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New stuff from Squarepusher.

Started by Dusty Substance, November 26, 2019, 09:53:05 PM

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Dusty Substance



Vortrack, the new track from Squarepusher appeared on YouTube last week and his first album for five years is out in January.

Thoughts?

To me, it sounds just like Squarepusher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3kWYsLYuHc&fbclid



imitationleather

Can't believe that Squarepusher of all people has released an underwhelming track.

BlodwynPig


spaghetamine

haven't really dug anything pearsquasher has put out in the last decade, all seems a bit too focused on technical wankery rather than those gorgeously playful/cinematic melodies he used to be able to conjure up (Beep Street, A Journey to Reedham, Iambic 9 Poetry to name just a few classics from the Jenkinson canon)

BlodwynPig

Theme from Ernest Borgnine you mean

McFlymo

I really wanted to like all the wanky bass / space jazz stuff he's done: he's a phenomenal bass player, but God, that stuff is dull.

Everything up to and including Ultravisitor was pretty fucking good, though.

Saying that: Vortrack - Fracture Remix is weirdly safe, but Vortrack (which I assume is the original, but is track 2 on the single) is unsettling in a way I very much approve of! It reminds me of Greenways Trajectory from Go Plastic, which was a good era for Squarepusher and general awkward and unsettling explorations in electronic music...... SO: YES.

McFlymo

Been revisiting some of the Squarepusher I've missed over the last decade or so, and then got sucked into a bit of a youtube hole, with a few interviews and documentaries and things that made me realise that I actually fully respect and love what that man has brought to music. I don't always enjoy the aforementioned "space jazz" sorta vibes he brought on a few albums in the last 10 years, but there are some ridiculously beautiful moments.

In this Soundcheck podcast (8:40 in), he does a live remix of Kill Robok, which is utterly head manglingly amazing. The original was pretty far out as it was, but the fact he's dusted it off and fiddled around with it for a live performance just reminded me how groundbreaking some of his music can be.

Since then, I've given the Damogen Furies album a proper go. It's not quite my cup of tea, but again, there are some utterly bonkers moments, in terms of the crazy "micro-editing" breaks / drums, but also the screaming bass textures and noise layers. What I found both impressive and maybe disappointing was how he has clearly updated his sound in every way, to take it from late 90s to right now, it's impressive that he's achieved this so thoroughly in terms of the production of the album, but at the same time, it feels a bit cynical, somehow: Like he's deliberately trying to appeal to the new generation of cool kids. Nothing wrong with that per se, but overall I would have to consume this stuff in small doses.

Regardless of that, he remains to be a total fucking maverick cunt. Which is good.

Dewt

He is just so unbelievably boring, and his brother highlights that by being fun as fuck.

imitationleather

Quote from: Dewt on December 12, 2019, 12:35:37 AM
He is just so unbelievably boring, and his brother highlights that by being fun as fuck.

^truth

alan nagsworth

Even when Ceephax went back to his more serious side on last year's Camelot Arcade he demonstrated how much more effortlessly rich his musical vocabulary is. He may be a knobhead but he's a proper talent. So much Squarepusher stuff just feels like it's trying a bit too hard. The skill is there but that doesn't make you a good artist.

Just writing this has made me want to listen to Camelot Arcade on my commute this morning, and I never ever suddenly feel compelled to listen to Squarepusher.

monkfromhavana

Quote from: alan nagsworth on December 12, 2019, 07:40:51 AM
Even when Ceephax went back to his more serious side on last year's Camelot Arcade he demonstrated how much more effortlessly rich his musical vocabulary is. He may be a knobhead but he's a proper talent. So much Squarepusher stuff just feels like it's trying a bit too hard. The skill is there but that doesn't make you a good artist.

Just writing this has made me want to listen to Camelot Arcade on my commute this morning, and I never ever suddenly feel compelled to listen to Squarepusher.

Is Ceephax a knobhead? Seems like a thoroughly nice chap to me, albeit just from interviews etc. The only negative thing might be refusing to let Roy of The Ravers use the "Emotinium" sample.

Dewt

I only like two Squarepusher tracks:

Welcome To Europe because it's the one time he actually managed to find a groove that humans could enjoy
and
Tommib, because for once his noodling accidentally turned into something emotionally stirring

alan nagsworth

Quote from: monkfromhavana on December 12, 2019, 01:14:02 PM
Is Ceephax a knobhead? Seems like a thoroughly nice chap to me, albeit just from interviews etc. The only negative thing might be refusing to let Roy of The Ravers use the "Emotinium" sample.

He's nice enough but he's a bit up himself from my experience of having met him a couple times. Not that I give a shit. But I did have a smug chuckle once when he turned up to some tiny gig where DMX Krew was playing a disco set and he was flaunting an expensive bottle of champers on the dance floor, and slipped and fell right on his bottom.

'That'll teach you for being a successful artist' I said internally.

grassbath

Quote from: Dewt on December 12, 2019, 03:41:28 PM
Tommib, because for once his noodling accidentally turned into something emotionally stirring

'Beep Street' has this quality for me too. Agreed though that a vast majority of his stuff is very superficial.

imitationleather

There are far bigger wankers in music than Ceephax. I'd be a bit up myself if I made Sidney's Sizzler, to be fair.

He's not a bad man in the way, say, Venetian Snares is.

alan nagsworth

Venetian Snares is almost certainly a cancellation waiting to happen.

chveik


Dewt

Quote from: imitationleather on December 12, 2019, 07:13:41 PM
There are far bigger wankers in music than Ceephax. I'd be a bit up myself if I made Sidney's Sizzler, to be fair.
And isn't some amount of swagger part of his act? He's basically the electronica Goldie Looking Chain.

Dewt

Quote from: grassbath on December 12, 2019, 07:07:12 PM
'Beep Street' has this quality for me too. Agreed though that a vast majority of his stuff is very superficial.
Pretty good track, has that nice tape hissy quality of golden-era Warp. Which is me basically saying "sounds like Aphex".

Just noticed I recognise the album cover, it's Chelmsford's gasometer.

Capt.Midnight

Very much a Squarepusher fan, but he lost me around Ufabulum and Damogen Furies. The main issue was the production, pretty harsh and brittle to the point of obnoxiousness. Whilst you could argue it was an almost satire of EDM, that doesn't mean it has to sound pretty shitty. New stuff sounds dope though, well into this.


Funcrusher


alan nagsworth

Quote from: chveik on December 12, 2019, 08:13:31 PM
why?

Dunno just thought it would be funny to say it

Also look at the cunt