Seefeel - Quique [Redux Edition] (Too Pure)

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Born out of a necessity to challenge and explore, Seefeel's Quique was everything a debut album should be: excitingly filling a niche with a sound just outside of any definable genre, and cohesive yet nascent, hinting at endless possibilities. It's no wonder the band had found early supporters in the likes of Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Cocteau Twins when they emerged in 1993; Seefeel were kindred experimenters, filtering those timeless influences into an album that, over thirty years later, remains utterly gripping.

 

Though hailed as a shoegaze turned techno band, it takes several minutes before any discernible trace of the rock / pop guitar canon can be heard on the opening ‘Climactic Phase #3’ as a wiggling bass riff enters. Even then, this isn't shoegaze's telltale wall of sound, but a bath of it instead: an implacable timbre like a reedy sea of radio signals fills up, downtempo rhythms tiptoe curiously, airy loops joyfully sway. Quique's ebullient and painterly exhilarations got Seefeel enrolled in the school of Artificial Intelligence as they signed to Warp the next year, presciently seen in the ecstatically teetering and seesawing ‘Plainsong’ with its mantric lyrics, or the shatters and clatters of ‘Industrious’ where shards of silver rhythms are met with blissful repetition.

 

Much of the album's action is delivered in repetitive loops as Seefeel broke from less satisfying traditional structures. ‘Polyfusion’ is built around a hypnotic continuity of drums and bass, gentle sirenic vocals hanging in the centre as a brazen rallying cry hovers in the background. The guitar textures take amorphous forms, shredding metallically or lilting and lurching like violins, dripping and rippling in dubwise effects while loose stepping bass cuts clean through.

 

Quique Redux collects further magic from their early years, embracing the realm of song as ‘Clique’ introduces an enrapturing groove, yet remaining firmly leftfield with the otherworldly rumbles and shuffles of ‘Come Alive’, its chilly buzz reinvigorated halfway through as the bass helps splashing drums to defrost. Unearthing the crisp drum machine slowburn of ‘Time To Find Me’ helped Seefeel find new directions for their following self-titled album, while showing us the electric elegance hiding in their archives.

 

After Seefeel returned in 2024, Too Pure give us a timely reminder of the album that kicked off decades of experimentation.

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Bleep. 4xLP, 2xCD, digital. First time on vinyl, CD reissue.

Did they fix the issue with the 2021 vinyl pressing of the Succour (Redux) ? I'm tempted to grab a copy but at that price, it better be perfect...

  On 2/14/2025 at 10:26 PM, d-a-m-o said:

Did they fix the issue with the 2021 vinyl pressing of the Succour (Redux) ? I'm tempted to grab a copy but at that price, it better be perfect...

No, they didn't. IIRC digital was fixed, but alas, no vinyl replacements.

Sad to hear, think I'll grab the 2xCD, such a classic album.

  On 2/14/2025 at 9:54 PM, dcom said:

Bleep. 4xLP, 2xCD, digital.

That was a whole lot of text and then u say 4xLP and 2xCD, digital.. 

What is a Redux Too Pure edition means?

Re-mastered? Bonus tracks? New versions? live versions? What is added? What is missing? 

  On 2/14/2025 at 11:16 PM, cern said:

What is a Redux Too Pure edition means?

It's a vinyl version of this, with new artwork for both formats. Yes, it's been released before, but on CD and in digital only. First time on vinyl w/ the extras.

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Disc #1: Contains the original album completely remastered.

Recorded at Falconer, Chrysalis and at home, July 1993.

Digital editing, Berwick Street, August 1993.

Cut and additional editing at Copymasters.

Original sound recording made by Too Pure, London.

Remastered at Loud.

 

Disc #2: Contains rare and previously unreleased Seefeel material.

2-2 previously released on Water & Architecture.

2-3 previously released on i-01.

2-4 previously released on Volume Seven.

2-6 previously released on Excursions In Ambience (The Third Dimension).

1, 5, 7, 8 & 9 previously unreleased.

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Awesome, I'll happily grab this. Sold my OG vinyl a couple of years back for a tidy sum  

already have the (first) redux CD edition and then the warp boxset. Think I'll give this one a pass.

I ordered the warp boxset but the CDs were messed up? Is that right? (Not even sure I've opened it) Can someone fill me in here? Thanks. 

Peace and Love,

Ringo

  On 2/16/2025 at 8:26 PM, dr lopez said:

already have the (first) redux CD edition and then the warp boxset. Think I'll give this one a pass.

 

I ordered the warp boxset but the CDs were messed up? Is that right? (Not even sure I've opened it) Can someone fill me in here? Thanks. 

 

Peace and Love,

Ringo

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If you bought the boxset on release, no doubt about it, this is the faulty version, drop them a mail and ask for a replacement copy cause the issue has been fixed on the CD version and digital. (assuming you've ordered from blerp)

but what was the fault?

from discogs :

Rupt should flow into Vex, but has nearly two seconds of silence at the end, therefor does not. Monastic also has a mastering error around the 0:55 mark, with a crackling sound. Fixed version --> Rupt + Flex 94 — 96