Autechre SIGN and PLUS

SIGN and PLUS

Really chuffed to get these CDs from my wife for Christmas. Played them simultaneous on my old Homemix – any track overlapping sounded great, in the dark, every time I have seen them live, their shows are performed with no light. Autechre’s music requires attention, and discipline to fully engage with and is also a very physical experience, you ‘feel’ the music inside your body. This feature is something I take into Senses of Tumour; to heal or improve at what you do takes time, attention and discipline.

Speaking about their use of programming in their music, Sean Booth said in a rare interview, “It’s the ‘Eureka!’ moments that get me. You can be really in the zone with programming”. He goes on to say that “With programming you can get pretty lost in it.” Their programming tool, Max, “allows live coding so you can be listening to what you are doing whilst programming it. You get little blasts of that ‘Eureka!’ moment when you do that and it’s the same feeling you get with music when you do something really good that you didn’t pre-empt.”

Heuristic

The word ‘eureka’ comes from the root word heuristics. Heuristic is the art and science of discovery and invention.

A heuristic is a way of directing your attention fruitfully.

Reference: Richard Feynman Computer Heuristics Lecture