Stages of Autechre Expectancy

Due date: October 16, 2020

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

It was early this morning when I logged onto [Autechre’s website](https://autechre.warp.net/) to pre-order their new album. Where it said “Checkout” it also said “Sign” because *Sign* is the name of the album. I was confused because I thought I needed to sign in, even though I’d already signed in, so I stared at it for a while. Like I said, it was early.

These are the stages of Autechre listening, of being expectant of a forthcoming release:

Stage 1: Huh, it’s been awhile since there was a new album.

Stage 2: I sure hope the next one isn’t another massive multi-hour release.

Stage 3: Oh, it’s here! And it’s just a single CD, barely an hour of music.

Stage 4: Wish it had been another massive multi-hour release.

Speaking of Autechre’s release schedule, it’s a sign for me of how messed-up April 2020 was (as the pandemic kicked into full gear) that I somehow missed (meaning: utterly forgot) until yesterday that there had even been a seven-city live set ([*AE_LIVE 2016/2018*]()) released way back then. What feels like “way back then” but was just a few months back.

And as someone point out online today (forgive me, there was a flurry of Ae activity, of Aetivity, so I’m not sure who), the shape of the image on the cover of *Sign* resembles the shapes from *AE_LIVE 2016/2018*:

All the cover art is by the firm the Designers Republic. *Sign* is due on October 16, 2020.

Remaining Sane on Twitter

Seven tips during turbulent times

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Seven key ways to maintain Twitter sanity:

7: Turn off alerts

6: Stick with reverse-chronological order

5: Don’t use it evenings and weekends

4: Block accounts

3: Mute accounts

2: Mute words

1: Set your Trends location to a place where you don’t know the language

My Trends were [“in” Tijuana, Mexico](https://disquiet.com/2019/04/26/life-on-the-virtual-run/). Then border politics got heavy and my Spanish turned out to be better than I thought it was. So I “moved” to Seoul, Korea. That was awesome: Aside from BTS and some Covid news, I was blissfully ignorant. I just “moved” to Iceland where there seem to be no Trends at all.

Occasional Reminder

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Sorry I haven’t replied to your request for music coverage. It isn’t you. It isn’t me. It’s everyone else. I listen continuously and write about what I’m drawn to write about. I can’t reply to every email. I get hundreds per day. Thanks for understanding. If you want to help ameliorate the situation, which is widespread, only send your PR to individuals you think are actually a likely audience for it, and encourage your musician and music-PR friends to do the same.

Panic Girl x R Beny

A remix from a forthcoming EP

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Almost a year after releasing the album *Cake on Jupiter*, Munich-based synth musician Panic Girl has followed it up with a remix collection. Six of the original album’s eight tracks are reworked by the likes of ISAN, r beny, Mess Montage, Synth Witch, Jericho, and Lightbath. “Himalayan Tea” was the opening track on *Cake on Jupiter*, as it is here. It’s also the first listen we have of the record, due out October 9, 2020:

Below is the original for reference. Note the percussive undergirding, and listen for how it trails across the stereo spectrum. This is the stuff of which r beny’s dream was made. In his piece, above, the beat is gone, leaving some of inspiring sonic gentility in its wake.

Both *Cake on Jupiter* and *Cake on Jupiter Remixes* are available at [panic-girl.bandcamp.com](https://panic-girl.bandcamp.com/). More from Panic Girl (aka Martha Bahr, who is also half of Lucid Grain, the other half being Anatol Locker) at [panic-girl.com](https://www.panic-girl.com/).

Current Listens: Special Instagram Edition

Heavy rotation, lightly annotated

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

This is my weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. In the interest of conversation, let me know what you’re listening to in the comments below. Just please don’t promote your own work (or that of your label/client). This isn’t the right venue. (Just use email.)

There’s always chatter about how various streaming services size up next to each other, and how services like Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube, among others, fit into the mix. The fact is, a good amount of my “discovery” happens on Instagram, so this entry in the weekly Current Listens series focuses on some examples. Now, Instagram videos tend to be short. You have click through to IGTV to see longer versions, which I only do on occasion. My listening/viewing experience tends more toward seeing bits of performance clips in a row, and then heading over to the respective musician’s longer-form work elsewhere. These three artists, from up and down the West Coast, are among my numerous favorites.

▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰

NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases

▰ The musician who goes by Scanner Darkly is a Jedi knight of firmware upgrades and modular-synthesizer ingenuity. [This here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CDpPFrdBXAR/) is a piano phase work in the style of Steve Reich. Scanner Darkly is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

▰ Arckatron is a master of the MPC, though he also stretches out on the SP-404. Here’s a [taste of a work](https://www.instagram.com/p/CECtx8PADg9/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading) in beatcraft progress. Arckatron, aka Shawn Kelly, is based in Los Angeles.

▰ This is [a glimpse](https://www.instagram.com/p/CDjPeiZBqEw/) at Patricia Wolf’s multi-cellphone piece Cellular Chorus, engineered by Jared Herad. Wolf is based in Portland, Oregon.