NTS Sessions.＜数量限定盤＞

構成数 : 12枚
合計収録時間 : 00:00:00
NTS Radio, a London-based online station that champions underground and experimental music, asked legendary electronic duo Autechre if they were interested in a residency. Autechre had already put together a DJ set for the station in 2016, and they weren't interested in doing another one. Instead, they went through various patches they'd been working on throughout the previous few years, and decided that they had enough material for eight hours' worth of radio sessions. They recorded numerous hours of material and edited them into four sessions, each two hours in length. As with 2016's Elseq 1-5, the result is closer to their live performances than their studio albums. They might start out with certain processes they've used before, but they end up going into radically different directions each time. Many of the individual tracks on NTS Sessions are ten- or 20-minute mini-marathons, and while they could very well be entirely generated by algorithms, there are distinct progressions to them, and they do appear to be pushed and shaped by humans. The first session is perhaps the most beat-heavy, and the one that seems to best represent the duo's abstract sense of funk, producing some of their most exciting material. The second session begins with a solid hour of highly complex, brain-teasing material before spacing out during much of the second half. The third session lets some of the duo's influences seep through in recognizable ways, via Underground Resistance-esque chords or early-'90s hardcore rave bass tones. The fourth disc is an outer-orbit ambient trip, culminating in the jaw-dropping hourlong drone "all end." While an album full of such long-winded, usually non-melodic, alien-sounding experiments might be an endurance test (if not completely impenetrable) to most listeners, Autechre fans live for endeavors like this. When the four sessions were originally aired, they each streamed on a loop for an entire week before the next one was premiered, so the duo's fans had an extended period of time to digest the material as it continually played in the background. By nature, the daunting NTS Sessions is Autechre's most challenging work, but for those who are dedicated, it's also one of their most rewarding. ~ Paul Simpson