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Squarepusher
Do You Know Squarepusher

Putting a rhetorical question to the listener, the deliberate omission of a question mark in the title of Tom Jenkinson's newest release becomes its basic argument: the listener doesn't know what Squarepusher is really about, of course. The ersatz liner notes go further to become perhaps more of an intense, personal response to critics of Go Plastic who couldn't bother to look past its two-step roots, an attempt to give an answer by oddly providing none: "I take no refuge behind standpoints...I have to incorporate every musical ghetto into myself." And so the musician's optimistic two-disc set Do You Know Squarepusher presents the listening audience with the possibility that perhaps it doesn't entirely have Jenkinson's number, just yet.

Indeed, the first disc does go all over the place, opening up nicely with the eponymous track, a funkier, looser remix of the artist's recent untitled EP. Like Prefuse 73's treatment of rapping as just one more element of sound to fold into a piece, vocals become an even more rubbery complement to the melody than in the original. Frenzied d'n'b exertions follow in "Kill Robok", balancing aimless pitch shifts against tight rhythms. A garage-flavored dervish whirls about in "Anstromm-Feck", seasoned with profanities and ending with sequence of breakcored chaos. "Conc 2 Symmetriac" and "Mutilation Colony" break off entirely from the first half with shimmering ambience and warm, reverbed pad sequences that bring to mind security camera footage, cold eyes scoping vacant industrial lots in the dead of night. Closing the disc with a truly odd piece, Squarepusher remakes Joy Division's classic "Love Will Tear Us Apart", joining the legions of other British musicians who have tried their hand at it. It seems an odd choice because it is such a generic-sounding, throwaway pop track. A double-blind test would probably show that no one would believe that Squarepusher had anything to do with it. (And maybe that's the point?) The second disc collects a one-hour live set from a July 2001 performance in Japan. With lively fans yelling words of encouragement, Sqr jumps in with squelches that melt into "Go Spastic" and the untitled EP track. He continues the set with several more tracks from Go Plastic and finishes with hyperactive experiments that we learn end up as the foundation for some of the work on the first disc.

It seems glib to write off Squarepusher's sound as self-indulgent. While the material here feels as if it lacks the kind of stylistic coherence that was apparent on, for example, the classic Music is Rotted One Note, that's not enough to be critical of DYKS. Even with several strong tracks and an amazing live recording, it's difficult to navigate the line between directionless noodling and inspired, focused intuition. Tom Jenkinson might ask himself the very same question that he asks his listeners with this album; going all over the place musically hints that perhaps even he doesn't know who Squarepusher is anymore.

   last updated June 14, 2003

Release Information

Do You Know Squarepusher



2xCD
Warp Records (UK)