I remember stumbling on a Squarepusher song randomly back in 2015, "My Red Hot Car," and I thought it was ammmmmaaaaaaazzzzzing. I gotta dive into the rest of his albums.
I'll give it a go. I preferred Tom's live band versions of his older stuff to the original recordings, and I think you gave my favourite album of his (Damogen Furies) a '6', so there is hope for this one.
I think he's trying to avoid giving it a middling review and will chuck it in YUNO I think it's a proper grower like A Fever Dream was so it's hardly ripe for music reviewers to love anywho
I disagree about the solo bass tracks (Arkteon 1-3): I think they actually help glue the album together and make it more structured and cohesive. When he first announced the album, Tom talked about the effects of the Covid lockdowns and the subsequent jubilation of coming through the other side of it all. I think bearing that context in mind, the album makes total sense. I hear the Arkteon parts as reflecting present isolation of the lockdowns and the bulk of the rest of the album as a mixture of memories of pre-pandemic and expectation of the post-pandemic world. That may be a simplistic reading of it, but I think it makes sense and it underlines the importance of those tracks. They help frame and give meaning to everything else.
I have listened to this album 10-15 times already. It is AGAIN one of the greatest albums of Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher. It is super consistent and vibrant. All tracks he seems selected with passion and they are full of his creativity and immense energy which you can feel as well. This album is fantastic! 5 out 5 !
Not an album cut but Wendorlan (Slamstep Mix) might be the most intense single track he has ever made and to hear something like that this deep into his career is so awesome.
Even tho there's cult following, I still feel like Squarepusher is pretty underrated compared to some of the other "IDM" artists of the 90s, the combination of sequenced glitchy electronics and live virtuosic playing sounds like giant mess on paper but he just makes it work so well, it's kinda funny how this stuff comes off more human than a lot of modern prog metal bands
Personally speaking I don't think as Squarepusher he's ever put out a bad album. Just A Souvenir was one of my favorite albums of that decade and since then he's always done new things to challenge himself which you have to respect.
Idk, I love ur channel but I feel that you passionately shouting your opinions, however true they may be to you, doesn’t help crazy Marvel kids- who just wanted to learn about art & be loved- understand themselves or the world but I wasn’t raised right either so 😂❤ all the best to u
Tbh, all the experimental stuff he releases always resonate with me, like the classical interludes he puts - probably cause I especially like classical guitar, but also jazz and techno. They give me confidence in thinking about how to shape my music. Edit: btw, good review, haha.
“Slavery today, slavery tomorrow, slavery forever!” Sounds like something people would quote you saying in your comments section. Can’t believe you actually said it here lmao
