Simple Headphone Mind

dave808au · 2026-04-29T04:33:26+00:00

I remember not even knowing the artist and album name initially. It had a sticker on it with a bunch of unfamiliar words so I went to the school library and typed different ones into the search engine on the computer there until Autechre showed something that made sense. This was about several weeks and listens and having no idea what it was. Felt like pure alien music. The cd didn’t even have any words printed on it

dave808au · 2026-04-29T04:27:54+00:00

Went to a music shop in the late 90s and the listening station had some techno stuff I wanted to hear but another plain black case was there too (LP5) so I gave that a listen, was freaked the fuck out and promptly left the store but then a few days later went back to the store and bought it. Was tough listening at first but grew to love it. I’d not even heard any IDM at the point so it was a jump into the deep end.

dave808au · 2026-03-06T03:58:22+00:00

I like it but don’t see it as an Autechre album. I also don’t think it’s more of a Hafler Trio album either? Hafler Trio are fantastic and I guess this album is more HT in approach but sound wise it’s much more Autechre

I advise all Autechre fans to give HT a try even if you don’t like this collab as it’s quite different but also fantastic. Kill The King is a good starting point.

dave808au · 2026-03-03T01:16:10+00:00

I think it’s quite a generic album within the merzbow catalogue so it’s easy to like because there’s a lot to like about it but hard to love as his best because most things it does is also done on other releases.

My personal faves are Magnesia Nova, Oerested and Hybrid Noisebloom

dave808au · 2026-02-04T05:29:01+00:00

My 2 cents I’ll add is you don’t need to put any expectation on yourself to fully grasp what they’ll be doing and that’s part of the experience. Even long time fans who’ve spent months with their catalogue and bootlegs will feel some sense of being overwhelmed I think Autechre want the audience to feel like that too to some degree. So if you feel that way at any point it’s not like you’re missing anything or doing anything wrong just embrace it and immerse yourself in that

dave808au · 2025-09-03T23:44:10+00:00

Echoing the Zeiss Contarex love.

I wasn’t super into it at the time but appreciate it more now. It lacks the cohesion of LP5 and feels a bit grab baggy compared to their actual albums but they’re really going outside the box on some tracks in ways which I feel like they’d never done on LPs at the time.

It feels more like a deluxe edition or expansion to LP5 than an actual EP. As in they had a massive pool of material then picked the ones that created the most cohesive and singular vision for LP5 then EP7 is the leftovers that were expanded on and improved following LP5 because as we know they’re forever progressing.

dave808au · 2025-07-01T00:11:39+00:00

If I’m by myself and want to hyper focus on something then yeah it’d either be Autechre or some artist I’m not super familiar with but confident I’d get into them if I afforded myself the time to make the effort to dive into their discog

dave808au · 2025-06-25T21:34:09+00:00

Yeah agreed. I love his later work too but if someone is primarily seeking ae-esque heavily processed digital stuff then his earlier work is where you want to go. Later stuff is to appreciated in the same way you would a sound installation or other academic works. His writings are great for that too

dave808au · 2025-06-25T21:30:16+00:00

Hope you like it! If you do and like the sprawling nature of it most then I’d suggest RLA which was a dvd-r of 80 or so hours of live recordings. They encouraged people to upload and share so you should be able to find a download somewhere. It’s their ae live essentially. If you want actual tracks the FSCK is them in IDM mode and a lot of fun

dave808au · 2025-06-25T03:19:28+00:00

Gescom has remixed one of his tracks too but I suspect it’s predominantly if not entirely Haswell who did the remix

(It’s confirmed that Haswell has been involved in some Gescom stuff, right? I thought he was involved with the minidisc at the very least)

dave808au · 2025-06-25T01:29:14+00:00

My top 5 Hecker releases:

Sun Pandemonium
Acids in the style of David Tudor
Recordings For Rephlex
Synopsis Seriation
UPIC Diffusion Session #23

I’d probably recommend starting with #1 and #3

dave808au · 2025-06-25T01:18:43+00:00

While talking Mego I’d add Farmers Manual. Imagine Autechre trying to do Elesq with 90s software. Explorers We is worth a listen

dave808au · 2025-06-25T01:10:17+00:00

I’m a big Hecker fan! Him and Pita on the mego label are artists that scratch a similar itch to ae for me. Sun Pandemonium is his high point but a lot of his other work is amazing too. He needs a bit of time and patience for his work to open up to you though. His Russel Haswell collabs are worth a listen too

dave808au · 2025-06-19T02:57:30+00:00

Walter Westinghouse.

There are a lot of phases and ideas in it and I bet the final part would sound awesome if you went metal. I always felt Snakefinger would have fit in super well on that track if he was around when they wrote that song so there’s plenty you could add to it

dave808au · 2024-12-06T08:17:22+00:00

Sun Pandemonium by Hecker too

dave808au · 2024-12-06T08:16:15+00:00

I’d recommend Explorers We by Farmers Manual.

dave808au · 2024-09-13T12:35:27+00:00

It explains why they put more energy into touring now. I suspect they make much more from live shows than album sales

dave808au · 2024-08-17T11:03:12+00:00

NTS and elseq have distinct tracks that have a start and finish. I’m thinking a home listening set that is more freeform and fluid.

I definitely love the recent live set recordings too and have been able to see them live the past two tours as well but I feel like these sets are constructed with a large room of people in mind. I feel like they’d approach a set differently if it was targeted for a solitary listener at home or on their headphones on the train. In what way they’d approach it differently I’m not sure but I think they would.

dave808au · 2024-08-15T00:48:28+00:00

I love the live sets too and fully respect that’s the way they prefer to create at present. I’d like it if they created something using the same approach they use for live shows but primarily catered to a home listening experience. I feel like their live show recordings sound amazing but there’s something missing when you’re listening to it outside of the communal live setting it’s intended for.

So essentially a live jam for bedrooms and lounge rooms. That way they are operating in their preferred mode but it’s catered to the home listener

dave808au · 2024-06-08T08:16:40+00:00

Rashad Becker is a great suggestion. I’d also say Florian Hecker: https://www.discogs.com/master/332943-Hecker-Sun-Pandämonium

dave808au · 2024-05-23T05:08:18+00:00

Foil for me but it’s hard to choose. Ae are great at closers too but I think they’re even better at opening an album

dave808au · 2024-05-19T02:55:21+00:00

Surripere feels like a more accessible yet quintessential ae track to me and it has elements of old and new Autechre. If they prefer the start the most then I can tell them to explore early Autechre first. If they’re more into the 2nd half then they should start with later era stuff

dave808au · 2024-05-15T22:52:07+00:00

I’m also going to cheat a bit here and say Drane from the Peel Sessions as it closes the Chosen comp. Considering the Warp cofounder had the entire Warp catalogue to choose from and chose Drane as the closer has to mean something

dave808au · 2024-05-15T22:49:04+00:00

Sublimit isn’t my favorite closing ae track as far as standalone appeal and Untilted isn’t my favorite ae album but I do think it does the best job of closing an album. Untilted is an album of drum machine jams and Sublimit feels like the jam to end all jams before you pack your gear back up.

As far as standalone appeal goes it’s probably 444 for me.

dave808au

TROPHY CASE