Good Music Week Part 1...



Squarepusher - Square Window (3" Promo CD)

I think this is mean't to be a promo to the new Squarepusher album, which is strange since precisely none of the tracks appear on it! Anyway, I've already got Square Window from bleep.com (I'm not sure about 'reviewing' mp3s, legal or not), this is a fine melodic slab of electronica with a suprisingly straightforward beat, he follows that with Abacus 2 which sees Mr Pusher having another go at garage, but without the comedy vocal lines that previously appeared in 'My Red Hot Car', this is then followed by Venus No.17 which get's all old skool jungle with a hint of some proper dub stylee effects. The last couple of tracks are kind of throwaway although the first of these does give a good preview of the jazzier side of his work. Anyway, very good - but really just a taster for the main event...



Squarepusher - Ultravisitor

...Which is over here. Ooh, this is good - very long, but good. It starts off in fairly familiar Squarepusher territory with skittering beats and mad bass lines and cute little melodies - then before you know it your on the second track, I Fulcrum, which showcases his jazz skills - it sounds like its recorded live, and I know he does occasionaly whip out the bass for some full on noodling when playing live, but on here he is amazing - this segues seamlessly into Iambic 9 Poetry which has a really lovely melody which when added to a funky jazz beat sounds more like someone like Four Tet. And that's just the first 3 tracks he does baroque sounding bass instrumentals, industrial stylee hip hop, full on apocalyptic nose-bleed inducing electronic violence on the rest of the album. And it's arranged so well, not exactly mixed, but you can tell someone has spent alot of time making sure the tracks are in exactly the right order, certain other electronic musicians could learn from this (*cough* Aphex Twin *cough*). Anyway, highly recommeded!