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Amazon.co.uk Review
Review
Last year's Go Plastic saw Squarepusher back in fully electronic mode, leaving behind the industrialist cyberjazz moves of Music is Rotted One Note. This new album follows much the same path, though the release of the title track as a single a couple of months ago had critics rummaging through their dictionaries for adequate superlatives. Over distressed, scratchy beats Jenkinson knits a patchwork of glutinous synth stabs, processed voice and sudden noisestorms with an assurance that recalls his best work (Big Loada, Port Rhombus), but it's not really the leap in the dark we've been led to expect.
Neither is "F-Train", which recycles the usual stop start beats with doomy sci-fi babble narration. It's difficult to tell whether Tom's tongue is in his cheek or in our ears. The same goes for "Anstromm-Feck 4", which opens with a challenge; "so you think you're hard do you?..Squarepusher's gonna take your f***ing face off". I'm afraidTom's usualdrum 'n' bass accelerated to spin cycle speed trick left your humble reviewer's face still attached to the front of his head. Whereas "Come on My Selector" can still induce sensory overload, this merely irritates.
Things take an upturn with the 10 minute "Mutilation Colony";gorgeous blurred organ chords build till overtaken by a bout of bleak electronics, punctuated by seismic pulses and ending up as an electroacoustic exploration of the properties of cymbals. It's music charged with possibilities; rigorous yet posessing a sensuality Jenkinson seems at pains to avoid elsewhere.
The album ends with a faithful (yet pointless)rendition of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear us Apart", while the CD comes with a bonus, near bootlegquality recording of the Pusher live in Tokyo. Both are probably for completists only. One of Jenkinson's avowed aims is for his music to resist commodification; an admirably punkish attitude, and one that makes a lot of sense, but in much of this album, there's a sense of stasis lurking behind the attitude. Music that's easy to admire, but hard to love.
Like This? Try These:
Squarepusher - Go Plastic
Autechre - Gantz_Graf
Martin Horntveth - Fast Motion --Peter Marsh
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
Squarepusher blows all expectations of his music to pieces here. The music is impossible to describe - in fact I can't even really say whether I like it or not. In fact the question "do I like this?" when applied to this record seems to call for a third answer: not yes, not no... something else entirely... In fact, the only conclusion I can draw from my repeated listenings of this record is that all attempts to classify, qualify, analyse or interpret this music are completely futile. This music is untouchable to the human mind - all you can do is listen, listen, listen, until you go mad, or until your neighbours come round and beat you with a big stick.
Having said that, I think a real high point in the record comes at the end of the penultimate track, Mutilation Colony. Having squeezed your brain through a technological juicer, Jankinson makes it suddenly apparent that what you're listening to started life as a recorded drum set. Then the whole thing goes completely wild and finishes with you lying on the floor in a foetal position not knowing what the hell's happened and where on earth anyone can really go from here... and then, almost gleefully, it launches into Love Will Tear Us Apart.
To say this music is difficult is a moot point - those of us whose LP collections consist mainly of Warp releases aren't in search of an easy ride, and anyone considering buying this record with that intention should leave well alone. I like to be challenged, however, and I have to say this record presents me with more of an aural, conceptual and spiritual challenge than any other I have ever heard, hence I can't give it anything other than five stars, because nearly 2 years on I'm still being challenged, and I'm really nowhere nearer to being able to answer the question of whether I actually ENJOY this music or not!
i would give it an overall 5 if it weren't for the lack of more melodic oriented tracks (like the many on all of his previous albums). Perhaps with more time and listenings, his new stuff will grow on me and I will understand and appreciate it more... perhaps i don't know squarepusher after all. He's still the best out there. I recommend it highly. I just want to say too, that my fav album of his: Music is Rotted One Note... check it out if you haven't already --it may be one of the most important musical works of the century.
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