''elseq 1–5'' is the twelfth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by British

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo

Autechre Autechre ( ) are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all o ...

. It was released by

Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...

on 19 May 2016. The album consists of five segments, each roughly 50 minutes in length. All five were made available for individual or group purchase as a

digital download Digital download may refer to: *Downloading, the processing of copying data to a computer from an external source *Digital distribution, a method of downloading software or audio-visual media as opposed to buying it at a traditional point of sale * ...

only, making it Autechre's first album without a physical release.

Production

In an interview with ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

'', Brown explained that he and Booth had been working on tracks by sending them back and forth to each other for "quite a bit", and was not sure whether the project existed as a single album or a collection of albums or

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

. As with their previous album '' Exai'', the album was composed using custom-made

Max/MSP Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, pe ...

software patches. Unlike their previous album though, ''elseq 1-5'' was the first album by the duo to be programmed entirely in Max with no other external instruments. On 13 May 2016, a new track by the duo was broadcast by

BBC Radio 6 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state ...

, titled "feed1". On 18 May 2016, a second new track was played on an

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

n student radio station,

KSUA KSUA (91.5 FM) is a student-run college radio station licensed to Fairbanks, Alaska. Broadcasting from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) campus with 3,000 watts effective radiated power (ERP,) it serves the Alaska Interior area. When fi ...

, titled "c16 deep tread". This track was later made available for streaming on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

Composition

''elseq 1–5'' has been described as

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

, IDM and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

. Consensus among critics revealed that ''elseq 1–5'' had a bigger focus on percussion and rhythm rather than melodies. Reviewing the album for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', Aaron Leitko called the track "eastre" "glacial and serene" and commented on the "violent squelches" suggesting "machine-on-machine violence" in "c7b2". The track "eastre" was also discussed, which " ickedoff the third grouping with nearly a quarter-hour of droning, unearthly string tones". "foldfree casual" contains "shimmering chords" which eventually become "more repetitive and emotionally vacant" as the rhythm is "pushed into the wings by jittery and alien rhythms". Critic

Marc Weidenbaum Marc Weidenbaum (born 1966) publishes a webzine, ''Disquiet'', about electronic ambient music and has contributed to the scientific journal ''Nature'' upon this subject. He was also a vice-president of magazines and an editor-in-chief for two of ...

detailed his thoughts on a variety of tracks from the entire compilation in a piece for ''Disquiet''. The track "TBM2" contains "swaggering cybernetic reggae at quarter speed". Weidenbaum also noted the "trenchant, tightly huddled affect" of the track. "eastre" contains "one phrase on repeat, a brief riff — about 12 seconds long, give or take — played over and over". In an ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' review of the compilation, John Buchanan brought up the track "spTh" and called it "particularly atmospheric and sinister" and commented on its "grinding, metallic chords". Buchanan also discussed the final track, "oneum", which contains "fluttering shards of dissonant pipe organ chords" which are "drenched in reverb". A review from ''

'' written by Andrew Ryce called "feed1" "11 minutes of thunderous sound". Ryce called the track "elyc6 onset" "27 minutes of elaborate fiddling, loaded with sound that shudders and wobbles like organic matter" and noted a similar track, "mesh cinereaL", that "required patience". Ryce also compared its similarity to the sound of tracks from '' Oversteps''.

Release

''elseq 1–5'' was released on 19 May 2016 through

. It was released solely through the duo's website and streaming services. The album is broken up into five distinct parts, each with its own album and individual track artwork created by

The Designers Republic The Designers Republic is a British graphic design studio based in Sheffield, England, founded in 1986 by Ian Anderson and Nick Phillips (graphic designer), Nick Phillips. They are best known for electronic music logos, album artwork, and an ...

. Warp Records stated that there are no plans to release the album on a physical medium, making it Autechre's first digital-only studio album release.

Reception

''elseq 1–5'' was received positively by critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which aggregates scores from mainstream critics, ''elseq 1–5'' has an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 77 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favourable" reviews. Reviewing the album for ''Pitchfork'', Aaron Leitko gave individual ratings of each of the volumes, but concluded by saying "''elseq'' feels like an advancement of the duo’s recent live sets, offering a similar ratio of rhythm to noise and order to chaos, but a richer palette of sounds." John Buchanan of ''AllMusic'' gave ''elseq 1–5'' a positive review, but noted that the album lacked accessibility for new listeners of the duo. ''Resident Advisor'' editor Andrew Ryce called the music within the album "bewildering and occasionally fun" and concluded that "''elseq 1–5'' is a logical next step into the unknown for two pioneers". In a list of "10 Great 2016

Ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

Albums", ''Disquiet'' editor Marc Weidenbaum ranked ''elseq 1–5'' at number one, calling the collection "five LPs' worth of broken beats, industrialized entropy, and conspiratorial static". The album was also placed on ''Pitchforks list of "The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2016", where editor Philip Sherburne stated that "Sean Booth and Rob Brown’s algorithmic free-for-alls have never sounded more vivid". Sherbune also made the comparison that the music was "between cellophane crinkle and ice-crystal fractals, and flecked with stray bits of hip-hop and Stockhausen".

Accolades

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Track listing

{{track listing , headline = elseq 1 (WARP 512.1) , total_length = 52:19 , title1 = feed1 , length1 = 11:37 , title2 = c16 deep tread , length2 = 12:31 , title3 = 13x0 step , length3 = 8:57 , title4 = pendulu hv moda , length4 = 12:15 , title5 = curvcaten , length5 = 6:59 {{track listing , collapsed = , headline = elseq 2 (WARP 512.2) , total_length = 45:34 , title1 = elyc6 0nset , length1 = 27:09 , title2 = chimer 1-5-1 , length2 = 5:03 , title3 = c7b2 , length3 = 13:22 {{track listing , collapsed = , headline = elseq 3 (WARP 512.3) , total_length = 53:27 , title1 = eastre , length1 = 22:15 , title2 = TBM2 , length2 = 6:44 , title3 = mesh cinereaL , length3 = 24:28 {{track listing , collapsed = , headline = elseq 4 (WARP 512.4) , total_length = 46:52 , title1 = acdwn2 , length1 = 11:52 , title2 = foldfree casual , length2 = 9:49 , title3 = latentcall , length3 = 14:31 , title4 = artov chain , length4 = 4:04 , title5 = 7th slip , length5 = 6:36 {{track listing , collapsed = , headline = elseq 5 (WARP 512.5) , total_length = 49:26 , title1 = pendulu casual , length1 = 9:01 , title2 = spTh , length2 = 8:21 , title3 = spaces how V , length3 = 9:57 , title4 = freulaeux , length4 = 11:06 , title5 = oneum , length5 = 11:01

References

{{reflist

External links

*
elseq 1–5
' on Autechre Store {{autechre {{DISPLAYTITLE:''elseq 1–5'' {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Elseq 1-5 2016 albums Autechre albums Warp Records albums Albums with cover art by The Designers Republic