Autechre: Elseq

I finally bought my copy of Elseq recently, been enjoying it greatly. Pondering if i need the live ones too.

guys

been listening off and on for the last hour, it's really kicking in right now

you should have taken it at least half an hour before the set

Jamming to acdwn2 right now, it's good, that is all

banger

I remember when Exai came out I complained that this was too much autechre to take in at once.

If this trend continues, their next album is going to be 8 hours long

― silverfish, Friday, May 20, 2016 1:16 PM (two years ago)

it'll just be an endless generative stream that plays forever

i do wonder if they can go back to making normal-length albums again

an album of lots of tiny tracks would be interesting

https://img.discogs.com/YJ-eY9jmklNUK_Pyz2Lrt6A9Gs4=/fit-in/600x745/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-43153-1485307171-6839.jpeg.jpg

ah well click on it yerself

The only pre recorded minidisc I own...

me too, and almost certainly for more people than any other pre-recorded monodisc.

monodosc, sorry i have a cold.

Folks, I think NTS 3 may be the best of the batch.

Although I haven't nearly digested either, my gut feeling is that NTS is quite a bit more enjoyable than Elseq. The tracks feel more varied, more melodic, a little less pure abstraction.

Absolutely - I know NTS pretty thoroughly now, and tracks by name even, whereas despite spending similar time with Elseq I still skate off the surface of most tracks (notable exceptions being "c16 deep tread", "eastre", "curvcaten", "mesh cinereaL", "pendulu hv moda" et al.).

I don't think I ever made it all the way to the end of elseq. Having NTS come out once a week really helped - it felt like extremely pleasurable homework to listen to each one before the next one showed up. (The metal band Beastmaker recently released eight four-song EPs in three batches - 3, 3, and 2 - I'm still wading through them, and I kinda wish they'd chosen to put out one a week, too.)

the last few tracks on elseq 5 are some of the best tracks on the whole thing.

i immersed myself in elseq and it feels hugely texturally varied, a landscape with peaks and lakes, forests and blasted heaths. nts feels much more homogeneous to me right now but i'm sure that will change in time.

NTS 2 > NTS 1 > NTS 4 > NTS 3

There should probably be a poll

NTS 4 >>>>>>>>> NTS 3 > NTS 2 > NTS 1

(there should probably be a poll)

can it wait till a while after physical versions arrive

Find it pointless to even consider ranking NTS 1-4, but "all end" is beyond compare when I need that kind of thing. Each has at least 2 uniquely brilliant tracks. I haven't yet listened to the whole thing in a block but I am looking forward to it.

voilvoic is kind of my secret favorite on this whole thing.

i tried listening to a pared down version of this but i ended up missing every track i left off.

even t1a1 which eventually finds its zone.

my favorite ambient-ish track might just be "carefree counter dronal" - bright and beautiful.

still transported to different planets by "13 ctrl" "four of seven" and "column thirteen"

and the madness of "north spiral".

I love the LOL Autechre of calling the first track "t1a1".

Seeing as there are so many tracks how would you all feel about a mini ballot poll for the NTS Sessions? I'm not necessarily volunteering but I think it might be fun.

Say, top 8 tracks ranked or unranked, and a sessions 1-4 ranked side poll. Wouldn't need a big production results thread or anything.

Not before the boxes are out there anyway.

*Not quite sure how the points are supposed to be weighted but haven't given it much thought.

a mini ballot poll

A shimriPOLL casual, if you will.

I like this idea

pendulu hv moda is so magnificent

so much of what they do is so dark that when they decide to go sunny it's like a vitamin d overdose

It's certainly magnificent, maybe my favourite of all their recent releases. And I guess it is quite sunny, yeah, until the grey clouds roll in and the alien mutant thunder rumbles low over the hills.

Returning to this release my first thought these days is how poorly mastered it is. Compared to NTS (excellent return to form mastering wise), Exai and especially Oversteps, this is overly compressed, narrow sounding and in your face. Shame, since this is some their best work.

otm

Definitely one of their harsher sounding collections.

Not sure of the authenticity of this but seems to be 400+(!) 1-2 minute pieces with accompanying slit-screen animations.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5ow3ZyXAhopA4NUdSIuAfTCvWTemihut

^^ ugh my bad. didn't see the other thread.

My God I never even considered the possibility of needing to shell out for Ae remasters some day

It's kind of nuts that they need to be mastered (but I recall Frank Arkwright's name on many of their best releases). I'd imagined it might be possible to run the files through some kind of mastering algorithm as a final step, but on reflection that would mean it was possible for any digitally recorded music, and there are clearly people who are very good at mastering.

I've thought the same about elseq. The harshness and compression might be baked in, but perhaps not.

Noel Summerville did NTS and I marvel at how nice it sounds. Creamy smooth 'texture' but plenty of detail and impact.

What crosses my mind in terms of practicalities is that there's obvs a significant cost to getting that much material mastered. NTS was put out by Warp so presumably they will have paid mastering and production costs upfront but elseq was essentially self-released Maybe they could put a few quid back and get it redone. Wishful thinking.

Noel Summerville has mastered all their main releases since Draft 7.30, apparently, with the possible exception of elseq.

Further confirmation that I don't have 'golden ears'. Exai is the only one that's consistently given me audio fatigue.

Exai is quite dense and mid-rangey, perhaps. But that's more just a function of the music itself.

audio aural fatigue, of course. Listening to elseq 5 now, maybe it's just the power of suggestion but it does sound slightly harsh and thin. You fuckers!

I'm listening to this now for the first time in a while and am liking the harshness.