• Mixtapes
    • Metal Mixtapes
    • Minor Key Mixtapes
    • Christmas Mixtapes
  • Mini Movie Reviews
    • Full List (A – Z)
    • Recent Reviews
  • Board Game Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Children’s Game Reviews
    • Expansion Reviews
    • Full List (A-Z)
  • Reader Mail
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Mixtapes
    • Metal Mixtapes
    • Minor Key Mixtapes
    • Christmas Mixtapes
  • Mini Movie Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Full List (A – Z)
  • Board Game Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Children’s Game Reviews
    • Expansion Reviews
    • Full List (A-Z)
  • Reader Mail
  • About
  • Contact

Minor Key Monday 9: Autechre – Bike

September 20, 2010

I always have to stop myself when I say I like “all kinds of music”.  Because, honestly, that just isn’t true, there is really only one kind of music I like.  No, not [just] Black Metal, I’m talking about music in a minor key.  I mean, I’m a pretty happy guy, but there is something about sad, sad songs that just does it for me.  I don’t dislike Vivaldi’s “Spring” and “Fall”, but I far prefer “Summer” and “Winter” (guess which seasons he writes in a minor key).  “Satisfaction” is a fine song, but I’d rather listen to “Paint it Black” any day…you get the idea.  Basically, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that sting [of soul crushing sorrow and sadness].

This month on Minor Key Monday I’ll take a look at one of those electronica bands I like because of the melodies not the beats:

https://www.isleyunruh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Autechre-Bike.mp3

Autechre has been around since the late 80s but did not release their first official album until 1993’s Icunabula (from which today’s track is taken).  In their early days they were lumped in with the pretentiously named “Intelligent Dance Music” (IDM) genre, though as their career has gone on, they grew more and more experimental.  It is their early more melodic (and straight ahead) albums that I have always especially loved however.  Icunabula, Amber and Tri Repetae (along with various EPs and miscellanea)  are real masterpieces of ambient electronica, full of cold, hauntingly beautiful melodies over sparse beats.

Today’s song is one of the ones that prompted last week’s “My greatest fear is that I will someday unknowingly let a major key song slip in there” Postsecret.  I mean, I’m putting my rep (and ability to pluck out the melody on my guitar) on the line here and saying it’s a minor key song, but “Bike” is just so laid back.  It’s not upbeat exactly, but it is a far cry from some of the most sorrowfully epic things I listen to.  Yet, there is still a hint of futuristicly epic melancholy to the song.  Most electronica that I like (which, I doubt I have to point out at this point that I only listen to minor key electronica) has that futuristicly epic quality to it.

Today’s song sounds like something you’d listen to in the a futuristic dystopia during the golden hour in your anonymous apartment on the side of a giant steel skyscraper in that city from Bladerunner while you reflect on all that has been lost from the world.  And yet the sun is weakly shining through a hole in the ever present clouds and the electric birds you saved up for are chirping and whirring at the window and you realize things aren’t all that bad after all.  That’s a small part of what I mean when I say futuristically epic, a quality I feel “Bike” (and Bladerunner …and, if you really must know, that movie Hackers too) captures quite well.

I could go into my predilection for other forms of futuristically epic electronica (like “Epic Gay Eurotrance”™) right now, but I’m not quite ready to admit that I once went to see Paul Oakenfold in concert, let alone discuss one of the cheesiest forms of music I listen to on Minor Key Monday.  We’ll stick with Autechre; it’s futuristically epic and only a little cheesy!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Share

Minor Key Music  / Non-Metal Music

2 Comments


NoJoy
September 20, 2010 at 9:04 am
Reply

I went and googled “Epic Gay Eurotrance”, and was surprised to find that this post wasn’t the only mention. Then I figured out that the other one was in a blog comment by you. 🙂



Isley Unruh
September 20, 2010 at 9:16 am
Reply

Hah…one time I requested some Epic Gay Eurotrance from our local college station’s electronica show and the DJ was like “oh, real fucking funny” and I was very confused…I’m not sure what else it should be called…but maybe it’s just me, Chris and the people over at http://www.ablogisatreat.com



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Recent Comments

    • Minor Key Music - Wedding Edition! • What is Best in Life on How to plan a perfect EPIC wedding on a budget
    • isley.unruh on OTGP 5: Trevanian’s Nicholai Hel in Shibumi
    • Tom on OTGP 5: Trevanian’s Nicholai Hel in Shibumi
    • NoJoy on Minor Key Monday 92: Depeche Mode – World in my Eyes
    • Tory Wilsmore on Contact
  • Recent Posts

    • Minor Key Monday 93: Giorgio Moroder – I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone
    • The Top 5 Features of Classic Male Movie Actors that Give the Ick
    • The Masculine Urge to Die Hard
    • My Favorite Movies 83: Perceval le Gallois (1978)
    • Minor Key Monday 92: Depeche Mode – World in my Eyes
  • Categories

    • Art (5)
    • Books (13)
      • Only the Good Parts (6)
    • Comics (6)
    • Film (258)
      • Best Movies of the Decade (2)
      • Best Movies of the Year (5)
      • Cinema Scripture School (4)
      • James Bond Picture Books (2)
      • Kumites (4)
      • Mini Movie Reviews (98)
      • My Favorite Movies (83)
      • Year in Reviews (6)
    • Food and Cooking (9)
    • Games (52)
      • Brilliant Board Games (2)
      • Descent D&D (7)
      • Mini Board Game Reviews (12)
      • Painting in Miniature (6)
      • RE-Zork (10)
    • Holidays (21)
      • April Fool's (8)
      • Halloween (2)
    • Internet (32)
      • Memes I Missed (23)
      • The Art of Trolling (4)
    • Lists (50)
    • Mailbag Monday (86)
    • Math and Science (3)
    • Me (61)
      • Rousing Tales from Isley's Spirited Past (12)
    • Metal Music (128)
      • Album Artwork for the Ages (3)
      • Battle Vests of the KVLT & TR00 (3)
      • Best Metal of the Year (6)
      • Extreme Metal Radio Edits (2)
      • Mid-month Metal Masterpiece (74)
      • Racism in Metal (6)
    • Myth and Fantasy (8)
      • Archetypical (4)
    • Nerd Open Letters (20)
    • Non-Metal Music (105)
      • Minor Key Music (93)
    • Other (6)
    • Philosophy (4)
    • Sports and Fitness (8)
    • Spotlight Posts (65)
    • Tales from Center Valley High (19)
      • Goth Blog (6)
      • Jock Blog (7)
      • Snob Blog (6)
    • Tolkien (97)
      • The Lost Chapters (6)
      • Travels in Middle-earth (76)
    • TV (5)
    • War (7)
  • Archives

  • Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org



  • Home
  • Mixtapes
    • Metal Mixtapes
    • Minor Key Mixtapes
    • Christmas Mixtapes
  • Mini Movie Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Full List (A – Z)
  • Board Game Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Children’s Game Reviews
    • Expansion Reviews
    • Full List (A-Z)
  • Reader Mail
  • About
  • Contact
© Copyright www.isleyunruh.com