Ufabulum, good, bad or meh?

[gaarg]

I think it was posted on this forum before but I forgot where it's from.

[ambermonk]

I thought Ufabulum was kind of hit and miss. 4001, Stadium Ice, and Dark Steering are my favorites. Dark Steering is kind of a melodic throwback to UFOs over Leytonstone from his debut album Feed Me Weird Things. Not sure what TJ was thinking when he came up with Unreal Square though. It's cornball as hell.

[luke viia]

last half of the album good, first half sounds like unintentional butt rock inspired mid 90s sega saturn video game soundtracks

 

lol

 

I'm with Face Culler here too, the synths just rub me the wrong way. Wanted to like it, but it's just not happening.

[l1fef0rm]

Saw it performed live, loved it. Got the album, faded fast.

[Guest]

enjoyed it at first, but not interested in listening to it anymore. decayed quickly. wish it wasn't but meh.

[Dragon]

Really loving the new album. His modern approach is definitely well-suited to what he's expressing here.

 

I'm kinda relieved he didn't continue on the path of JAS/d'Dem, which I thought were kinda shite and plastered beyond recoginition with a 'modern' sound design. Here that sound has been used to create amazing music.

 

It'll be interesting to see how his last three albums will age over time...

[Guest yikes]

enjoyed it at first, but not interested in listening to it anymore. decayed quickly. wish it wasn't but meh.

 

bingo

[GraveGlitcher]

meh

[phudoshin]

Well i'm still listening to it one day here, a day there... sometimes a live show, sometimes the album............. skip the odd song, play em in a different order, play em randomly with other albums etc....

 

But typical with squarepusher i get rush every time and it never gets old ...... especially drax 2, dark steering, metallurgist, ecstatic shock, 4001........ and now the live version of stadium ice..............and yes unreal square is annoying...... until the drop!

 

Top class album in my book and the live shows are getting tweakier and better

[Guest Collagey]

I like the album. Stadium ice is my favorite actually

[YEK]

i played a few tracks yesterday, they're good

[Stock]

Listened to that album in its entirety a few times recently, it's really great but I reckon it's a bit hard to listen to (probably due to the sound design). I still don't like Drax 2, but the 4001/Ecstatic Shock combo is beyond marvelous !

 

Really good, I think it'll age well. Anyway better than JaS...

[kanarie]

Have I mentioned already how good this album is? I think it's quite fucking good.

[Hugh Mughnus]

Yeah it's a great album.

 

It was a grower, but I like every song on there.

[modey]

I always burn myself out on new Squarepusher and Autechre releases by hammering them almost constantly for a few weeks. I haven't listened in a while but I still rock Enstrobia every now and then!

I'll have to give it another listen soon, I think!

[LimpyLoo]

I really like the album, even despite:

 

1) that fucking LED helmet

 

2) the trendy bitcrushing sweeps/divebombs

 

3) the trendy half-time bits

 

4) the fact that all of the synths sound like vsti presets (I'd be happy if he used the sh-101 and amen break exclusively forever)

[cloud capture]

Love it. Usually listen to it once a week while working.

[Adieu]

All the meticulous sequencing makes my Cock/Ver10 hard.

[Npoess]

Probably my least favorite release of his.

[beerwolf]

Haven't played it for ages, a trend I will continue until I hear it live in London. I want maximum effect!!!

[SQUIDLID]

Haven't played it for ages, a trend I will continue until I hear it live in London. I want maximum effect!!!

 

Agreed, not listened to it in a while, looking forward to the Hackney Empire show and hope that once I have seen the entire concept it will enhance future album and EP listening.

[Friendly Foil]

well this got old fast. I prefer the Enstrobia EP.

[MisterE]

i've probably listened to the album around 30 times now, and i have to say, i think it's his best. YES i said it.

people always say shit like 'this artists albums, none of them are alike' and ya know what? 9 times out of 10 they are lying assholes when they say that. yes, they are alike. many autechre albums sound very very much alike. sure they have phases. their first one is way different from their later stuff. but they have plenty of stuff that's very much alike. same with squarepusher. now, yeah there is a lot of variety because you have stuff like music is one rotted note, vs the chopped amen stuff, then you have stuff that's like a combination of the two. but guess what? even that stuff has a sort of similar tone or something behind it. music is one rotted note still has something that i can't quite put into words, in common with even something like selection 16.

 

Ufabulum is the only one in my mind that really stands out as very different. it's the combination of things about it that are different- no amen, very cold aesthetic/tone almost like autechre, whole album uses pretty much the same sounds/template, no cheesy vocal samples anywhere trying to be all cool with some guy with a rasta accent saying something about squarepusher being our daddy or giving us a science lesson or just whatever, and the overall style is just a lot different. the big pads and spacey ambience is pushed much further than ever before on some of these tracks (and i LOVE it). and it might be his most consistent album in terms of focus.

 

i'll have to admit, at first i immediately latched on to the first 4 tracks, and didn't care for the 2nd half, but the 2nd half is growing on me more and more also. it's a little more abstract and broken with the glitchyness but if you keep listening you start to notice some of the little musical patterns in the sounds, that you hadn't noticed before and that's pretty cool. it's like they get more musical after you listen multiple times, instead of just being the abstract train wrecks they might sound like at first. little details like the clicking sound in dark steering when the drums come in, that's just slick as hell.

 

so i have to say, for me, i think it's his best effort. there's tons of complexity, it's VERY consistent (this isn't just some collection of tracks like many of his other releases, it's an ALBUM), it's the most unique of his discography, and it's fucking awesome. and what's with all the assbergers people calling unreal square 'cheesy'? because of the chip synth or because of the very breif wubwub? the track could have done without it, but i hardly think it kills the whole thing. i'd like to see any of you knocking that track produce anything that even comes close. it's amazing. the string synths are the shit and you guys are just mental. so what if it has a tiny bit of 'playfull' attitude in it? this album is his masterpiece.

[lumpenprol]

Hi Tom

[Hugh Mughnus]

i've probably listened to the album around 30 times now, and i have to say, i think it's his best. YES i said it.

people always say shit like 'this artists albums, none of them are alike' and ya know what? 9 times out of 10 they are lying assholes when they say that. yes, they are alike. many autechre albums sound very very much alike. sure they have phases. their first one is way different from their later stuff. but they have plenty of stuff that's very much alike. same with squarepusher. now, yeah there is a lot of variety because you have stuff like music is one rotted note, vs the chopped amen stuff, then you have stuff that's like a combination of the two. but guess what? even that stuff has a sort of similar tone or something behind it. music is one rotted note still has something that i can't quite put into words, in common with even something like selection 16.

 

Ufabulum is the only one in my mind that really stands out as very different. it's the combination of things about it that are different- no amen, very cold aesthetic/tone almost like autechre, whole album uses pretty much the same sounds/template, no cheesy vocal samples anywhere trying to be all cool with some guy with a rasta accent saying something about squarepusher being our daddy or giving us a science lesson or just whatever, and the overall style is just a lot different. the big pads and spacey ambience is pushed much further than ever before on some of these tracks (and i LOVE it). and it might be his most consistent album in terms of focus.

 

i'll have to admit, at first i immediately latched on to the first 4 tracks, and didn't care for the 2nd half, but the 2nd half is growing on me more and more also. it's a little more abstract and broken with the glitchyness but if you keep listening you start to notice some of the little musical patterns in the sounds, that you hadn't noticed before and that's pretty cool. it's like they get more musical after you listen multiple times, instead of just being the abstract train wrecks they might sound like at first. little details like the clicking sound in dark steering when the drums come in, that's just slick as hell.

 

so i have to say, for me, i think it's his best effort. there's tons of complexity, it's VERY consistent (this isn't just some collection of tracks like many of his other releases, it's an ALBUM), it's the most unique of his discography, and it's fucking awesome. and what's with all the assbergers people calling unreal square 'cheesy'? because of the chip synth or because of the very breif wubwub? the track could have done without it, but i hardly think it kills the whole thing. i'd like to see any of you knocking that track produce anything that even comes close. it's amazing. the string synths are the shit and you guys are just mental. so what if it has a tiny bit of 'playfull' attitude in it? this album is his masterpiece.

 

Very bold statements, but I agree with a lot of it.

 

Now that this has grown on me, I find it a thematically and technically wonderful album, and the references to his past work he has dotted throughout the album give me nostalgic twinges (IE 303 Scopem Hard = The Barn (303 Kebab mix), Dark Steering = Dreaded Pestilence.... same samples in the beginning). Songs like Drax2 and Dark Steering remind me of some of his oldies like Vic Acid and My Fucking Sound: they achieve some sort of visual imagery he set out to create: Drax2 being the coal power plant in England and Dark Steering I swear is a reference to WATMM's (and elsewheres) references of his helmet and getup looking like Daft Punk: Daft Punk did the soundtrack for Tron and Dark Steering reminds me of the light-cycles and setting in Tron lol.

 

I also find the sections where he uses the formant/y voice sound (actual technical term lol) and other various noises interwoven together such as in the "double time" section of dark steering to be challenging to my ears and fairly technically impressive but I don't really know because I'm not a producer.... maybe thats easy to do?

 

I also like the fair amount of cheese, similar to Hard-Normal Daddy IMO.

 

I'm not going to say this is "his masterpiece" but it is a much better album than most people are giving credit for.

 

Edit: The only thing that I REALLY don't like about the album is the mastering: it is mastered for large systems/to be played very loud. Sounds great on my main system IE 400 watts per channel with 2 powered subs etc etc, fizzles a little bit on my car stereo, the highs sound very grating when you don't have an active subwoofer, and the soundstage/imagery is completely ruined without that low end.

 

It's clearly an intentional move, Ufabulum seems like a live/party oriented CD, hence his tour, but it pisses me off because it detracts from the critical listening/dynamic aspect of it which is what I like most squarepusher albums for... =(