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Quaristice
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Quaristice Image
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 25 Ratings

  • Summary: The English electronic duo releases its ninth album, which was also released as a download earlier this year.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 22
  3. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. Tiny Mix Tapes
    90
    After many detailed listens, the record feels like their strongest yet, a bold statement considering the importance of their previous works.
  2. Filter
    82
    The album is a suprisingly wonderful effort--perhaps even the duo's best in a decade. [Winter 2008, p.96]
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  3. musicOMH.com
    80
    Autechre albums have been famously challenging in the past, but Quaristice is an easier way in, and impresses with its structure, its continued innovation in texture and in the way every sound remains vital, even in the course of a seventy minute album.
  4. The New York Times
    70
    There’s a more tangible sense of calm on Quaristice (Warp), the ninth full-length release by Sean Booth and Rob Brown, electronic programmers who record together as Autechre. But it flickers and fluctuates, often dissolving out of frame.
  5. Billboard
    70
    At times it feels like a lot is going on, others not so much. The pieces are all there, but it just doesn't add up to more than the sum of its parts.
  6. Spin
    60
    Get past glitchy irritants like 'SonDEremawe' and an artful payoff of cerebral, booty-shaking decadence awaits on their ninth album.
  7. Q Magazine
    20
    While the maverick spirit that drives this pair is admirable, it doesn't make the end result any more enjoyable. [Apr 2008, p.102]
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See all 22 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
  1. John
    Mar 11, 2008
    10
    varied... requires more than just a few listens to really appreciate.
  2. AndreD.
    Mar 10, 2008
    10
    The first listen was meh at best, but immediately afterwards on the second listen it soon becomes apparent that this may be one of the The first listen was meh at best, but immediately afterwards on the second listen it soon becomes apparent that this may be one of the greatest albums they've ever released. Absolutely amazing.… Expand
  4. BobbyK.
    Mar 10, 2008
    9
    Easily their most accessible release in years. A slight return to melody. Album must be listened to as a whole to be appreciated... playing Easily their most accessible release in years. A slight return to melody. Album must be listened to as a whole to be appreciated... playing on random is not an option. Gets better with each listen.… Expand
  5. EricC.
    May 5, 2008
    9
    What's painful for some is awesome for others. Experimental electro can be a very intimidating genre, and Autechre doesn't disprove What's painful for some is awesome for others. Experimental electro can be a very intimidating genre, and Autechre doesn't disprove this. You actually have to look for beats and rhythms, and the sounds they throw in may sound sensless and random. But something just clicked when I heard this album for the first time, and I actually enjoyed it. The second time, and it became my favorite album of the new year. They're ultra-precise computer tricks are beyond what most of their peers are doing (if you would dare call Does it Offend You Yeah? or Morcheeba their peers). It also doesn't hurt that this album reminds me of the score to Blade Runner (not sure why, except for the broodingly beautiful opener and closer). If you don't think that this is music, then you can't be convinced. For everyone else who is willing to get engaged in their music, then Autechre have no rivals. Also, it blows my mind how some people lable them as dance. Try to dance to them, and put it on YouTube.… Expand
  6. AlexanderX
    Mar 12, 2008
    8
    A fine trip album, akin to Aphex Twin's percussion-heavy ambient efforts but with fewer lush sound-fields to lie in. More mechanical A fine trip album, akin to Aphex Twin's percussion-heavy ambient efforts but with fewer lush sound-fields to lie in. More mechanical than organic, more discordant than harmonious, the bemusing beats intermingle with synthesized blips, zaps, thunks, and bleats, and contort perplexing together to form atmospheric songs that, as a whole, are disconnected from one another rather than fluid. The album grows on you like a one-sided conversation with an odd, cryptic person who, nonetheless, is very fascinating.… Expand
  7. LiamS.
    Mar 17, 2008
    4
    if it wasn't obvious enough on Untilted that they'd run out of ideas it sure is now.
  8. StevenH.
    Mar 13, 2008
    3
    While suffering through this album's first 8 meandering and a-melodic noise, I had to ask myself....why am I doing this to myself? The While suffering through this album's first 8 meandering and a-melodic noise, I had to ask myself....why am I doing this to myself? The answer was that I used to really like Autechre. The next question was...why did I used to like Autechre? The answers to that one were numerous...Tri Repetae, LP5, Innacabula, etc. The only question left is "what the hell happened?" Experimentation with sound is awesome...but to the the maximum return on these sounds, you have to make a song out of it. This album is almost completely devoid of anything resembling a song. I got into autechre because they pushed the envelope on what a song was, what a song could be....they stripped the melodies and rhythms down to their roots. Sadly on their last 2 albums, they've thrown both out the window entirely.… Collapse

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