The Five-Round Fathom: A Deep-Catalogue Autechre Quiz for UK Fan Meet-Ups

There is a particular kind of UK fan meet-up that begins with a listening session and ends with somebody sketching a Venn diagram on the back of a beer mat. This quiz is for that table. It is not a general-knowledge night with one Autechre question slipped in between questions about football and soap actors. It is a deep-catalogue test for people who have opinions about EP sequencing, sleeve designers and the exact circumstances in which a remix stops being a remix and becomes a separate life form.

Run it in a pub back room, a record-shop basement or a friend's front room with the speakers turned off. Teams of two to four work best. The quizmaster reads each question twice, slowly, and does not elaborate until the answers are given. Phones face down. No Shazam, no Discogs, no 'just checking something' on the Warp website. A pint and a packet of crisps are optional but culturally appropriate.

How the scoring works

Five rounds, five questions each. One point per correct answer, so twenty-five points are available in the main quiz. If teams are level after Round Five, go to the tie-breaker. The quizmaster should keep a straight face when somebody confidently answers 'Gescom' to every question in Round Two. It happens.

Round One: EP deep cuts

1. Which 1994 EP was released as a protest against the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act and includes the track 'Flutter'?
2. Which 1997 EP includes the track 'Goz Quarter'?
3. Which 2002 EP shares its name with a track whose video was directed by Alex Rutterford?
4. Which 1997 EP takes its name from a track on Chiastic Slide?
5. Which 1994 single collected several remixes of a track from Incunabula, including a version by Seefeel?

Round Two: Remix identities and aliases

1. Under which alias did Sean Booth and Rob Brown release a 1991 album on Skam?
2. Which collective name is most closely associated with Booth and Brown's collaborative and remix work outside the Autechre name?
3. Which UK band remixed 'Basscadet' for the 1994 single?
4. Which 1999 EP is titled with a two-letter prefix and a number, and is often treated as a bridge between the album era and the live era?
5. Which Autechre track appeared on the 1992 Warp compilation Artificial Intelligence?

Round Three: Sleeve clues

1. Which design studio created the sleeves for Incunabula, Amber and Tri Repetae?
2. What three-letter acronym is commonly used to refer to that studio?
3. Which Autechre release is titled Gantz Graf, and what is the name of the video director who made its celebrated visual?
4. Which label has released the core Autechre catalogue since the early 1990s?
5. Which Autechre release has a title that reads like a catalogue number and a warning at the same time: EP7?

Round Four: Notorious version differences

1. Which 2008 album was accompanied by a digital-only collection of alternate versions titled Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae?
2. Which two Autechre albums arrived on the same day in 2020?
3. Which 2018 release spans eight hours across four sessions?
4. Which 2016 release is a five-part digital series rather than a single album?
5. Which 1995 album's US release added the track 'Medrey'?

Round Five: One-offs and oddities

1. Which Autechre track appeared on the 1998 Warp compilation We Are Reasonable People?
2. Which 1994 EP's track 'Flutter' is often discussed in relation to anti-rave legislation?
3. Which Autechre track shares its name with a type of graph and was released as an EP in 2002?
4. Which alias was used for the 1991 album Lego Feet?
5. Which 1999 EP followed LP5 and helped set the stage for the group's more abstract live performances?

The tie-breaker

If two teams are level after twenty-five points, the quizmaster reads the following: 'Without notes, list Autechre's studio albums in release order from Incunabula to PLUS. One point per correct position. The first team to hesitate or make a mistake loses.'

This is the bit that separates the pub-table theorists from the people who actually live with the catalogue. It also tends to produce the best arguments, because somebody will always insist that elseq 1-5 counts as one album and somebody else will insist it counts as five. Let them argue. The quizmaster's decision is final, unless the landlord intervenes.

Answer key

Round One: 1. Anti EP. 2. Envane. 3. Gantz Graf EP. 4. Cichlisuite. 5. 'Basscadet' single.

Round Two: 1. Lego Feet. 2. Gescom. 3. Seefeel. 4. EP7. 5. 'Crystel'.

Round Three: 1. The Designers Republic. 2. TDR. 3. Gantz Graf; Alex Rutterford. 4. Warp. 5. EP7.

Round Four: 1. Quaristice. 2. SIGN and PLUS. 3. NTS Sessions. 4. elseq 1-5. 5. Tri Repetae.

Round Five: 1. 'All Tomorrow's Linoleum'. 2. Anti EP. 3. 'Gantz Graf'. 4. Lego Feet. 5. EP7.

A final note for quizmasters: do not award bonus points for confident wrong answers, however entertaining. The Autechre Arms has no room for that kind of chaos. Probably.