Gantz Graf: +CD [DVD]

Tracks:

Gantz Graf
Bass Cadet
Second Bad Vibel

Customer Reviews:

Classic Autechre, but not quite their best.......2004-05-07

Whilst the song and video are indeed excellent, this DVD and single aren't the best stuff you'll hear from Autechre - this is for the established fans, rather than the newcomers. If you're used to their more melodic and older stuff, like Amber or Incunabula, this'll knock you to the ground first time you play it - it's fast and it's loud. None of the melodic 9 minute track style music that you may be used to from thier older music - the title track clocks in at 3 minutes 58 seconds, and it's extreme and vibrant throughout. After a couple of listens, however, you'll get into it, and realise that it is another Autechre masterpiece. And the video is fnatastic, extremely well made and very pleasant to watch.
If you're just getting into Autechre, check out their older stuff first - this certainly isn't the place to start. If you're already into them and their style of music, then this is a must have.

Classic ae.......2003-04-10

Good old Autechre. They tend to divide opinions. Some people love their work almost blindly, many people absolutely despise it.

Well, you get out of it what you put in. I think they are fantastic, and won't hear a bad thing said about them. Having said that, I can understand why some people just regard their music as noise. It can be abstract, random sounding - but there is a lot of beauty there, and a lot of hidden structure.

Gantz graf can sound a bit full on, especially at first listen, but listened alongside the visual here, it makes it more palatable to the uninitiated.

This is a superb single, has a different sound from many of their more recent work, and is slightly more accessible than tunes of late - but it's still classic Autechre, and has all their hallmarks. It won't fill any dance floors (well, none of the ones I've been on), but it's a cracking tune.

A work of post-modern art. Yeah, seriously!.......2003-04-09

Love it. Rutherford's video is the perfect accompaniment to Gantz Graf, what is certainly the most... intense track Booth and Brown have produced thus far. Basically, an object twists, turns, and morphs into various shapes - synchronised perfectly with the music: an unstoppable percussion monster that floored me when I first heard it. Yes, melodically it isn't up to much, but there's a few buried in the mass of psycho drum programming, which is memorable enough in its own right!

The other two videos on the DVD are edited versions of Basscadet and Second Bad Vilbel (MTV references removed, and other little things. So a huge improvement!), and are far less complex, and do pale in comparision to the Gantz vid. However, they're good in their own right, and both tracks are AE classics.

As for Dial and Cap IV (the other two tracks on the Gantz Graf EP), they're both very good; somewhat more melodic "Confield-ian" creations that complement Gantz very well.

So, the first big DVD masterpiece from Warp - here's hoping more follow (how about Red Snapper's Prince Blimey live sessions, guys?). Skam have followed up with the Meam disc, which is also very good, and worth getting... hopefully others will follow theirs and Warp's lead. The music video is an art that has still to be fully explored (outside the demoscene), and the DVD medium makes it easy for us all to hear and see such works. So, more please!

Something else.......2003-02-14

This is actually great value for money. You get a DVD, + a CD, for a very good price.
I love Autechre, so I knew that when I saw Autechre had released a DVD, I knew I had to have it. At first though, when I put the DVD in, and started the main spectacle I was a little bit confused. I have never heard, nor seen the main video Gantz Graf before, and what hit me like a baseball bat was a ton of beats, clashing in an inhuman, complex "pattern". This new_style of Autechre, if I may be so bold, isn't quite my cup of tea. It gets too beat driven, and too jazz inspired in my taste. I like the early days of Autechre, with Amber, and Tri Repetae++ being my favorite albums. Gantz Graf is a brilliant track, but isn't what I normally listen to for relaxing.

But whether you disagree or disagree with me doesn't matter. Track two on this DVD made me smile, and go to heaven. Because the music video of Bass Cadet, which I first saw on MTV's partyzone (back when MTV was good) was the main thing that made me discover Autechre. I recommend this DVD to fans of Autechre, and to people who want to discover that electronic music can be more than pop-trance, and 1, 2, 3 beats.

ae do it again.......2002-09-02

autechre follow up the massively complex confield with this 3 track ep and dvd release. the tracks themselves are amazing, gantz graf's heavily time strectched beat tears through a synth hitting a few strict notes, dial is click central, with an organ playing what reminds me of the music they americans have in baseball matches, or ice hockey, or something. there are also some vocals in this track, this is ae though, so they are f`cked up. finally we have the epic cap.iv, a sonic representation of the chaos theory maybe. its wicked. last few minutes are pure head scramble. a million robots with laser guns go to war while a phantom hits chords on a piano and whispers songs through the mayhem.
alone, the three tracks on this ep are brilliant. it's with the video for gantz graf however, that things really fall into place. there is something in this video that reacts to every single sound in the song. we see a core in the centre of infinity spin out of control, shapes and light surrounding it, all moving in time to the track. at the end of the song a metal shield attaches itself over the core in an attempt to contain it, the cores having none of it and it goes mad and breaks free from the metal with a series of pulses, the track ends , and the core disappears. i'd say this is the most complex music video of all time. a must have.

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