42 thoughts on “New Autechre Album, Elseq 1-5”

1. Arrrgggg! I hate spending money on digital media, LP, cd or cartridge please! Gonna have to buy it anyway though. Autechre is the only current electronic act still going forward in any way, don’t even try to argue with this.

   1. „ Autechre is the only current electronic act still going forward in any way, don’t even try to argue with this.”

      Well I’d like to try argue with this.

      After „Tri Repetae” they basically stopped releasing music. Its digital noise and glitches. And now there’s 5 hours more of noise and glitches. Have fun.

      1. I have to agree with this one. They’re capable of making really great music, but it seems they rather prefer to drift into the random noise than making something with melody (like they did in the past).

         I only heard feed1 and… it’s ridiculous. There’s no substance on it. But there’s market for music of every kind, so great to them.

         It’s funny to see some artists nowadays. For example: Aphex Twin won a Grammy with probably his worst record. SYRO is a lazy record. But these dudes don’t money or fame. They already have their audience. They only need to do brand management. It’s enough to pay the bills.

         1. Dude you should hear more than the first track to get an idea of the entire album. Feed1 is maybe the most noisy track of elseq1-5! I can understand you’re not a fan of what you called random noise but I think you should push your curiosity a bit. Many tracks of the album are truly stunning! 😉

         2. Why do you need melody? they’re making amazing impressionistic timbre-paintings. also Syro could not be less of a lazy record lol

      2. If it’s noise and glitches you’re hearing, you’re not really listening. Just go and listen to something else instead of spouting some tired cliches of what Autechre’s music is perceived to be.

      3. peehhh you shouldn’t argue of course! what a blindly poor statement..

      4. I would strongly recommend trying Oversteps and Move Of Ten which are absolutely NOT the kind of digital noise and glitches you describe. Particularly the former with its cornucopia of memorable melodies – YES REAL MELODIES, from Autechre – set to a brilliant and unique “alien” atmosphere.

         BUT I would absolutely agree that – with the exception of Oversteps and Move Of Ten – everything ELSE they have released from – and including – Confield through to Quaristice, and then Exai and now much of Elseq, is glitchy beat-masturbation that fools 20-something year old hipster manfans into thinking they’re listening to a higher art form. No, it’s just some over-programmed MAX patches / Nord Modular G2 etc etc

      5. Autechre started to lose me at around Confield, but by Oversteps either I caught up or they came back to some semblance of sanity. Their music only works for me when there’s an underlying bit of pop sensibility that I can hang on to for dear life; a safe vantage point where I can make some sense of whatever other craziness is going on around me. When they don’t give me that little oasis, I can totally see where the “this is not music” crowd are coming from.

         This new album definitely seems like the good stuff, but I find myself having a bit of trouble pulling the trigger. That’s a hell of a lot of new Autechre to digest; frankly, it’s intimidating.

2. After being a huge fan of their earlier material, they’ve completely lost me with their ‘generative algorithm noise accidents’. I haven’t bought or enjoyed much of anything they’ve put out since those first few releases (which I still regard highly). I guess I’m just too dull to be moved by fluttering white noise and metallic farts.

   1. Do try Oversteps and Move of Ten, they are far far FAR more interesting and melodic than most of the generic Ae glitch nonsense they put out in the 00s and on Exai.

      1. Excellent comment. I totally agree with your Oversteps recommendation. I plan on listening to Elseq for a couple more months until I make a final judgement call. acdwn2 is currently sounding pretty damn good, however some of the other tracks are very difficult to listen to. However, like most Autechre songs, you need to listen for the hidden melody to gain a deeper appreciation for what they do.

3. another top notch next level stuff from AE big respect !!!

4. Here’s an idea: those random digital noises and glitches should be easy to reproduce, just give them names like „Scostwm” or „Hwatr” (I wonder if theres an Autechre track name generator) and there you go. You could literally flood torrents and Soundcloud with „unreleased Autechre tracks” and I can guarantee you, no one would be able to tell if its the legit thing.

   Try this with those lush synthscapes on Incunabula – not so easy…

   1. this is my fav+ comment
      let’s hear it!

   2. Do it then, if it’s so easy. 🙂

5. not what i’d buy but i enjoy hearing sonic explorations like this.
   more interesting than repetitious prefab loop collages

6. I listened to a few tracks and it was an awful experience. I have no problem with what I call noise based music a la Hecker and Fennesz, but this was pure randomness. I came, I tried, I left disappointed….

   1. I was fine until you mentioned that you dont have a problem listening to Hecker ;this to me is total noise and I have been tarnished with the nickname DJ Bus shelter by my friends so my music collection is a tight learning curve for most open minded listeners ;I have only listened to 3 of the 5 disks (downloads ) and although this amount of work released at one time seem excessive I feel that they get into a method of progression that requires the length of some of the tracks to be this long for it to evolve.there is also the possibility that these tracks are record more lineally than we give them credit for, so they may be long protracted jam sessions with overdubs ,but seeing as they are not very forthcoming with the process we will probably not find out ,but I am believing that this may be the case after seeing them several times since the release of Draft . I think there is still melody in there and an abyss of beautiful sounds . I am beginning to feel that they are more of a live experience though as there is more urgency in the event . with such a large repertoire now it is hard to single out focal tracks but I am still excited to listen to what remains on the two remaining disks (downloads ) ;May be this volume of work indicate’s that we will not get anymore for a long time .

7. I guess I am the opposite of the previous posters. I like pretty much all of the Autechre catalogue, but Tri Repetae moving forward is the work I enjoy the most. I’m looking forward to listening to this. The live releases were exciting. It was interesting to see how their set evolved, and how each performance varied within a grounded framework, yet still provides novel moments.

   To each his own.

   1. P.S. I want hard copy for the price.

8. Those chaotic digital noises, bleeps and glitches are easy to reproduce, just give track names like „Scostw” or „Hrwatm” and you can literally flood torrents and Souncloud with „unreleased” Autechre tracks. I bet no one would be able to tell if it is the genuine thing.

   Try that with the lush soundscapes of the debut LP „Incunabula” – not so easy…

9. That’s an expensive digital release! Not willing to spend so much money on something without a physical component, at least as a backup.

   Sounds pretty awesome though. I am a fan of most of their catalog, some of the digital stuff hasn’t stood the test of time but it all sounded rad when it was released.

   1. Yep, you spend +/-50€ and then you even have to burn your own CD, not really a good deal!
      Group buy anyone ? LOL 😀

   2. It’s 5 albums. You can buy each album individually for about the same price of your average digital release.

10. I for one enjoy listening to “post tri repetae” Autechre when I am extremely hung over, I feel it cleanses my body and helps me expell the rest of the alcohol in my system… Amd I mean that as a comlime t.

    1. I also like to listen Autechre when hangover. Maybe some Lustmord too..

11. autechre used to be a great rock band with hits on top of the pops

12. ae is not music, it’s religion

13. I feel I need to chime here now, too.

    I’m a longtime Autechre fan. I remember back in 1993 when I came across their first album, ‘Incunabula’, in the Electronic/Dance section in Tower Records. I had never heard of them, didn’t know anything about it, but I picked it up because the cover art looked so interesting.

    And then I listened to it, and I was completely blown away. I had never heard anything like it.

    They were my first entry into the then, new genre of so-called “IDM” (a term which they despise, btw), or experimental electronica, or whatever you want to call it. And despite my musical catalog having expanded basically exponentially since then, one Autechre album or another has basically been on constant rotation in listening playlist since then.

    I’ve seen them live twice.

    So basically, what I’m saying is, I’m a fan.

    Now, with that said, I have to admit that I, too, have not been as much of fan of their most recent work.

    For me, the last album that I really loved that sounded the most ‘composed’, was ‘Confeld’. Their successive albums since then have become increasingly esoteric and abstract, taking a more algorithmic, generative, emergent approach to composition, with little time for things like melody or any semblance of traditional structure. And that in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Each album is always a tour-de-force of technical production skill and is always sonically interesting.

    It just isn’t particularly musical.

    And let’s face, it’s always the inherent musicality in any record that brings you back to it time and time again.

    And I think with each release, that’s what their music is losing.
    By their own admittance, they are successful enough financially where they can pretty much do what they want. That’s an enviable position for any artist these days.

    So you know what I think?

    Because of their success and position, they can afford to spend entire albums amusing themselves by indulging in even their tiniest sonic whims by allowing their machines, patches and algorithms to take them this way or that way or wherever they end up, without ever again feeling the need to take reins as tightly as they used to in the old days. Or, even feeling the need to edit themselves as closely as they used by separating the good from the mediocre. It just all goes on the release.
    I thought they were seriously pushing with ‘Exai’, at over two hours.

    But ‘Elseq’, at over FOUR hours?

    Really?

    But, after all, they’re Autechre. So there’s no one to tell them ‘No’.

    I swore to myself that it was ridiculous, and that I wasn’t going to buy this release.

    I lasted about a day before I broke down bought it.

    You might ask, ‘Why?’, if that’s the way I feel about it.

    Sigh. Because.

    In every release, there are always moments of brilliance. One or two standout tracks that usually make the purchase worth it, even though I usually have wade through several of tracks forgettable, experimental glitchy ramblings to get there. And with those tracks, I get a glimpse of the Autechre I love.

    I guess I keep hoping that one these days, they’ll surprise me, and snap out of it, and maybe they’ll come full circle and ‘return to form’, so to speak.

    Until then, I guess I’ve got four hours to get through.

    So, then, on to Elseq 1….

14. As far as i know they just still having fun with their music composition environment entirely programmed in Max/MSP, which they began to develop after Quaristice (which was their last “traditionally composed” album in a series when they “abandoned” Max/MSP after Confield). Oversteps was their first completely programmed LP in new environment, then was Exai and now Elseq. They don’t use hardware or VST synths since Oversteps – its just pure MaxMSP and they sounds really good to my ear. You can love or hate Autechre, but its their point of view on electronic music and to me – they always sounded at least unique, which is good thing in nowadays music.

    1. “Oversteps was their first completely programmed LP in new environment, then was Exai and now Elseq. They don’t use hardware or VST synths since Oversteps – its just pure MaxMSP and they sounds really good to my ear.”

       i really don’t think this is the case. not sure exactly what they’re up to lately, but i’m quite certain that i’m hearing a number of blatant Nord G2 sounds on ‘Oversteps’ and ‘Move of Ten’, some of which are actually factory preset patches. they even stated during the “Ask Autechre Anything” session that one of them is still using the Nord G2. quite sure that it’s used on ‘Exai/L-event’ as well. i think ‘AE_LIVE’ is all Max/MSP, but we have no idea what they’re using on the latest release.

       i hate how everyone thinks they know just what they’re doing, and attributing f’ing everything to just their “Max/MSP environments”. we have no clue what they’re doing.

       1. They stated very clearly in that session, that most of the sounds they produced nowadays is their own code. Somebody mentioned that some of their sounds are very “analogue” and the answer was: we are not using hardware analogue anymore, even mentioned that all their Elektrons are in the boxes. If someone is familiar with Max sounding they will hear it in most of their modern production.
          Its not that hard, because MaxMSP synthesis is very unique in sounding, especially FM-type synthesis implementation, which Autechre are loving to death.
          To my humble opinion – the sound of new album is a raw MaxMSP output, maybe even without mixing in a DAW.

       2. I know µTONIC was used on a few tracks on Move of Ten so it’s not strictly Max/MSP although that’s clearly most of it.

15. Amber is a great album, very musical

16. Cool ! Autechre is very good at using the Elektron Monomachine and Machinedrum downloading now . I love reading all these crazy comments from people who love synths hating on some dudes who love making music with synths.

    1. „I love reading all these crazy comments from people who love synths hating on some dudes who love making music with synths.”

       No they’re not, read the previous comments. They are coding their sonic expermients – for the lack of a better term – on computers.

       Indeed, If you love synths – Incunabula, Amber and Tri Repetae have a lot to offer. To me personally, this is the most beautifull electronic music ever recorded. What happened after that is a different story.

17. I love Autechre and have been waiting eagerly for this new release – but I’m not into downloaded music and so will have to wait until it is on CD :(. But listening to the samples, it sounds awesome!

18. Think this music video perfectly sums up their recent work. Who ever said watching a washing machine cycling can be hypnotic was right.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO9ZY5V461c

19. Meh, cool noise, cruddy albums for a while now…
    And don’t even bother with their live act, which is basically nonexistent.

    1. They just announced a tour this fall and have ben touring 2014 and 2015 both in europe north america and japan, their live sets are agreed by loads of fans to be absolutely brilliant and varied, and just sonically awesome and fresh, constantly changing things up. Sam, pls

       1. Oh yeah I saw them a few years back with a friend who told me it would be fun ( I had not heard of them but I’m always down to check out some music), and they blew me away!

          It was in this basement venue of another venue in LA and they had all the lights off, no special effects, and the atmosphere was great! Such great sounds with the gothy crowd kinda swaying sporadically all around; one of the best surprise wonderful performances I’ve been to!

          Admittedly there were just a couple laptops up front so it’s not like seeing a full band or something, but the sound in the place was great and the crowd brought the right attitude. Would go again for sure!