elseq 1-5

elseq 1-5


Artist	Autechre
Released	19 May 2016
Label	Warp Records (WARP512)


AE_LIVE ((2015))	elseq 1-5	JNSN CODE GL16 / spl47 ((2017))

elseq 1-5, often shortened to just elseq, is the twelfth studio album by Autechre released on Warp Records. It was originally released on May 19th, 2016.

Tracks

elseq 1

feed1

BPM: 112
In a leadup to the release of elseq, "feed1" was debuted on the 13th of May, 2016 on BBC Radio 6 at 9PM. [1] [2]
One analysis of "feed1" put forth by IOS from WATMM is that the bass drums are a basic 2 bar loop (shown below), with probability to retrigger any amount of the main kicks again after 3 sixteenths notes. [3]

|1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . |1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . |
|B . . B . . B . |. B . . B . . . |

c16 deep tread

BPM: 157, 160
After the debut of "feed1", "c16 deep tread" was debutted as the second single on the 18th of May, 2016, at 12PM Alaskan time; on KSUA, a small Alaskan college radio channel. A now-dead SoundCloud upload of it was also provided. [4]
The track appeared on the 2014/2015 live sets in a mostly final, albeit abridged form. (example)
The main snare sound on "c16 deep tread" was made using subtractive synthesis of oscillator and noise plus frequency shifting with feedback, among other things. [5]

13x0 step

BPM: 130

pendulu hv moda

BPM: ?, 74
"pendulu" is one letter short of "pendulum". A possible theory for "hv' is that it stands for "heavy", as Rob mentioned that amongst their archives they had a few tracks categorised as "heavies".[6]
An early version of the track appeared at the end of most of the 2015 US live sets. (example)

curvcaten

BPM: 162 (?)

elseq 2

elyc6 0nset

BPM: 160
In the Hanalgig AMA, July 2022, Sean corrected someone by saying that the elyc sounds were only made around 2014/2015.
Sean confirmed that he recorded "elyc6 0nset" in a day. [7]
Certain elements of this track were later reused on "elyc9 7hres"

chimer 1-5-1

BPM: 188.75 (?) 5/4

c7b2

BPM: 120

"c7b2" appears on the 2015 US live sets. (example)
Sean was unable to explain what exactly was going on behind the scenes for "c7b2", however notes that "a lot of the sort of screamy stuff is sort of delays and something that's a bit like a phaser, but it's getting webbed around quite a lot." [8]

elseq 3

eastre

BPM: 153 (?)
In a Mixlr stream on 30 March 2020, Sean remarked that he had a 52 minute long version of "eastre" as he was skimming through jam folder snippets. [9]

TBM2

BPM: 85.91

mesh cinereaL

BPM: 83 (?)

elseq 4

acdwn2

BPM: 124
Elements of "acdwn2" first appeared on the 2014 live sets. (example) They were also later reused on "xflood".

foldfree casual

BPM: 160

latentcall

BPM: 148
Elements of "latentcall" appeared in the 2015 live sets. (example)

artov chain

BPM: 148
"artov chain" is a play on Markov Chains.
Early versions of "artov chain" appeared in the 2015 US live sets. (example)
The main "ah" sample in the track is from the Fairlight CMI sound library, [10] likely HUMANS1's AAHHL2.wav being stacked harmonically.

7th slip

BPM: 160
"7th slip" was done by Rob.
The synths were previously used in the 2014/2015 live sets. (example)

elseq 5

pendulu casual

BPM: 80
"pendulu casual" shares a few elements with "frane casual".

spTh

BPM: 186

spaces how V

BPM: 162
In the July 2022 Twitch AMA, Sean confirmed that "spaces how V" was made by Rob. [11]
The track had early apperances in both the 2010 live shows (example) as well as appearing in Atoms Vectors Pixels Ghosts™ (see 0:46)

freulaeux

BPM: 137

In the Hanalgig AMA, July 2022, Sean confirmed that the track title is a reference to Franz Realeaux that was chosen by Rob. [12]

oneum

BPM: 95 (?)
"oneum" shares a few elements with "turbile epic casual, stpl idle".

Tracklist


#	Title	Length
elseq 1
1	feed1	11:38
2	c16 deep tread	12:31
3	13x0 step	8:57
4	pendulu hv moda	12:15
5	curvcaten	6:59
		52:21

elseq 2
6	elyc6 0nset	27:09
7	chimer 1-5-1	5:03
8	c7b2	13:22
		45:35

elseq 3
9	eastre	22:15
10	TBM2	6:44
11	mesh cinereaL	24:28
		53:29

elseq 4
12	acdwn2	11:52
13	foldfree casual	9:49
14	latentcall	14:31
15	artov chain	4:04
16	7th slip	6:36
		46:54

elseq 5
17	pendulu casual	9:01
18	spTh	8:21
19	spaces how V	9:57
20	freulaeux	11:06
21	oneum	11:01
		49:28

Total		4:07:49

Trivia

elseq 1-5 is the only Autechre album to have a title stylized in lowercase.
elseq 1-5 is the only Autechre album to not have a physical release. Although, in interviews, Autechre have mentioned that Quaristice is technically a digital-only release, and that the physical versions were extra.
A popular theory is that “elseq” is an abbreviation of “edited live sequences”, meaning it would be pronounced "ell seek". During the Twitch AMAs Sean did, in fact, pronounce "elseq" as "ell seek", lending credence to that theory.
The CAT number, WARP512, was likely specifically requested by Autechre. A popular theory is that the “5” represents the 5 parts of elseq, whereas the 12 represents it being the twelfth Autechre album.
With a runtime of over 4 hours, elseq 1-5 was by far the longest Autechre album at the time of release. It was quickly beaten by their next album, NTS Sessions 1-4, which was almost double the length of elseq 1-5.