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Do You Know Squarepusher
Squarepusher
Do You Know Squarepusher
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Pop
 
With a clutch of album releases under his belt and a growing reputation, it seems a little strange that Tom Jenkins still feels obliged to include a lengthy synopsis of his musical standpoint in relation to popular culture...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Squarepusher
Title: Do You Know Squarepusher
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Warp Records
Release Date: 10/1/2002
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Pop
Styles: Electronica, IDM, Dance Pop
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPCs: 801061009724, 766481894124, 080106100972

Synopsis

Amazon.com
With a clutch of album releases under his belt and a growing reputation, it seems a little strange that Tom Jenkins still feels obliged to include a lengthy synopsis of his musical standpoint in relation to popular culture (hence Do You Know Squarepusher). Maybe this is the result of a bad review or confused audience feedback, or maybe it was simply about that time when justification was finally met. Logically, it follows that the musical template remains a hallmarked cacophony of splintered beats and fractured sonics that find an aggressive medium of balancing melody in and around contorted backdrops. Lyrically, it's a pastiche, with "F-Train" coming across as the Streets played off and out by the Anti-Pop Consortium. Not a particularly comfortable thought, but then, Squarepusher doesn't necessarily do easy listening. The closest to that comes on the latter half of the album ("Mutilation Colony"), where the beats are dropped in favor of soundscaping, which again combines abstract parts (akin to Carlos and Richter), but still finds a path for more accessible pieces, too. Rounded off with a passable version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart," it's another astute album with a hint of aging and acceptance. --Found Sounds

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CD Reviews

Lets get this straight
Tonal Discrepancy | 03/15/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alright, let me just say Pithy Commentz is a f*ckin moron! Just 4 the hell of it I checked out the other reviews this idiot did, and (lol) he likes Jay-Z, Marilyn Manson, and thinks Bill O'Reilly is the best reporter! LOL!!! What a tool."
Pretty good, but quite short
Tonal Discrepancy | 12/11/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album seems to be decidedly unreviewed on Amazon.com (Amazon.co.uk, by the way, has many more user reviews of this particular album). While I really don't want to criticize any reviewing style, "Do You Know Squarepusher" seems not to be have yet been extensively reviewed here for it's actual content. I hope this review will do just that.



The first CD has the new stuff.

The two tracks that possibly make this album worth it are "Do You Know Squarepusher" (the title track) and "Anstromm-Feck 4". The title track is a pristine and masterful drill n bass piece, sporting superb mixing of its drums, its manipulated vocal bits, and its pristine lead humming a quirky and moody melody. Anstromm-Feck 4 is fast and tightly sequenced, a sort of Drum n Bass anthem twisted into a Drill n Bass brain-splatterer.



Now the other tracks are somewhat less interesting, in my opinion. "F-Train" is probably the best of them, with trippy, quirky, drums, layered with a mumbling science-fiction rant. Its quite similar in sound, in fact, to his track "50 Cycles" on his "Ultravisitor" album. "Kill Robok" has a similar set of quirked-out experimental drums, but lacks the vocals, reducing it to not much more than a novelty. "Conc 2 Symmetriac" and "Mutilation Colony" are both experimental ambient tracks, neither of which I found particularly noteworthy. The last track is a passable cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again", and completely different from all the other tracks on the CD, as it's primarily acoustic in flavor and only moderately syncopated.



The second CD is a live recording, containing mostly tracks from this album and from Squarepusher's previous album "Go Plastic!". I personally found the recording very muddled, and the live atmosphere not really worth the price of quality. I prefer listening to these tracks in their original form, as Squarepusher's music just doesn't sound right muffled. His breakcore bits need to remain crisp, and his sparkling leads need to keep their crystalline clarity. In short, I've heard much better live recordings.



All in all, this CD's got some good content, but not enough of it. "Mutilation Colony" fills up an entire 10 minutes of the first CD, and is pointedly unvaried. While I like ambient music, it just clogs up a drill n bass line-up, and felt a bit suspiciously like filler.



If you like Squarepusher, and already have most of his other CD's, then I'd recommend buying "Do You Know Squarepusher". Otherwise, I'd recommend some of Squarepusher's other CD's over this one, such as "Go Plastic!" or "Ultravisitor".



I hope this was helpful!"
Pushin' all squares... pushin' all squares...
L. Runyan | Allston, MA USA | 10/16/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I enjoyed this album much more than "Go Plastic". I can't stop listening to track 2 - it's like some dark, futuristic, electro, euro rap... i love it. Track 1 is a classic of course. Track 3 and 4 are insane (and 4 is so friggin' speedy gonzales on coke). Not sure how I feel about the Joy Division cover... but it is certainly refreshing after all that ambient, 2001:Space Odyssey crap. I've only listened to the live disc once so far... no comment."