Squarepusher

I've never been into his jazz improv stuff. If I wanted to listen to something like that I'd seek out people who've dedicated their careers to it, not a moonlighting IDM producer.

tbf he has been doing the jazz improv thing quite heavily for most of his career, or at least since Music Is Rotted One Note, which was 98? 97? That said I know what you mean because a lot of it is tributary rather than truly innovative.

a lot of it is tributary rather than truly innovative.

You put it better than I did.

Then again, while a lot of it might be trying to channel Bitches Brew through a bunch of warped-out synths, the man knows his jazz and is a remarkable bassist and drummer, so it's maybe doing him a disservice to slate a good 50% of his career as "Switched On Miles" or something. Especially when every so often he comes out with a "My Sound" or a "Underwatertorch" or a "Iambic 5 Poetry", all of which are very beautiful with hardly anything ostensibly electronic.

oh shit I haven't thought about "Iambic 5 Poetry" in YEARS

one of my all time favourite tracks. first time i heard it i was in Paris, which fits nicely.

iambic 9 is my favourite

wait... which one is the one on Budakhan Mindphone?

Has he done anything of merit since the "Do You Know Squarepusher" single?

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, October 22, 2010 1:20 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

Hello Everything.

― A brownish area with points (chap), Friday, 22 October 2010 10:51 (Yesterday) Bookmark

hold up, surely you mean this one?
http://blog.nettribe.org/user_images/36/03/413fda2a10b6644c37ccada81f58d43a.jpg

actually the non 1-D sub-Lightning Bolt rawk shite on Just A Souvenir was fun, if more diverting than classic - but still fuckloads better than the tripe Tom's put out this year.

Been catching up with the last few Squarepusher releases. Not convinced by Shobaleader, but surprised how good his Solo Electric Bass Vol1 thing is.

I didn't really like either, but Just a Souvenir was pretty great
Still, I can't help but feel he's not really trying anymore...?

Some might argue he hasn't REALLY tried since Hard Normal Daddy. I can't name a single release by him which I can positively say isn't 50% filler. That said nearly everything has something very good on it. He's always been in desperate need of a quality filter.

Ultravisitor was great but he's one of those guys who I can only listen to his stuff at the time. Someone could steal my ten Squarepusher albums and I'd never notice.

Yeah. HND is probably his best but Ultravisitor was his real "opus" album.

I would still go back to HND and Music Is Rotted One Note. The Come On My Selector EP is great fun. After that it got very pick'n'mix until Hello Everything which went back to his Hard Normal Daddy sound for a bit. I couldn't get into Ultravisitor, although it was well received.

My POhowmany (in reough chronological order):

Theme From Ernest Borgnine
Coopers World
Chin Hippy
A Journey To Reedham (7am Mix)
Full Rinse (feat. MC Twin Tub)
My Sound
Shin Triad
Iambic 5 Poetry
Tomorrow World
Song: Our Underwater Torch
My Red Hot Car
Mutilation Colony
Do You Know Squarepusher
Greenways Trajectory
Kill Robok
Tetra-Sync
Talk About You And Me
Welcome To Europe
The Modern Bass Guitar
Bubble Life
Open Society
A Real Woman
Duotone Moonbeam

A Journey To Reedham (7am Mix)

this is fucking brilliant, probably the best thing he ever did

Coopers World

my god you're going to have me pulling up Squarepusher albums all day

^^^ those two, along with Iambic 5 Poetry are def my faves of the whole lot. HAven't heard any of them in years though.

Iambic 5 (that's the one on Ultravisitor right?) is one of the most amazing pieces of music to ever come out of that whole scene. I was almost upset that it comes so early on the album.

Iambic 5 Poetry is on Budakhan Mindphone and has some lovely marimba melodies. I think Iambic 9 is on Ultravisitor, but I don't know it well enough. NTS: Must dig out Ultravisitor again.

yeah, that's the one I mean. track 3 or 4 I think. absolutely give that one another listen

k

A Journey To Reedham (7am Mix)

this is fucking brilliant, probably the best thing he ever did

yup. slow harmony and fast beats is what's up.

Hello Everything is terrific I think.

Yeah, it's really good. Just a shame it didn't come out 5 years earlier.

I've decided this track may be his masterpiece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6GYCrEoTPQ

So dense and complex, and very emotionally rich I think.

personally I lean more towards "Iambic 9 Poetry" and "A Journey To Reedham" but that track is great

No talk about his new work? With albums my favourite track will often change depending on my mood and my deepening relationship with that workk. It doesn't often happen with single tracks. I suspect this one will fit that category. Such a dense mix with dozens of wonderful little bits in it. Current favourite, the warped siren at about 6'30. More importantly it works as a whole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvLAKrVbCBM&ob=av3e

Wow, that's really good. Stoked for the album now.

Until he makes an absolutely AMAZING album, I'm really starting to lose interest in the man I must admit. So much of what he does just falls short of the mark. Still, I could pick maybe one to two blinding tracks from each release. If I were to put these into one compilation, it would be the greatest electronica album ever, possibly.

Hard Normal Daddy is pretty amazing

yes it is. it's also about 15 years old or something.

Yeah I guess I was just being pedantic there, I know what you mean. Though I would definitely make a case for Ultravisitor as his 2nd best album, nearly a really great one, but again low on self-editing. I'm not really sure I understand what he's been up to lately. I will defend Just a Souvenir some (it really is a pretty fun little album) but this guy has such an insane amount of talent and a weird inability to put it together any more. That said, I do have hopes for this new album...

My three favourites are Hard Normal Daddy, Go Plastic and Hello Everything. A few skippable tracks on each, but all pretty consistent (and very different!).

Of the ones I've heard, I'd rate em:

Hard Normal Daddy
Music Is Rotted One Note
Big Loada
Hello Everything
Budakhan Mindphone
Go Plastic
Just a Souvenir
Ultravisitor
Maximum Priest
Do You Know Squarepusher
Selection Sixteen
Solo Electric Bass 1
Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator

The guy's just not got any quality control whatsoever, and other than on Just A Souvenir, never really broke out of either of the two dimensions originally sketched out on Hard Normal Daddy and Music Is Rotted - one being his best dance record, the other being his best jazz record.

wait you've heard all those but not Feed Me Weird Things!?

I forgot that one for some reason. Yeah I've heard it. It's quite good - similar to HND but not quite up to the same standard.

so has anyone heard the new one yet?

New one is good on first listen, the first half surprisingly extroverted/trancey, with a lot of bombastic airy synths and melodies. Not much guitar/jazz at all. I agree with the above that he's never made a perfect album, but I always end up consistently enjoying half to three-fourths of each full-length he puts out, which is worth something in my book.

I like it

a lot of bombastic airy synths and melodies. Not much guitar/jazz at all.

Well this sounds just dandy to me.

honestly, the guy reminds me of Todd Rundgren, he's got insane talent across the board but really no idea how to put everything together nor establish a direction besides "whatever will confuse my audience"

otm

yeah. tech wizard, musical bore.

clearly there's pretty different expectations for how to use your skill set between a singer/songwriter on the pop charts and a crazy beat music guy

well, I'm certainly not trying to imply that they *sound* alike, just their mindsets seem similar to me.

been listening to the early stuff lately, particularly Feed Me Weird Things - is it just me or does he artifically speed up his bass playing here? Some good stuff on the album but it's all pushed to the mid-level; not much of a low-end, which is a killer.

aw boo no one like burning'n'tree other than me i guess

i mean yes i know it is a comp + new stuff but w/e i like it

plus i never would have gotten my hands on those singles anyway.

is it just me or does he artifically speed up his bass playing here?

probably, a lot of his acoustic drums sound sped up to me.

that too - either his chops just improved to the point where he could actually play the way he sounds on record or he learned a better way to pull this off. because on Feed Me it literally just sounds like the tape is sped up.

one recent-ish record of his I really dug was Just a Souvenir, in which he seemed to force himself to cut the unnecessarily abrasive & doodly stuff and just rock out. I think his audience at large didn't like it but I found it kinda charming.

Listening to the new one after enjoying his RA Exchange interview. It's really good, even though it sounds more like a video game soundtrack than anything else. There's usually a backbeat or a riff that keeps things from going off the rails entirely into squelchy madness.

Just A Souvenir is one of his best

New album continues my personal theory that you could make a “best of squarepusher” album consisting of only the first full-length track on each of his albums/EPs/singles and it would be comprehensive.

You would miss 'Don't Go Plastic', 'Beep Street' and 'UFOs Over Leytonstone' at least.

Just looking at Squarpusher LPs on wiki, hoo boy that Pitchfork review of Go Plastic is one of the wrongest things I have ever read.

returning to stuff I haven't really played since SOY (start of year), forgot how awesome Be Up A Hello is

so many good records (including this one) came out before covid and it literally feels like 2 years ago

yeah thought the same about Dan Deacon's new album, I was like no way did this come out in 2020

Feed Me Weird Things 25th anniversary edition coming out June 4th!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OySHlQzk8bY

enjoyable