11 – Autechre – elseq 1-5 (Warp Records)
The godfathers of difficult techno Autechre could not be outdone by Aphex Twin, who’s been vomming out tracks like a cat in the hairball Olympics. So here we are: a mega five-album release to top Autechre’s 129-minute Exai from 2013. Quantity is now king.
Even when they sounded nice, Autechre were awkward: for example, track seven on their 1994 album Amber is called Nine. So while this is unlikely to return X Factor to its long-lost Christmas number one dominance (PLEASE enter X Factor, Autechre), once you hook into Ae's advanced noise, so much makes sense.
elseq is quite quaffable. c16 deep tread is hip hop covered in floor fluff. The slow-paced pendulu casual is Massive Attack caught in the middle of a sneeze. The resonating harmonics of the 24-minute mesh cinereaL are Mariah Carey in a faulty tumble dryer. Difficult? No. A development. And a Rochdale duo at the top of their game.
Stream the album here.
Scroll all of the best 2016 electronic albums by clicking here.
