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Originally Posted by atsonicpark
I think all their early stuff is a bit bland and predictable and straightforward. Even Autechre will admit that. Though each release does have some good stuff. I think they got better with every release... except Quaristice, which was a signifiant step down in quality from Untilted... and Oversteps which is a big step down from Quaristice. So perhaps they're starting their decline now.
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I think all of their albums are great - Amber is actually one of my favorite albums, though of course it's not as original as what followed. I wouldn't say myself (but of course to each their own) that each album is better than the previous one - for me, their best one is definitely Confield and Draft 7.30 certainly isn't better than it imo... That said, I still think there is some kind of logic in the succession of their albums. Like, each album makes sense in the context of their whole discography, which I find interesting.
Like, they began with 90s-style ambient electronica, and then slowly got to a more complex, rhythm-based sound, each album being a step in that till LP5; then when complex rhythms are as important as melodies, they went on for pure abstraction on Confield, and then they continued in that abstract way by giving more and more space to the rhythms again until Untilted (which is their second best album for me). I feel like they reached the limits of that abstraction with Untilted, and I see Quaristice as a mean to sum up their whole discography and experiment on new things (shorter tracks, etc). I still haven't heard Oversteps but apparently it's focusing far more on melodies than beats, so that might be the next step: changing their focus, giving more importance to melodies than rhythms. Then again that might be pure craziness - and/or foolish ideas due to waking up too early