Dostrotime [2024]

  On 1/27/2024 at 8:59 AM, Freak of the week said:

Relistened Exjag Nives yesterday. Wow, can't remember the last time I was that amazed by an electronic track.

Baltang Arg also kills, so many variations in that one.

Yeah, brilliant!!

I gotta to say I only really, really rate him since Ufabulum/Enstrobia. Before that, there were always a few alright tracks here and there, but that's when he went into full-on Beast Mode IMO.

No more self-indulgent noodling on fucking flamenco guitars, no more flimsy little breakbeats, no tired traditional instruments at all, just pure, unadulerated synthetic pleasure, over-the-top, no-holds-barred, all-stops-pulled, gung ho awesomeness, like "EDM" in a more evolved galaxy, like an infinitely better version of brostep or something. To me it's akin to what happened to AE with Tri Repetae, a cesura, an artist's coming into his own. I've loved everything he's put out since then.

Squarepusher: Putting the Fun into Funk since 2012.

\ hot take

be the Squarepusher you want to see in the world

  On 1/27/2024 at 4:22 PM, IDEM said:

No more self-indulgent noodling on fucking flamenco guitars, no more flimsy little breakbeats, no tired traditional instruments at all

His 1996-2001 output is epic, certainly wouldn't call any of it noodling, flimsy or tired.

Haven't properly checked out JAS and SEB yet, but I can understand why people don't care much about those albums + HE.

Ufabulum definitely sounds more "electric" than his previous albums though.

The first Squarepusher album I ever heard was Hard Normal Daddy and it absolutely blew me away. Many, many repeated listens back in the day!

  On 1/27/2024 at 4:22 PM, IDEM said:

I gotta to say I only really, really rate him since Ufabulum/Enstrobia. Before that, there were always a few alright tracks here and there, but that's when he went into full-on Beast Mode IMO.

No more self-indulgent noodling on fucking flamenco guitars, no more flimsy little breakbeats, no tired traditional instruments at all, just pure, unadulerated synthetic pleasure, over-the-top, no-holds-barred, all-stops-pulled, gung ho awesomeness, like "EDM" in a more evolved galaxy, like an infinitely better version of brostep or something. To me it's akin to what happened to AE with Tri Repetae, a cesura, an artist's coming into his own. I've loved everything he's put out since then.

Squarepusher: Putting the Fun into Funk since 2012.

\ hot take

Expand  

hmmm.

srsly though.. i bought feed me weird things on cd as an import. a buddy/housemate worked at a record store and i made him order it for me. it was $29. i heard one squarepusher track in a rave shop on south beach. the guy who owned/ran the shop was playing it one day when i walked in on a work break. i said "WTF IS THIS?" had never heard anything like it even in the midst of jungle/DnB trending in the USA. and still.. there's nothing else like it  and this can be said of all his albums really.  i liked all the jazzy tom on bass with synths tracks but after a while it was all the mashed up weirdness and bombastic spazz outs that clicked in my brain. the stuff you had to listen to enough times to sort of get what was going on. i was.. i think 22 or 23 maybe. i can't remember those days chronologically so well. but it was only available as an import at the time. 

i used to confuse my friends with that record. lols. there's sublime unique sounding dnb crossover type things then absolute mania. 

hard normal daddy is similar in this way and i still love it but when i worked at a studio in san diego an engineer friend at work one day came into the studio when i was playing it while cleaning up the studio and he said "is the the people's court theme?" and i've never been able to not hear that when the first two tracks of hard normal daddy are playing. i think it's the bongos. but hard normal daddy is still amazing. tom's fucking massive.

That's good news! Tom is releasing more music, seen him live a couple of times and nailed it. I will take a listen when Dostrotime is out for sure.

Haven't been this excited about acid/idm/breaks (whatever it's called) since Drukqs. 

  On 1/27/2024 at 7:15 PM, ignatius said:

he said "is the the people's court theme?" and i've never been able to not hear that when the first two tracks of hard normal daddy are playing.

I always think of the 70's/80's UK show "The Professionals"

Go Plastic still is his masterpiece IMO, by far his best album. DYKS is one of the most insanely mind-blowing popsong ever, along with Windowlicker. Ultravisitor-era has some of his finest work - many tunes of the accompanying EPs should have been on the LP (the opener, Iambic 9 poetry, Menelec IIRC and Tetra Sync 13 are such bangers though), and it's a pity the Warp20 tracks are unreleased to this day.

For me, it's been a downhill releases after releases to me, I desperately miss the subtlety of his work before Hello Everything : even for the most radical tunes had tons of finesse to them. I'm all hopeful whenever there's a new one announced, and keep on being disappointed. Sadly (for me) that new one isn't to my liking either.

  On 1/27/2024 at 11:05 PM, flacid said:

Haven't been this excited about acid/idm/breaks (whatever it's called) since Drukqs. 

IDM for the scholars (like us).

DYNS is indeed one of the greatest tracks ever made. Even the NME (when it was great) made it Single Of The Week (I remember reading it!) The album is pretty weak though. But That Tune is absolute ninja!

Sounds to me like a squarepusher take on generic 90s free-party 4 to the floor  jungletek, with dollops of harsh AFX acid & extra hoovers. Not a  bad thing at all. Would no doubt go off live/on a big rig etc., but probably won't have much repeat home listening tbqh.

Fair take Ludd

Time for a big rig at home I think. No line ups no ticket price.

I actually like dyks album. It seemed like the next logical step after go plastic.  

  On 1/28/2024 at 3:04 AM, YEK said:

I actually like dyks album. It seemed like the next logical step after go plastic.  

I didn’t ever really think of it as an album tbh, always put it in the EP category (I know discogs and elsewhere has it as an album). But f-train is 50 cycles little bro (I think sp even says that in an interview?), and the rest of the tracks just seemed to be a bridge between GP and Ultravisitor, with the title track having a very Japanese poppy vibe (given the second disc is Alive In Japan?).

tl;dr I’ve never considered dyks an album proper. Curious if anyone else felt this way too?

edit: also the length is like 40 minutes including the final track which was a cover track…. not an album imo

  On 1/28/2024 at 3:40 AM, Hugh Mughnus said:

I didn’t ever really think of it as an album tbh, always put it in the EP category (I know discogs and elsewhere has it as an album). But f-train is 50 cycles little bro (I think sp even says that in an interview?), and the rest of the tracks just seemed to be a bridge between GP and Ultravisitor, with the title track having a very Japanese poppy vibe (given the second disc is Alive In Japan?).

tl;dr I’ve never considered dyks an album proper. Curious if anyone else felt this way too?

I only called it an album because that's what beerwolf called it  lol. I agree with you. 

  On 1/28/2024 at 3:46 AM, YEK said:

I only called it an album because that's what beerwolf called it  lol. I agree with you. 

Not just me then! Also hi Yekky hope you’ve been well

  On 1/28/2024 at 3:49 AM, Hugh Mughnus said:

Not just me then! Also hi Yekky hope you’ve been well

Hey man. Good to see you back  

EP is fine

sp killin it in 97

  On 1/28/2024 at 1:34 AM, perunamuusi said:

Sounds to me like a squarepusher take on generic 90s free-party 4 to the floor  jungletek, with dollops of harsh AFX acid & extra hoovers. Not a  bad thing at all. Would no doubt go off live/on a big rig etc., but probably won't have much repeat home listening tbqh.

Bangin'  I think the arrangement is pretty complex for the genre, I like how he builds up tracks in a way that the other IDMers don't. Although I fucking love Steinbolt.

  On 1/28/2024 at 3:40 AM, Hugh Mughnus said:

edit: also the length is like 40 minutes including the final track which was a cover track…. not an album imo

I don't think length matters as long as there is a good and coherent enough concept for that said release to be called an album. Other releases had it, not DYKS (this doesn't mean it was bad). I would rather call it a compilation of Go Plastic outtakes.

For me Hello Everything was the last record that had 'the magic' and everything since has had varying degrees of success. I have to say theres no record I've disliked but everyone has had some niggling production problem that somehow stopped me from fully 100% falling in love with it. Its something of a meme at this point but it feels like everything since then has been mixed with this really harsh ear fatiguing quality to it. Go Plastic had dentist drill granular stuff on it but it was still more pleasant to listen to that that piccolo snare on JAS, the 909 on d'Demonstrator etc. Be Up A Hello was promoted as him revisting his old 90s gear and making tracks with that, but while an improvement, it still ended up sounding like modern day SP.

I wish I had the language/knowledge to describe it better - it kinda sounds like the shade and shadows from the sound have gone and now theres a massive neon strip light over everything.

Regardless of the insanely terrible album cover Hello Everything is the best SP has to offer imo. Just the right balance of banger tunes and beautiful arrangements. The album is filled with some of his best work and it's a great introduction album to all of Tom's sound. I used to prefer Go Plastic but Hello Everything is just so much easier to revisit. Plotinus and The Modern Bass guitar are two of my all time favorites for sure.

After HE he kinda lost me. I like JAS for Star Time 2 just like I enjoy 4001 on Ufabulum but the rest doesn't stand out to me, it sounds pretty grating at times. I don't even think I've returned to Damogen Furies in recent memory.

Even tho BUAH has the same mixing problems/ grating sound quality as those other two albums it did manage to win me back over. Ended up loving the semi return to form. This new track really does sound even better and I really like thats its getting lauded on here as well. 

Cheers Tom! Still one of the best overall artists out there.