squarepusher my unnecessarily long and crappy review of selection 17

[sinicalypse]

1 - hello meow - yay i am having high hopes because there's no pretensious 2 minute fadein from white noise before we are given chopped up amens, instead its utterly cheesy stuff with the trademark squarepusher emo keys, by 50 seconds we've got wailing synths backing up the wee little stabs of whatever synth/pack he's using. oh how i long for hte early 90s, oh wow we've got a synth chorus at 1:17 in... pity the drums don't want to do anything, but wait, at 1:37 (god bless that number. good things happen at 37, ask aquarius) we've got OUR SANCTIONED MASHED-LITE AMEN!! another harmony type redeux of the synth chorus comes in and welcomes in to the realm of THEME MUSIC ooh yeah at 2:24 i was hoping for the drums to go off but instead he works out the synths. so if i were a betting man i'd bet that the focus is more on the robustness of the synthwork/pads as opposed to the drums. 2:50 -- here's the bass guitar, wow that didnt take long, so when will the drums go nuts? perfet chance at 3:10 or so... oh fuck another chorus redeux?!? ooh lets kill those poppy little amens to put even more emphasis on the synthwork yesss. tame 303 ending? check. thats a crime against humanity.

 

2 - theme from sprite - uh oh when i hear the 1-2-3-4 drumsticks i am transported back to selection 16. seriously. it's 1999 or 2000 or whatever and i'm listening to those intermittant one man jazzband tracks that acted as filler for a decent LP (shoot me. seriously i deserve it)... this is akin to those touching piano filler tracks on drukqs, screaming out for credibility as an actual musician as opposed to an overblown beatmasher. how touching. why this makes me want to give up my whole fixation on horrendously immature and repetitive annoying growling foreboding superjungle and go sit at jazzbars and drink light beers and chainsmoke menthols while feeling a part of some sort of massive music scene. i want to hear this in elevators dammit, i'd ride around in them all day. or wait am i on hold to order another copy of the vic acid 12" from warpmart? that sounds about right. he should have done a cheesy electro sublymonal campaign as it would have been more entertaining than this. i now have fears that the REAL MUSICIAN is going to bust through my dreams of a video game soundtrack from the year 2024.

 

3 - bubble life - overtly artsy buildup from light noise? check. menacing synth noises intermittantly meddling with an airy run of keys and some doot dooting bass guitar? check? no real focus on the percussion? double check. hte bass guitar is giddying up and trying to offset the keys and the cymbols get a workout as the guitar volume goes up for a few notes at the end of a measure. wow, so far 2/3 of what i've heard is fucking background music. tho people who get offended by superjungle/drill-n-bass/breakcore immaturity are probably somewhat refreshed.

 

4 - planetarium - uh oh i hear an immaturely mashed break from the onset being offset by a little tapping stab noise. this one's menacing with the low octaves of an early 90s jungle track. i think he maybe got to borrow the no u-turn label's group synthesizer for that bassline. another lightly mashed amen greats the atmospheric key run to go with the wahhhing oldschool jungle bass before we get our melody at 1:17, an adventurous one at that, trying to tug at our emotive strings. hte beat kind of meanders around with sporadic little giddyups and momentary total kills to emphasize that momentum around the end of counts and stuff, that kind of throwback jilt he's made a killing off of in his old superjungle workouts. the melody is attempting to wail into some chorusesque ahhhh pads and another layer of hihats and cymbols on top of essentially the same beat (taking it to another level, eh?) the drum pattern has gone about three minutes without significantly changing, save the aforementioned whirlwind of hihats giving you that airy feeling on top of the same basic lil beat. reprise at 4 minutes megaheavyatmospheric. i'm still waiting for the drums to go psycho and accompany the rather grandiose synthwork. oooh the big bad calm after the storm goes for a minute. thats actually how i measure the quality of tracks, its kind of like you need a longer time after busting a bigger load, recovering from the greatness that you just encountered.

 

5 - vacuum garden - wow i'm greated to one stretched out tone for six fucking minutes. is this a joke? this is not music, this is not highly experimental noise, it's an absolute disgrace to put on an album that people are presumably going to pay for. i mean people who listen to this and get some sort of artistic feel or something out of it are wankers who are trying to convince you that they're deep and artistic. this is worse than ambient music... this is easily the worst thing i've ever heard by mister jenkinson and it is a condemnation of whatever it is going through his head that he can take up six minutes of an LP with this... does he have a bone to pick with warp? does he hate his fans? there's gotta be something seriously wrong in this equation for six minutes of tonal noise to end up on a fucking LP. aphex twin once had a track with a prolonged 5-6 minute tonal noise on it, the big difference was that there was an actual track to go with it. it was called ventolin. this is a pile of rubbishorseshitotalcrap that is an insult to anyone who has ever given money to squarepusher.

 

6 - circlewave 2 - uh oh i hear the kind of taps that take me back to my selection 16 listening party. i'm treated to lameass acoustic guitar, once again calling in my artistic merits into question. as the track goes on and gets more and more grandiose i can't help but wonder if this is some sort of message to the lot of us squarepusher supporters that we can't pigeonhole the dude as mister 303'n'bass because HE IS A FUCKING ARTIST THAT WE CANNOT POSSIBLY COMPREHEND. i mean he can play the guitar and it's obvious to me that he can play a real drumset, but why in the hell are given another track thats just like #2? its the same fucking thing just different parts, really, and it doesnt tell me anything i dont really know. make a whole EP like this and forewarn people please, cuz it's a letdown to realize another 4 minutes of your precious ~60 minutes of purchased LP are going to be devoted to making the kind of music that most of your diehard fans escaped by listening to you in the firstplace (and yes, artistic vision this and "it's not about servicing your fans" that, but i'd rather he go back to writing manifestos to prove his mettle as some sort of transcendental figure as opposed to going back to the one man jazz band schtick that killed the wonderful momentum he had coming out of big loada... it's just like... seriously, this would be like going to a kiss show and seeing them play the flute and while people in rectangular framed glasses with beards and color coordinated outfits might applaud their bold decision to show a genuis level of artist that transcends all of our previous expectations for them, the cheap beer drinker in all of us who have been down for a minute is letting loose a bonafide "what the fuck!?@%#")(

 

7 - ANOTHER FUCKING SELECTION 16 TRACK!@?$%% this one is more daring with chops and stuff but it's 48 seconds. why do the wankier tracks like this go for 3-4 minutes and this one is 48 seconds? the man is teasing us or something.

 

8 - rotate electrolyte - any track that starts with a spazzed out chop of a snare drum has a place in my heart for sure, but we're given a grandiose buildup with hardcore drums and little 303 stabs which goes on for at least a minute, the obligatory mashed amen loop comes in at 1:35 to join in the fray. this part has no point until it dies for an atmospheric pad workout about a minute later, oohing and ahhhing until the beat comes back (i hear a drum machine clap in there oooh you devil you, tho it is no vintage aphex twin whirlwind of drum machines dealy) it's all epic and atmospheric and oooh ahhh with what feels like a stock issue mashed amen beat... for the last 3 or 4 minutes we're given a somewhat solid offering of atmospheric synth-driven squarepushery, until the last 1:48 of the track or thereabouts goes for the epic post-cum wind-down. it gives you time to reflect on teh genuis you just absorbed, no doubt.

 

9 - welcome to europe - YES finally a track that starts off with a chopped beat and a simple synth pattern going do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do do do do... as one could expect by now the beat is just kind of background to the pads and synthwork as it doesnt lead or evne attempt to really grab your attention from the keys.. 2 minutes in we get our sanctioned mashed amen lite workout... i mean this is prolly the 4th track or htereabouts that builds to the same drum beat coming in as some sort of shifting the track into high gear... the melody works tho it's a good emotive line holding down the fort, although once again the beats are just fodder to carry along the epic synthwork. this track doesn't really do anything so i'll emulate it right here right now.

 

10 - argh ANOTHER FUCKING SELECTION 16 TRACK?#^%$ about a minute in it goes the transition from onemanjazzband to jungle roller wannabe, joined in by a synth that hitches along with the 5 hit bam bam bam bam bam endofpattern drum creshendo.. at least it's somewhat digifunky as it goes along, getting progressively more manic as time goes along, glorious reprise at 4 minutes in, but would you believe that the beat is basically stationary as it goes along? i'll give you that there's solid synthwork, and oh yeah why not toss in the guitar at this point, as you are indeed squarepusher after all, tho this bass guitar is pretty retarded... the track gets more energy circa 5:40 in. after preparing for another 1:30ish pad-only cooldown session at the end i was surprised to hear the drums come back with a more minimal soundscape accompanying them. but still underwhelmingness reigns as it wobbles to a close. dont get me wrong tho, the last few minutes of this cut are more enjoyable than most of the LP as it's the first time on here you get that wonderfully manic feel of vintage squarepushery.

 

11 - modern bass guitar - hooray it's the first track that would make people at an art gallery cringe!! viva superjungle!! many people like to call this anstromm feck 4 redeux, but let's be honest here short of that track off of the breezeblock of march04 there is nothing close to anstromm feck 4, one of the shining moments in electronic music history. more seriously tho this is the first non-grandiose/pretensious sounding track on here as it is content with going wah wah wah BZZZZZZT BSSH BSSH BANG, like the bassline isn't some artistic masterstroke it's just a genuine superjungle bassline. after a few minutes of stomping around it has the obligatory kill to bassline solo before coming back in a fit of scratchy noise that is rather reminiscient of the end of anstromm feck 4

 

12 - orient orange - i need a PhD in art to comment on this track. its purpose is clearly above and beyond my comprehension. the grandiose noise of prolonged pads, the percussion that sounds like the insurmountable genius of banging pots and pans together, running those pads into chorusesque oooohs and ahhhhs. when the song breaks down about 1/2way through and the banging slows down and the atmospheric pads and keys get creepy, its times like this where i am overjoyed to be in the presence of a genius who clearly is at peace with his artistic side, welkl until the 7 minute mark where it seems like the track is building up to a takeoff, then it dies out to go for quiet noise. seriously i am envious of the people who "get this" because they are truly more in touch with their artistic sides than i can ever hope to be.

 

 

overall - i can see how a bunch of people will really like this album, but i reckon the more superjungley people of the world (of which i kind of side myself with) wll be bored shitless and maybe play the modern bass guitar here and there, but this will be an easily dismissed LP as it's just lacking a proper pair of balls. it'll prolly make him some money and befriend a bunch of people who find most drillnbass innately irritating, which is definite you go girl land, but forgive me for being an asshole who clearly is experiencing art he doesnt understand for having loftier expectations for a squarepusher LP these days. this music is all nice and airy as opposed to wicked and twisted, and i tend to err in favor with ostentacious displays of badassedness through obnoxious percussion-driven spazzentry and rockstar type flamboyance, an area where squarepusher has proven countless times that he can flourish, but has decided to leave for whatever reason(s). philie-t is a jenkinsonian cheerleader, which i dont mean in a bad way, but as t-bag said if he's at peace and this is the ultimate result of a man striking a balance at life, forgive me for fondly yearning for the days of the imbalanced edgier d00d

[Guest Endoplasmic Reticulum]

That was necessary.

[kokoon]

that was nice

[taphead]

dude, face up to it. no one buys drill n bass anymore. the marvelous concept of structuring beats to roll in ways that create pitches and have the beat provide melodic content is now just "wankery"/"trying to hard". people want their beats to be graph paper around bad pop melodies. sadly, these people now count tom jenkinson in their ranks.

[RichieBees]

taphead why are you so unhappy :( im sure suarepushre made an album he was happy with

[taphead]

i was being a bit hyperbolic in the theme of the thread. i actually do like the album. except for that 5th and last tracks. i like electroacoustic music and i liked that mutilation colony track on dyks but jesus christ. that 5th track is a fucking joke. i dont even think its ring mod, it sounds like frequency mod. ring mod would sound slightly more interesting.

 

but yeah whats funny to me is no matter what people will always say jenkinson is trying to hard. go plastic was trying to hard with it's "wankery", this album tries to hard with it's "real instruments". WHY WONT YOU TRY HARD IN THE SENSE OF FUFILLING MY SUBJECTIVITY, THE SPECIFICS OF WHICH I'M NOT EVEN ABLE TO EXPLAIN, WHY TOMMY WHY?

 

hey guys the new akron/family mini-album is pretty good too.

[Bubba69]

I liked it. I also liked selection 16. I didn't like budokan mindphone, or feed me weird things all that well. Also I don't have expectations in my mind for squarepusher to come along and break boundries. This album for me brings me to the point of helping piece together who thomas jenkinson is from a deterministic viewpoint of not giving a shit. I really enjoy listening to this kind of thing. This is what he was feeling at the time. He spewed enough tracks out in this chemical wave of musical exploration that he decided to realease them in an album. I dont think he ever said this album was to be an expansion in musical possibilities in general, but to expand upon his own musical personal areas (lol, wordy bullshit or something). Now I undersatnd as an established artist that getting this released is a little bit selfish. I do like it enough not to think so. If you dont like it dont buy it. Lost my train of thought.

[Zephyr_Nova]

I'm sure I'll like this release at least as much as most of his other releases based off what I've read. Even when I read negative reviews I read about something that I'll at least enjoy listening to on occassion. I don't think of Squarepusher as an artist who redefines himself with each release. Not at all. There's just a place in my musical preferences for his style. Go Plastic's the only album of his that gets me excited and puts a smile on my face. The rest I just get a craving to hear on occassion. Well, except for Feed me Weird Things. I just don't like anything about that album. But it was his first, so it only makes sense that he got better from there. I think maybe if I heard it in 1996 when it first came out it might give me pleasant nostalgia or something like that, but as someone who heard his more advanced work first, I can't get into it.

[Guest Kazuo]

humm the drums are a shame. plain 08/15 dnb loops. but i like the melodies, i like the trashy, japan-esque charme of "hello meow", i like tracks 6, 8 and 9, and I love tracks 10 and 11. but i hear great progressions in his melodies, he's just doing something that is new for him. and that makes me happy, cos this is not how a declining artist sounds, it's just one of the squarepusher albums that are very good but not brilliant. i like it.

 

but i would like it even more to hear those melodies together with detailed programming, all the mindfuck stuff. that's not nostalgic at all, I know the drill stuff is not very favoured at the moment by all the electronic music people out there but who gives a fuck. for me it's still the sound of the future.

[sinicalypse]

That was necessary.

 

actually, i think your foot-up-on-the-post gesture here was quite necessary. whenever i type anything longer than about 5 paragraphs someone invariably has to jump in as the first reply saying something in the ballpark of "yawn" or "i can't be arsed to read all that" or "you're a loser (infer that i am superior because i wouldnt make a post like that)"

 

it's an electronic music messageboard. with squarepusher's mug in the banner. in a squarepusher forum.

 

messageboards exist so people can write on them, you know.

[TechDiff]

That was necessary.

 

actually, i think your foot-up-on-the-post gesture here was quite necessary. whenever i type anything longer than about 5 paragraphs someone invariably has to jump in as the first reply saying something in the ballpark of "yawn" or "i can't be arsed to read all that" or "you're a loser (infer that i am superior because i wouldnt make a post like that)"

 

it's an electronic music messageboard. with squarepusher's mug in the banner. in a squarepusher forum.

 

messageboards exist so people can write on them, you know.

 

Fair enough, that is what a message board is for. Talking about stuff. But I think that comment was more motivated by the fact that you felt it nessesary to create a new thread to write a pointlessly long and completely over-opinionated review/gripe.

 

I personally couldnt care less about about what you or anyone else thinks of the album. As with any form of art, its up to the individual to form their own views. Ive got my opinion, you have yours. I dont see it as nesesary or productive to write a ludicrously long review since it is a waste of your time (no one will agree), and everyone elses (they wont bother reading it).

 

I'm glad you managed to form a solid opinion of this album in such a short amount of time. I wonder whether you thoughts have changed since? I'm still making up my mind over Ultravisitor let alone Hello Everything. I like some of the tracks some of the time, I like the others at other times. I guess it depends what mood I am in.

 

What mood where you in when you wrote your review?

 

I cant help but think that so many people where expecting "Go plastic with bells and ribbons on" and anything else would be met with a cascade of criticism, which is pretty much what happened. As Ive said already, Squarepusher has diferent appeal for different listeners. Some like the super jungle, some like the jazz-fusion stuff, some like the acid-ish stuff. I'm sure you can appreciate that some of his older albums dont appeal to your taste, so why get so up in arms when the new one doesnt either?

 

You've got ultravistor if you want some tweaked out jungle stuff, and venus 17. The fans who are into the tracks with real instruments and/or solid melodies have had a long wait.

[not_vikur]

of course im not gonna read it but i praise you for paragraphing it.

[TechDiff]

[Guest naos]

I don't care as long as it has humor.

 

But then again I can look at it

from a cold-analitic consumer point of view...

and end up asking myself...What the f* am I expecting

,a new episode of tundras?

New "deep" squarepusher?

Obviously I'm too electronic music-ic.. tangled up in all this "electronic music" set of values, while sqp explores other worlds and

tries to make a miniature melodic journey....

 

My advice: listen to UV or Bela Bartok and.. try to play an

instrument being funny ;)

[BCM]

T-fucking-H-fucking-E. You sound like a damn fool when you type it hte. Jesus.

[Guest Kazuo]

now that i listened to this album for a long time i think its just great. i'd even say its revolutionary. i know no other electronic album with this kind of melodic beauty. it seems unspectacular at first but in fact its one of the rare electronic albums that are really catchy without being stupid.

[Aphex_Squarepusher_Twin]

i don't find hello everything really revolutionary... but just a great album

 

ultravisitor yeah, it's revolutionary!!

 

[Guest roygbiv]

It's a great fun album, one of my favourite sqrpshr releases ever.

[Guest Kazuo]

ultravisitor is revolutionary? i don't think so

but its great.

whatever.. go plastic is fucking revolutionary, thats for sure

[Aphex_Squarepusher_Twin]

:omg:

 

 

:getlost:

 

 

Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide...

i think u're behind the times...

 

:devil:

[Guest Kazuo]

name me one album that comes close to go plastic. it was revolutionary, and it still is. ultravisitor is nice, but not a quarter as good, its more a lose collection of musical approaches and stuff by him, with cool stuff and with bad stuff. but go plastic is like a big bang. it has not much to do with the typical 90s drill'n'bass IMO and even less with breakcore. it makes everything else shit, and it still is a coherent album.

my opinion.

[kaini]

go plastic LP - worth it for a few good tracks (red hot cock, erm, car and i wish you could talk immediately come to mind, as the GO PLASTIC and bonneville occident cuts are kind of overtly cheezy superdrill workouts)overall its a bitter LP as tom's one man jazz band music has rotted me arse / budahkan mindphone / maximum priest days came to an end and he started making mockeries of even his own superjungle mockeries of jungle. but i wish you could talk, a greatly egotistical track name, is some beautiful shit. red hot cock is a roller.

 

i normally agree with you jimbob (at least as far as pusher's concerned anyway) but on this one, you have it wrong on many counts, but at least as far as you have mentioned the word bitter, you're correct.

 

see GP is an anomaly imo. it's an amazing, amazing album, but it's an anomaly. it might as well have been sponsored by absolut, but there's a sick part of my mind wants to hear the album that would be made if tom ended up in that place again. it's sooooooooooo angry... sooooooooo bitter. it's not really a squarepusher album, in that way, but i'd fucking kill to hear another album done by tom in that style. it fucking shits all over any other DSP/glitch/drill/whatever album that's in the same style.

[sinicalypse]

go plastic LP - worth it for a few good tracks (red hot cock, erm, car and i wish you could talk immediately come to mind, as the GO PLASTIC and bonneville occident cuts are kind of overtly cheezy superdrill workouts)overall its a bitter LP as tom's one man jazz band music has rotted me arse / budahkan mindphone / maximum priest days came to an end and he started making mockeries of even his own superjungle mockeries of jungle. but i wish you could talk, a greatly egotistical track name, is some beautiful shit. red hot cock is a roller.

 

i normally agree with you jimbob (at least as far as pusher's concerned anyway) but on this one, you have it wrong on many counts, but at least as far as you have mentioned the word bitter, you're correct.

 

see GP is an anomaly imo. it's an amazing, amazing album, but it's an anomaly. it might as well have been sponsored by absolut, but there's a sick part of my mind wants to hear the album that would be made if tom ended up in that place again. it's sooooooooooo angry... sooooooooo bitter. it's not really a squarepusher album, in that way, but i'd fucking kill to hear another album done by tom in that style. it fucking shits all over any other DSP/glitch/drill/whatever album that's in the same style.

 

well that LP came out during a weird time in my life (failing out of college for the last time, taking on a life-eroding drug habit for the next 6+ years, etc) so i was somewhat embittered and my perspective was shot... tho the bitterness came through to me with the track titles. now that i think back t oit more cohesively it was definitely inspired and looking to put a foot up the arse of music critics/his doubters, as i largely believe that music has rotted me arse came to exist as kind of a "what's left for you now, spazboy?" rebuttal to people who started harping on big loada as more of the same, or seeing him as a one trick pony (superchopped fast amens + 303 + bass = formulaic squarepusher) -- and when that happened he got some of the critical love he sought, but a lot of his old hardocres like me wer ekind of like "what the fuck is this shit?" cuz hte music had no discernable edge and wahtnot, and methinks the bitterness of a guy like el squarepushero is the petrol in the vins fueling the greatness.

 

hearing that helloeverything is him in "a great place" scares me since a good deal of music is wrought of people with issues, problems, habits, and serious conditions that erode the quality of hteir life. if you want happy music go find some u2 dredge "I CAN FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLL... I CAAAANNNN FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLL" but yeah i really think embitteredness/somethingtoprovedness is definitely a fuel for the overall geniousness that permeates the soul of much quality music.

 

its kind of like when richard james goes to remix a track by someone he really respects: he goes balls out like "look at what i can do. i'm the fucking man, btw" -- motivation is a crazy thing.

 

like smeday i wanna have a musical career but i'm too drugged up stagnant to get around to it. but iv'e got the ideas oh yes i do. mockeries forhtcoming....

[Guest Jimbob]

see GP is an anomaly imo. it's an amazing, amazing album, but it's an anomaly. it might as well have been sponsored by absolut, but there's a sick part of my mind wants to hear the album that would be made if tom ended up in that place again. it's sooooooooooo angry... sooooooooo bitter. it's not really a squarepusher album, in that way, but i'd fucking kill to hear another album done by tom in that style. it fucking shits all over any other DSP/glitch/drill/whatever album that's in the same style.

'my fucking sound' just kills me on that record... so incredibly angry. i love how on GP/DYDS/UV that the sound is so dynamic. it's like a living breathing thing. the percussion on something like 'kill robok' sounds so tactile... but on 'my fucking sound' it's like that to the extreme.

 

this is so very true.

I couldnt stand it at first, just couldn't get into it....but then if you keep concentrating and making the effort to get into it, BAM

it hits you right in the nuts with the full force of the man upstairs. Its so angry it's brilliant, the perfect 'fuck you' track to deafen your enemies with

[TechDiff]

see GP is an anomaly imo. it's an amazing, amazing album, but it's an anomaly. it might as well have been sponsored by absolut, but there's a sick part of my mind wants to hear the album that would be made if tom ended up in that place again. it's sooooooooooo angry... sooooooooo bitter. it's not really a squarepusher album, in that way, but i'd fucking kill to hear another album done by tom in that style. it fucking shits all over any other DSP/glitch/drill/whatever album that's in the same style.

'my fucking sound' just kills me on that record... so incredibly angry. i love how on GP/DYDS/UV that the sound is so dynamic. it's like a living breathing thing. the percussion on something like 'kill robok' sounds so tactile... but on 'my fucking sound' it's like that to the extreme.

 

this is so very true.

I couldnt stand it at first, just couldn't get into it....but then if you keep concentrating and making the effort to get into it, BAM

it hits you right in the nuts with the full force of the man upstairs. Its so angry it's brilliant, the perfect 'fuck you' track to deafen your enemies with

 

This was one of the last tracks on GP that I actually started to enjoy, I still dont quiye now when it kicks in, I love howe it makes me jump still, and the chopped up vocals just after. Awesome. Probably my favourite track still