Autechre: Elseq

It's too early for me to single out tracks/"discs" but overall this set is like...spatially/physically AE are flinging about larger objects whereas on the studio/previous albums it was a shit ton of fireworks, ball bearings, jacks. (not the best analogy, I know, will work on it)

― Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings)

something changed with Oversteps, production-wise.. u can recognize it on ilanderst, the sound is noticeably 'larger' and more elegant, there's a polished stone-like sheen to it. the various atonal slurry/debris (for lack of better words) of their previous albums seemed less magnified somehow, whereas with Oversteps and Exai especially, the sounds have monolithic, macro-detailed qualities, like the bassline/riff on cloudline, fizzy textures of Treale, pixelated patter of Yuop and nodezsh, etc.

nice choice of the small object names, i like it

Quaristice and Oversteps are good examples of the contrast. the production, and the content/activity sound vastly different to me... where there's a lot of micro-detailed activity on Quaristice, Oversteps has these big swathes of reverb and color. the percussive elements of Oversteps are less frequent and they seem to carry more weight.. but that's how I hear it, I imagine it could sound different to diff. people

I'll need to revisit the last few albums/releases, Lowell - I dug Exai a lot at first but a good deal of what they've done post-Confield (which is a totem for me) has left me a little cold, with exceptions. (Never to the point where I don't follow them or get excited when new material is announced. In the back of my mind I always think "I don't totally get this now, but years from now I will, just gotta keep at it.) Elseq is nicely scratching itches.

There are many things that I don't 'get' about their music, but there are a lot of sounds, patterns, and parts that are stimulating/awesome, my interest is maintained. And the WTF-ness of it is part of the appeal. I love LCC, especially the second half. But the first half, while there's that dope, super dry kick/hi hat pattern (nice, aggressive attack), there's still the snare break, that 'KA KA KA' that totally disrupts/retards the flow of it. I don't understand why they did it, I suppose it works somehow? Maybe there's something to it, it just doesn't really flow as I'd like it to. And there's shit like Tess xi, where the beat is just straight up retarded. Maybe there was one time that I heard it and it kind of made sense.

Love the KA KA KA! It doesn't flow I'll give you that, but being sharply checked with three hits to the face every bar is invigorating. Don't have a problem with T ess xi either, seems quite conventional on the surface, maybe that's what you mean by errrrr the 'r' word.

LCC is amazing fuiud

Have any major online publications tried reviewing this yet? I know springing albums out of nowhere fucks with their "release day or bust" strategy but I don't know how anyone can write a coherent review at this point

elseq 3 aka "Autechre and chill"

I'm kinda happy that reviews aren't appearing yet, this can't be absorbed in a day or five

If I've noticed any shift in Autechre it's that they at some point lightened up a little. Maybe that's not the right phrase, but at some point the compositions seemed to get a little more fun, a little looser, a little more ... hip-hop in their production? Less ball bearings spilling out on the counter, more club-y (relatively speaking), which may or may not have had something to do with their live-performance programs, whatever they may be.

I'm a few listens in now and I definitely like parts 1, 4 & 5 the best. That said, 'mesh cinereaL' is an astonishing 25 mins of sound ...

if i had to save two of these parts from a fire it'd be parts 2 and 3 lol

Still trying to figure out 2 but 3 is so so great. Mesh cinereaL sounds better every time - when it comes crashing back after the fakeout ending is a lol for sure. Astonishing how something so dense and convoluted can work so well.

Really feeling the inadequacy of crappy earbuds though. Just blasted it on proper headphones while washing up, great but also terrifying with my back to the kitchen door and my partner supposedly in bed. Aforementioned density means there isn't a single gap through which to hear the squeak of a door or a footstep in a corridor.

Josh in Chicago - I was gonna say, for all their granular complexity, these are still very breaksy compositions and yeah they are surprisingly fun! there's a wicked sense of humour I haven't really heard since LP5 in this one.

I decide to treat this as five separate albums and started at 3. I'm not convinced that Eastre really has enough going on to justify the length, and the second track is really not what I go to Autechre for, but Mesh Cinereal is amazing and that bit 15mins in is about as close to a hands in the air moment as I expected from this record.

Where to go next? Which of the five is most frenetic?

Maybe 2? They all have their moments except for 5 which is mostly ambient dubscapes.

I'm not convinced that Eastre really has enough going on to justify the length

You're periously close to being an old fogey raging against repetitive dance music here. If you like what it's doing why shouldn't it do it forever? If you don't like what it's doing then too bad.

Eastre is juuuuuussssst right thanks.

There are lots of things I like that I wouldn't want to listen to for 22mins. May it'll reveal itself with further listens.

I'd imagine anything veering towards improv will be anathema to you though, not having a pop at you like - just impressions from your music posts.

Nah I don't really have an issue with improv - although I hadn't even thought of this as improv. I just found the track... uneventful after a while and maybe that's the point. I tend to go to Autechre for what they do with texture and rhythm and Eastre struck me as relatively uninteresting from that point of view.

Maybe I made a mistake beginning at that point, I didn't have an actively unpleasant time listening to it, in fact it's quite nice, and yeah maybe it'll reveal more with repeated listens.

it's pretty much a magic-eye poster

realised my player has been jumbling the tracks up a lot and since i'm listening on shuffle I've not been treating it as 5 releases. Is there that much of a theme between each one.

4 is most frenetic

12mins into elyc6 0nset :D

c7b2 is the one I've gone back to a bunch of times so far

more like Lolsuq

ill prob get this, like what i've heard so far

just had a microsleep to oneum and imagined watching an enormous flat starship coming in to dock

Might rustle some jimmies here - but after listening to this album probably wayyyyy too much the last week, I've resequenced it and cut it down to my tastes. Split it into three hourish long "albums" loaded with tracks I like and ordered how I would think they'd be ordered if they were their own respective releases. Honestly, I love that Ae put out this much material so that I could do this. Last day or two I've been choosing one of the three below and listening to it as if they were released as such, and frankly I'm finding elseq so much more satisfying for it. Blasphemy or no.

ALBUM1 ~60 minutes:
feed1
chimer 1-5-1
pendulu hv moda
acdwn2
13x0 step
foldfree casual

This one feels like it could be a self contained progression from Exai, slightly less experimental and more epic in scope song to song. Pendulu and Foldfree are just simply epic high points that peak and close this album perfectly for me. Really satisfying listen start to finish. Feels like the most "traditional" Autechre album of the three, whatever that means.

ALBUM2 ~74 minutes:
mesh cinereaL
eastre
elyc6 0nset

These 20+ minute epics feel like they should live together as one album. I did NOT like them sequenced separately, disrupting the flow of the 1-5 discs for me. The first time I listened to them in this context, I appreciated them that much more. Mesh is the highlight, and opens up and sustains like it should in the context of this arrangement. I really felt the outtro of elyc6 0nset deserved to close out this album, with the beautifully tonal and ambient eastre sandwiched between, a respite from the crazed experimental rush of the other tracks.

ALBUM3 ~58 minutes:
latentcall
artov chain
7th slip
spaces how V
freulaeux
oneum

Pure melodic/rhythmic Autechre ear candy. latentcall might be one of the catchiest and dance floor friendly Ae tracks I've heard in decades. A fantastic energy and flow is established with its breakbeat pace and the epic grandeur of the melodic progression that builds in the latter half is pure bliss. artov and 7th slip build up some tension that gets immediately released with the disc 5 tracks that follow. Didn't change their sequencing here; these three tracks are perfect as is. Freulaeux is a masterpiece and centerpiece of this sequence with oneum being a perfect outtro. I originally had spTh in the latter half either before or after spaces. Felt it disrupted the flow.

That's really well judged imo

The only omission ppl will really carp at is c7b2, if there's an outcry consider it for disc 1

c7b2 just doesn't grab me relative to the rest of the songs above. It's kind of borderline, like spTh. Both feel like B-sides/outtakes.

with you on that rly

The arbitrary grouping/ordering of tracks really rubs me the wrong way. I don't think they're meant to be categorized by 'tastes' or whatever. The tracks have already been sequenced in a definitive order, I wouldn't listen to an alternate sequence unless given a green light by Ae, themselves. Sorry, not seeing the logic there. Also, I find the hard limiting (what is the term for that?) on the tail end of "spaces how V" harsh/irritating, the way the sounds cut out abruptly.. otherwise it's a nicely meditative take on the themes introduced in runrepik.

i think peeps can listen how they want to but obv i trust Ae's aesthetic judgement way more than their critics'

Was just listening on headphones with a Paul McCartney interview on Radio 4 filtering through the gaps in c16 deep tread, took the track to a whole new level \m/

"pendulu casual" giving me major ASMR vibes today

This thread is really inspiring.

i got eastre stuck in my head and it was driving me crazy

Well, pitchfork have failed to recognise this as the landmark release it so obviously is.

well that's certainly taken a shine off it

What are they supposed to do? It isn't some form of indie Americana type shit for starters.

nah pfork's all about the pop narrative

in a really boring way

and that's enough mention of that weak irrelevant shite on this thread

c7b2 is a schaffel tune! The evolving granularity of the downbeat is endlessly enjoyable - the way it scratches and bubbles and scrapes.

and that's enough mention of that weak irrelevant shite on this thread

― Noodle Vague, Sunday, May 29, 2016 12:24 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seriously, let's focus on what's important here. How's it doing on RYM?

hey at least with RYM you can Have Your Say

anyway yeah

wonder if any consensus trax will emerge from this album

look here I don't want to hear the words "eoy" out of you

surprisingly autechre haven't called a track "eoy" yet