Squarepusher - The Man Machine
his corruptions of the conventions of genre echo his desire to rearrange the thought processes of his listeners
| 13 Oct 2006
There used to be a weird kid at my school who claimed that he'd invented a time machine. Obviously he hadn't, but part of me really wanted to believe that he had. For some reason, thinking of that strange, socially isolated adolescent puts me in mind of Tom Jenkinson (aka Squarepusher) - except if Jenkinson told me he'd created a time machine, I'd believe him.
There has always been something endearingly peculiar about Jenkinson, a genuine eccentricity that has allowed him to disassociate himself from any sense that his persona is a contrivance. Whereas label-mate and personal friend Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) is willing to gurn for the camera and portray himself as a nightmarish freak, Jenkinson's obsession with his music has led to a self-imposed isolation (he cancelled appearances at this year's Reading and Leeds festivals to work on his new album), with the artist only occasionally breaking cover to ridicule our 'moronic cultural environment' or discuss the role of music as a tool for challenging the complacency of middle class existence.
So far, so political – yet the trajectory of Jenkinson's subversions are difficult to plot. As a bass guitar savant who turned his hand to electronic music in the mid-nineties, his corruptions of the conventions of genre echoed his desire to rearrange the thought processes of his listeners; to attack comfort and complacency and invite radical thoughts and responses.
We hear it even in his earliest work, this strange talent to open the door to new sounds and experiences; to show us the delights that lie within – and then to help us on our way with a violent boot to the backside. A triumph of eclecticism, 1996's 'Feed Me Weird Things' must also rank as one of the most sublime debuts of all time; with its insanely ambitious intersection of alien atmospheres, jazz, funk, jungle and acid – all held together with a redoubtable pop sensibility.
In the years since this release Jenkinson has blazed an audacious and often baffling trail, his effulgent wit manifesting variously as tongue-in-cheek lairiness or absurd faux-conceptual gestures (2004's 'Ultravisitor' studio album was overdubbed with the sound of crowds cheering in order to create a veneer of "cool", in order to make "stupid people buy it"). The only constant in this sea of churning ideas has been the steady evolution of Jenkinson's own technical brilliance – his incomparable bass playing has rendered his style literally inimitable, whilst recent output has featured dazzling work on both guitar and drums.
Despite these gifts, Jenkinson also possesses remarkable humility, claiming that "a human operator brings as much about the machine to light as he does about himself." Listening to his records with this in mind, albums such as 2001's 'Go Plastic' become fascinating artefacts of the human desire to defeat our own limited corporeal nature through rhythmical symbiosis with machines; the artist pushing and punishing musical forms until they are eventually mutating too fast for our brains to process.
And so to the new album. Whereas 'Ultravisitor' was described by the artist as "my spectacle of beauty and of terror," 'Hello Everything' finds the good ship Squarepusher triumphantly breaking free of that dark, claustrophobic nebula and blasting off into altogether more pleasant climes. This album finds Jenkinson at his vivacious best, with breezy album opener Hello Meow setting the mood with its squelching bassline and chiming glockenspiel melody. Album highlight Planetarium epitomises Jenkinson's new direction, shunning the trend for over-programmed beats and instead bringing tremulous, oscillating synths and orchestral swathes of melody to the fore in order evoke the infinite possibilities that lie in the unexplored vastness of the heavens.
It should come as no surprise to fans of Squarepusher that the album's greatest achievement is a traditional instrumental composition: Circlewave 2 combines delicate fingerpicked guitar, loose, jazzy drumming and gorgeous bass runs to sublime effect. Expansive, emotive and heartbreakingly beautiful, it's one of the best things I've heard all year in any genre. Squarepusher may need machines to go boldly where no one has gone before, but it's still definitely a human who's working the controls.
There has always been something endearingly peculiar about Jenkinson, a genuine eccentricity that has allowed him to disassociate himself from any sense that his persona is a contrivance. Whereas label-mate and personal friend Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) is willing to gurn for the camera and portray himself as a nightmarish freak, Jenkinson's obsession with his music has led to a self-imposed isolation (he cancelled appearances at this year's Reading and Leeds festivals to work on his new album), with the artist only occasionally breaking cover to ridicule our 'moronic cultural environment' or discuss the role of music as a tool for challenging the complacency of middle class existence.
So far, so political – yet the trajectory of Jenkinson's subversions are difficult to plot. As a bass guitar savant who turned his hand to electronic music in the mid-nineties, his corruptions of the conventions of genre echoed his desire to rearrange the thought processes of his listeners; to attack comfort and complacency and invite radical thoughts and responses.
We hear it even in his earliest work, this strange talent to open the door to new sounds and experiences; to show us the delights that lie within – and then to help us on our way with a violent boot to the backside. A triumph of eclecticism, 1996's 'Feed Me Weird Things' must also rank as one of the most sublime debuts of all time; with its insanely ambitious intersection of alien atmospheres, jazz, funk, jungle and acid – all held together with a redoubtable pop sensibility.
In the years since this release Jenkinson has blazed an audacious and often baffling trail, his effulgent wit manifesting variously as tongue-in-cheek lairiness or absurd faux-conceptual gestures (2004's 'Ultravisitor' studio album was overdubbed with the sound of crowds cheering in order to create a veneer of "cool", in order to make "stupid people buy it"). The only constant in this sea of churning ideas has been the steady evolution of Jenkinson's own technical brilliance – his incomparable bass playing has rendered his style literally inimitable, whilst recent output has featured dazzling work on both guitar and drums.
Despite these gifts, Jenkinson also possesses remarkable humility, claiming that "a human operator brings as much about the machine to light as he does about himself." Listening to his records with this in mind, albums such as 2001's 'Go Plastic' become fascinating artefacts of the human desire to defeat our own limited corporeal nature through rhythmical symbiosis with machines; the artist pushing and punishing musical forms until they are eventually mutating too fast for our brains to process.
And so to the new album. Whereas 'Ultravisitor' was described by the artist as "my spectacle of beauty and of terror," 'Hello Everything' finds the good ship Squarepusher triumphantly breaking free of that dark, claustrophobic nebula and blasting off into altogether more pleasant climes. This album finds Jenkinson at his vivacious best, with breezy album opener Hello Meow setting the mood with its squelching bassline and chiming glockenspiel melody. Album highlight Planetarium epitomises Jenkinson's new direction, shunning the trend for over-programmed beats and instead bringing tremulous, oscillating synths and orchestral swathes of melody to the fore in order evoke the infinite possibilities that lie in the unexplored vastness of the heavens.
It should come as no surprise to fans of Squarepusher that the album's greatest achievement is a traditional instrumental composition: Circlewave 2 combines delicate fingerpicked guitar, loose, jazzy drumming and gorgeous bass runs to sublime effect. Expansive, emotive and heartbreakingly beautiful, it's one of the best things I've heard all year in any genre. Squarepusher may need machines to go boldly where no one has gone before, but it's still definitely a human who's working the controls.
Hello Everything' is released on October 13.
http://www.warprecords.com