All music is a product of human activity, none more obviously
mechanistic than electronically created sound. It is to
Tom Jenkinson's credit that he both revels and encourages
us to revel with
him in a love of the base electronic glitchiness that is
present in all
his work. His enthusiasm for sounds many other musicians
would not
even consider worthy to be noise confronts us frequently,
and his transforming
of such noise into structure is admirable on this record.
We are kindly requested
to appreciate the innate qualities of this sound alongside
analogue bass
and drums, and in the meeting of the three. With his utterly
psychotic,
inimitible sound, he has simultaneously created and pushed
the envelope of
so-called drill and bass (what is it with these names?!).
This latest
Squarepusher outing has variously been described by reviewers
as mature,
too long, progressive, indulgent and unique. The problem
is that all these comments
reflect accurately on the album; I am torn because there
is both
so much to love and so much to dislike. At this point,
however, I must do the reviewer
thing and start criticising, but it is worth keeping in
mind this frame
of reference when picking apart the music.
"Ultravisitor" opens the album in classic Squarepusher
style, but transforms into a second, majestic echo-laden movement.
As ever, Tom Jenkinson is not content to sit on any one idea
for too long. We are faced with both the incredible musical
onslaught of "Steinbolt", "An Arched Pathway",
the post-rock shades of "Iambic 9 Poetry" and the
quietly shimmering acoustic tones of "Every Day I Love"
all compressed onto one 80 minute plastic slab. There are
the laid-back sounds of "Circlewave" rammed against
the old-school jungle of "District Line II", replete
with its "Come On My Selector" reference.
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