squarepusher Squarepushers weirdness

I mean the guardian stuff is odd-city - who cares about his thoughts on some awful 90's video?

The culture show interview was cringey too.....

.. and the pictures of him wearing a turtle shell.....

.. the manifesto...

the dream-story/trip.....

I think he should stay away form the media altogther and just pump out the tunes!

So is he

A) a victim of his own ironic media-savvyness

b) not in any realm of giving a shit about how he comes across

c) still tripping

d) so isolated form any "scene" that when we're exposed to him it comes across as whacky cos all he has is his own mental reference point

.. i'd say a mixture of all 4 somehow.

C'mon breezeblock session 2008!!!!

Or, he realizes being 'odd' gets him media exposure, and he's exploiting it like any good performer should.

continuing my fine tradition of speculating about things i have no direct knowledge of, and possibly no business with:

unless you're exceedingly lucky, to become a professional musician or a self-made millionaire requires being unbalanced to a certain degree. i don't know if i'll ever do music "professionally" because i only like to spend two or three hours a day on it instead of twelve. three of that remaining nine hours goes to fucking/socializing, three to internet, and three to programming. i genuinely enjoy writing music, but it's not a compulsion.

i get the impression it IS a compulsion with squarepusher - that he spends twelve hours a day working on music, at the expense of leading a balanced life. i recall aphex said in an interview that he didn't want squarepusher living with him, because he was too crazy. vibert spoke of tom's paranoia regarding his tracks, how he secretly copied off a DAT when tom went to take a whiz. so, i gather he's paranoid, distrustful of people, and hides in his farm house writing tunes.

squarepusher himself, in an interview, said he's "not interested in keeping it on the rails" or something... but then after that, he said Hello Everything was "what you do after going to the brink and back, have a laugh". that, and the increased gigging/collaboration/etc. makes me suspect his mania is leveling out as he ages.

regarding stuff like his acid story, well, have you tried acid mr. phudoshin?

i guess the best way i can explain that is by pointing out the secret to acting and "magic" (or "majik" but, i feel like a dork when i use that spelling). namely, when you act, it's most genuine if you BECOME the character... cease to exist as your own person for a few minutes, and become the character in place. no distractions! if you've heard of daniel day lewis, well, i think he and squarepusher have a lot in common. except daniel day lewis takes time off in between characters to let himself level out :)

p.s., i think guardian required him to review the singles as part of the deal... and i also think his reviews were hilarious.

  hahathhat said:

squarepusher himself, in an interview, said he's "not interested in keeping it on the rails" or something... but then after that, he said Hello Everything was "what you do after going to the brink and back, have a laugh". that, and the increased gigging/collaboration/etc. makes me suspect his mania is leveling out as he ages.

Interviewer: “So, how have you liked your trip to California so far?”

Tom: “It’s wicked. I’m quite into America right now.

Interviewer: “Really. Is this your first trip?”

Tom: “Yes. It’s the first time but I’m back into it. Things in America like, it suits me actually. I feel like you can blast off in America. You know what I mean? In England people would kinda get a bit more like…You go..You know…You don’t want to go..You know… Your always almost wanting to hold back somehow. There is something about England its always like uh mmm” [Hugs self] “(People say) I think you’ve gotten a bit off the rails their mate” “And it’s like..The only thing I want to do IS go off the rails. Its just like that, you know? I think it’s maybe its still about being..I’m still pretty young, and you know I think that’s just what you want to do, you just want to go mental. I’m mean I’m not really hoping to get old and stuff…Getting there like, being more organized like here [hand gestures]…I don’t know it just suits me. (Whole bunch of stuff I cant hear, talking about getting old – lots of hand gestures in front of the chest) I’ve never felt like I fitted anything good until. (?) I want to do it here.

I started off getting like a lot of respect from drum and bass scene and as I started…as soon as my records started to mutate it was like “Oh no, Squarepusher is..he’s like shit he doesn’t tow the line away. He won’t just like stick with this one kind of like, image [more hand gestures] or this one thing and its like I can go a month without image

  hahathhat said:

i recall aphex said in an interview that he didn't want squarepusher living with him, because he was too crazy. vibert spoke of tom's paranoia regarding his tracks, how he secretly copied off a DAT when tom went to take a whiz. so, i gather he's paranoid, distrustful of people, and hides in his farm house writing tunes.

it was luke vibert who said he didn't wanted to go on tour with him, hmm, no, actually he was going on tour with him but he was worried about it. something about squarepusher not finishing tours, or something

haha, now that i think about it, yeah he's kind of a nut case

  hahathhat said:

continuing my fine tradition of speculating about things i have no direct knowledge of, and possibly no business with:

 

unless you're exceedingly lucky, to become a professional musician or a self-made millionaire requires being unbalanced to a certain degree. i don't know if i'll ever do music "professionally" because i only like to spend two or three hours a day on it instead of twelve.............................

I think you've perfected the "being odd" part pretty well.

Its the "having talent" part you're struggling with.

  Dr Clitterhaus said:

  hahathhat said:

continuing my fine tradition of speculating about things i have no direct knowledge of, and possibly no business with:

 

unless you're exceedingly lucky, to become a professional musician or a self-made millionaire requires being unbalanced to a certain degree. i don't know if i'll ever do music "professionally" because i only like to spend two or three hours a day on it instead of twelve.............................

I think you've perfected the "being odd" part pretty well.

Its the "having talent" part you're struggling with.

You have to be the crappiest troll evar.

p.s. i have talent, but also have no motivation/little direction.

please keep artists weird

I loved the tiny writeups that he did for every track on 'Hello Everything'. I'm not sure how to describe his sense of humor sometimes. All I know is that I like it.

Don't get me wrong............I think its great that he doesn't pander and here's to everyone following their own beat...... I just want more music from the guy!

(Well impressed that he programs the visuals for his show himself!)

yeah but c'mon that Planet Gear video was really meh.

What he wrote about it, it is PureData or MaxMSP/Jitter beginners class...

but he tries to let it sound as if it was some sophisticated shit?

i like that he writes stuff'nshit, to get some output other than directly through the music. Just that article was bleh and the video even bleher.

I know the "my friend knows someone who has hung out with him" story is bullshit, buuuut I'll tell mine anyways:

My friend who was going to music school in England went out for drinks with some of his friends one night. It turns out that one of the guys he was having a beer with knew Tom somehow (I can't remember the connection, oh well) and apparently when they went drinking, on the way home, Tom would run around the street swinging around light posts and so on.

I don't really think it's crazy, and personally, I think people overuse the term crazy too often. Any time someone does something that a regular non-exciting person wouldn't do, they call it "crazy" these days...

  hahathhat said:

p.s. i have talent

  hahathhat said:

I have no motivation/little direction

  bossman said:

please keep artists weird

your avatar knows what the fuck is up