Autechre — NTS Sessions 1-4
I had always read with interest about each new release after Quaristice, and picked up all of them expect the digital live recordings & the digital-only album elseq 1–5…I’m sorry I’m old fashion I still want physical release, especially if it’s a project I like. I enjoyed elements of the release I heard post- Quaristice, but on the whole, it felt to me that the project had lost much of its spark for both invention & risk. And this is where the NTS Sessions come in.
A few months back I heard murmurings about a new release from the project, and seemingly it was to be a return to their more difficult, risky & lengthy material- it was also to be the projects longest release to date coming in at eight hours- this really peaked my interest. And then after hearing a few tracks via the projects band camp, I knew I had to pick up this new release- so I ordered the CD box set. And boy does it exceed my expectations, it really blows them away- for the most part, NTS box set sees the project back at the top of their game in both inventive & clever sound use, as well as daring & at times downright risky composition- to basically (once again) create work unlike anyone else
Since picking-up the set I’ve spent at least a week replaying & replaying each of the four two hour sessions that make-up the release. So I feel I’m now in the situation to try & at least give my first thoughts on this set, which I know like other classic Autechre release will be returning to again & again to investigating/ explore further in the years to come.
As mentioned early on I’m reviewing the CD box set- this present the release over eight CD’s, each of these lasts around an hour, and each session is spread over two discs. The CD’s each have their own white card slip sleeve, and these feature minimal black gloss like numbering/lettering- the eight sleeves come in a hard white card slipcase, and this once again features minimal black glossy texts. I guess appearance wise you’d compare it to something put out by minimal & at times clinical German electronica label Raster- noton. The release also came in the form of a 12 disc vinyl set; this seemingly followed a similar design path of the CD box set, but of course, increased the size. At present it seems that this vinyl box set sold out with, though it seems other places still have copies- but at present the CD box set is still available, though it’s meant to be ltd, which I can well imagine for such a large & challenging set- so if you do want to pick this up, I’d do it sooner than later- otherwise you’ll land-up paying crazy prices on either eBay or Discogs.
Anyway enough backstory and package description- let us get into the sonic innards of this beast. And lets start at the beginning & the first track on NTS vol one- it's titled( in a typical cryptic & playful Autechre fashion) “t1a1”- this nearing eighteen minute opener is both surprisingly pared back, and on first few plays seemingly rather simplistic- but as we’ve come to expect from this project, things are not necessarily what they initial seem. The tracks centred in on a blend popping ‘n’ squelching beats; around this the pair build a selection of fazed knocks, metallic rings & expanding textures- this creates a feeling akin to something been slowly stretched, expanded, and explored- and of course this is very apt for the start of our journey. These textures subtle shift & move over the tracks length, and the only really formal & approachable harmonic elements appear in the tracks last few minutes, when we get these simmering organ like broods . It’s certainly an extremely daring opener- both testing those expecting to be hit with Autechre mind-bending complexity, or putting off the more casual/ new listener- but really it’s a clever stroke, as personally, it triggered my curiosity even more, and over time I’ve really come to appreciate the tracks subtle-though-rewarding micro-detailed & pared-back-ness. As we move through the first session we come to one of my first & early highlights- “debris_funk”- this ten minute piece really sounds nothing like you expect from it’s title- the track sees a snapping & moody beat structure made up of slicing cymbal pulls & metallic hacks- around this the pair stretch out these rich & brooding atmospheric pulls of electro slurred string-work- these are drenched in this twisting & ebbing mass of digital reverb- and put simply it’s total spell-binding, bringing to mind a deconstructed & darkly dramatic classical string piece. Another memorable mention from the first session come in the form of “Gonk Steady One”- this twenty two minute piece is built around complex & kaleidoscopic spoke like rhythmic tones- these are spiraling around by a blends of on/off synth notation, swirling high pitched electro-violin swoops, bursts of sped up sliced metallics, and sudden simmers of stretched out vibe Hoovers- the tracks wonderful brain scrambling & manic, yet at the same time there is the sad longing in its guts. The first session, its two hour runtime, and nine tracks are fairly faultless, and I could easily wax lyrically about more of the tracks…but we have another three sessions to cover, and I don’t want this review to grow longer than it already is.
Session 2 features the most tracks of all the sessions- taking in twelve in all, these run a range of lengths from just over two to twenty-one minutes, and I’d say this is one of the more varied of the sessions. Going from complex & brain scrambling bangers, onto dense minimalism influenced synth marches, through to stripped back electro ambience, onto something approaching jam rock fed into Autechre’s machines. We go from the haunted dance floor like vibe of “Xflood”- which begins with a detailed mesh of banging, whistling, and stretching ‘n’ snapping electro-funk tones- then slowly but surely introducers swirling & shifting banks of wordless voices, ghostly textural hover, and creepy ebb- all to create a truly bizarre highbred of complex groove & bone-chilling atmosphere. Or there's the wonderfully titled “Dummy Casual Pt 2” which sees the meeting of hissing ‘n’ flicking beat work with scrambling ‘n’ deep bass saws, that from time-to-time drifts with this billowing hunting horn like wail. Through to the second session’s nocturnally moody & lengthy final track “Turbile Epic Casual, stpl idel”- which is nearing twenty two minutes of eerier string like circling, vast clouds of cavernous reverb, and bubbling ‘n’ popping ambient pads- all making for rather chilling, but highly compelling exit to the second session.
Moving on next we, of course, we come to Session 3, and personally, I found this the most programmatic/ inconsistent of all of the four sessions. The whole of this session and it’s ten tracks seems to be mainly utilizing older equipment & or sounds- and while there’s nothing wrong with that in its self. I just felt the first quarter and a few of the later tracks on this session seem to lack any punch, invention or clever-ness…the early tracks feel almost like bland B sides, or lesser unreleased tracks from the beginning of the pairs collaboration- and to me this could indicate that some of what we have across all the sessions is either unreleased, or reworked material- though I can’t say I get that feeling of low quality on much on the other sessions. That said as this 3rd session goes on there are moments of greatness, that are on par with the best work on the release as a whole. For me, these come in the form of the locked & dense minimalism-gone-techno of "acid mwan idel"- with its repetitive & constantly trailing paths of synth timbre stabs, shaking haze of percussion, and chilling electro vibe pluses. The slurred & drowsy low-fi snaking synth paths of "g1e1"- which sounds like a wound down, unwell, and unwinding take on Boards Of Canada- at their more eastern tinged & mysterious pagan. Or the sourly out-of-focus snapping beats, wavering bass line, and watery high pitched harmonics of nineFly. Or the slowly corrupting & head screwing drift, ebb, and stab of the sessions final track the twenty-minute "icari"- that brings together hazed funeral like ambient organ drifts, off-kilter bass-tone un-balancement, snapping & shifting beat skeleton- with uneven maps of buzzing, ringing, and darting electro textures.
So lastly we of course move onto the fourth & final session- and the five tracks on this session very much focus more towards the ambient and at times fairly abstract side of the projects sound. The first hour of the session is taken up by four tracks- these have runtimes between six & twenty-three minutes- and for the most part they are all effective, though I do have some tracks I’ve returned to more. These come in the form of the sessions opening track “frane casual”- which over it’s nearing fourteen minute sees the pair building up a dizzying mesh of alien ambient textures- we have a shoveling & slurred beat, a caught bouncing zing, a electro slice, a series of smaller phaser jitters, and a shifting backdrop of ghostly like ambience drift. Or the swirling & ebbing almost eastern tinged mystery of “column thirteen”- which finds the pair creating the snaking, expanding, then reducing sonic maze of chopping & ringing ambient pluses, which are pulled along by dramatic sways of reverb wash.
The second half of the fourth session is taken up by just a single track- “all end”- this fifty-eight-minute track finds the pair seeming blurring & time stretching a selection of tones- we have a wavering almost harmonic bass, some rising mids, and a bright sailing topping. Together these elements create this thick wash of pressing, though oddly eutrophic sound. To me the track feels akin to drifting high above some vast, futuristic & grand cityscape- most of the time you're view is obscured or blurred by thick cloud cover, but ever so often you get very brief hints of sparkling towers, throbbing neon roadways, or grand yet strange architecture. It’s certainly a very daring, and a risky end to the whole release- and initially, I was a little underwhelmed by the whole track…but as any Autechre fan knows, perseverance often pays off- and now after my sixth/ seventh play it’s really starting to hit home, and the clever but subtle tonally detail is coming to the fore.
Right now I’ve got to try & sum-up the experience of the NTS Sessions as an eight-hour release- in a relatively concise & compact manner. It’s a release that is many, many things- it’s daring, highly creative, and certainly envelope-pushing- but it’s also at turns puzzling & brain scrambling, deeply emotional, and cleverly playful. It’s a truly huge sonic statement, that has a few lesser moments, but I’d say on the whole it’s a wholly consistent release-that features some of the best work the pair have ever created. It’s always a little difficult to try & be subjective when one enjoys a release so much, and you have a long history with a project- but trying to be so I’d say that this is easily one of the highlights of 2018, and even if your not a fan I’d advise picking this up- as with NTS Sessions 1-4 Autechre have created one of towering & ultimate statements of what is possibility with-in the wider electronica genre.