnotic Eutow with its rousing synth lines, droning undertow and gripping arrangement, a challenging but compelling piece of music. Gnit, a charming sound collage of funky whirrs and burblings, follows the percussive industrial sound of C/pach. Overand is a soft gentle ambient piece and the album concludes with Rsdio, a mid tempo track with an impressive sonic and rhythmic mix.

The second disc provides further successful experimentation although no one track really leaps out at the listener the way that Eutow, Rsdio or Clipper does. Although complex, Autechre's evocative techno is surprisingly accessible. Tri Repetae is a feast of atmospheric sounds and varied rhythms, a most intelligently structured album of electronic textures.

Autechre is the epitimy of IDM music. Tri Repetae ++ is a great way to start getting into IDM. For one, it has a full-length on the first disc and 2 EPs on the second disc. This way you are getting essentially 3 Autechre cds for the price of one. This was actually my first IDM music and I have now moved on a little bit and I think that Peel Seesions 2 is even better than TR++.

I have to say that IDM is a little bit of an aquired taste (my parents normally turn it off if I have it on in the car) but once you give it a real chance, it is really worthwhile. I was listening to this cd earlier today and I thought, wow. These guys have put so much effort into making this cd as good as they can make it and I think that there isn't much more room for improvement.

Tri Repetae (as with all of Autechre's music) is mechanical, it sounds as if robots are chattering and meeting (I know that I haven't made that up myself, but it is a perfect description of what it is). If you think that you want to get into IDM but only want to buy one album to start with, then this is the one to get!

Avec cet opus, Sean Booth et Rob Brown ont réalisé leur meilleur album. "Tri Repetae++" continue dans la lignée d'"Amber", en ce sens qu'il s'agit d'un album très Ambiant. Les morceaux sont assez longs et hypnotiques, ce qui nous laisse sombrer tête première dans ces diverses transes ou états d'esprit.

À écouter tard le soir, pour dormir et rêver.

Although I haven't heard all of Autechre's stuff, I am confident enough to say this is the best collection of their work. I was intrigued by the video for Second Bad Vilbel (Directed by Chris Cunningham) and hunted down the track. The style is fresh and original; rusty, mechanical clockwork with hints of slightly awkward melodies an sometimes off-beat rythms. Autechre is cold and alien to the soul, the true music of a machine inherited world (ala "The Matrix') with a touch of crude imperfection. The songs each have distinct personalities : the only drawback is that many of the tracks carry on for way too long. Great for writing, reading, painting or drawing to, or falling asleep to.

I've found myself drawn to technological innovation like a moth to a flame, wanting to upgrade whenever something unique dancing onto the shelves, so it kinda made sense to me to go and try out different types of electronic music. Electronica, techno, dance, IDI; they all seemed to call me and they all seemed like marvels when I picked them up. Sometimes I'd simply sit anmd listen and what I heard would make me want to try new things, heaping sounds on top of one another unitl new classifications were born, and I was always trying to find something that would push the envelope a bit further each time I tried something. And then I ran into Autechre, and I was blown away.

There are some days when the level of what is being accomplished by bands like Autechre absolutely blows my mind. As I sit listening to those sculptures produced by very talented minds, I actually marvel at what they bring into being. By taking machines and a mathematics approach to sound, they produce something unique, a terra made exclusively out of elements shaped by technology, giving listeners like myself things we've never imaged before. Through digitally construed mediums, we've been allowed to taste something that our parents and their parents never imaged, actually allowing us to ride on the shaped experimental surf of some unnamed audio sea for the very first time. Its uttering amazing in that respect alone, with foreign worlds never before experienced finding themselves sonically cultivated in man's existence.
And then there's the music itself.

I've actually never found an Autechre album that I've disliked, although there are some whose results I've managed more splendidly than others. This is one of those albums I've found myself marveling at, me lapsing into places with my eyes shut that almost seem alien to my psyche, and I sometimes find myself having to replay a few times just so I can set it aside. Songs like "leterel" and "rotor" birth atmospheres all their own, robust and ripe with brooding flavors, and they're tastes that I, a sampler sampling, find myself needing to experience over and over again. And those are only parts and the work, the whole, is truly something worth experiencing.
This also includes a second disc as well, with "anvil vapre" and "garbage" on it. The first is remarkably done and milked from the audio veins to the point perfection and makes this worth having for it and it alone. And there are two discs here, giving you something you something alien and yet beautiful at the same time.

This is all just wording, though, and its keeping you from sampling the primordial stew of sound that you should give a chance. Just allow yourself some time to adjust to it if you've new to it, a loose translation of the word "beauty," and you'll find yourself something that'll bridge years of your life.

-TastyBabySyndrome

If you like industrial music or IDM you'll love this. If you like your techno melodic or with catchy hooks, more than likely you'll hate this. This album is somewhere in the middle between IDM and barebones techno. It has at times the minimalistic and isolationistic approach of Plastikman while at other times it moves you with the haunting unsettling sounds of Skinny Puppy. Compared to other more popular acts in techno this is IDM but compared to other IDM acts like Mouse on Mars, Matmos, and Boards of Canada I'm not really sure. It's a bit simple in progression compared to other IDM acts(like Mouse on Mars) but still complex enough in sound to keep a critic like myself satisfied. This could be a great soundtrack to a movie about someone stranded on the moon looking for a way home. As a Post Rock/Experimental/IDM fan, I now have a party CD without having to resort to my guilty pleasures. An area I needed to fill, seriously.

but tri repetae is a seminal release within the realm of IDM (along with Boards of Canada's Music Has The Right...) so if you're not a true fan of IDM or if your idea of experimental/ ambient is John Cage or Brian Eno then of course you're proabably not going to like this. Any IDM more than likely will befuddle and alienate you.

At the time of tri repetae's release, it completely changed my perspective of what music IS and CAN be and I've never looked back. tri repetae (along with BoC's MHTRTC) is a disc that to this day I still pull from my shelf at least once a month and listen to. Nothing since has touch the sheer genius and brillance of this classic. 'rotor' still chills me like it did the first time with its rolling bassline and creepy synthesized yelps. I still can't get enough of the eerie, atmospheric 10+ minute slowburn of 'second peng' and 'garbagemx36'. No one since has come close to making anything as compelling as this . . . not even autechre.

So Stephen it's simply a matter of taste, not soapbox preaching or hero worship. For me, Eno's 'music for airports', 'on land' and 'plateaux of mirror' hasn't withstood the test of time and I found myself selling them (vinyl copies!) for credit to purchase other soon to be IDM classic releases.

If you haven't heard tri repetae yet but are continuing to listen to the hype around it . . . believe it and hear for yourself.

Autechre's Tri Repetae++ is a must have for anyone who's into ambient/techno music. It's solid from beginning to end. There isn't a bad track to be found on the two CDs. Though some tracks stand out more than others (vletrmx21 is probably the one you've heard on some internet radio channels), the whole thing is balanced and original, never boring. Excellent background music when I paint or draw, or just when I'm in a certain mood.