Hard Normal Daddy / Vic Acid

Filling in for Superstix, here we are with what is probably the height of Mr. Jenkinson's "popular" fame, Hard Normal Daddy and its companion Vic Acid EP. I have not heard this in quite some time, so it'll be great to give these tracks a listen for old time's sake. Beep Street still saddens me to this day, and I always babble along with Chin Hippy :D

Anyways, have fun, will be posting reviews sometime tomorrow hopefully!

hard normal daddy was my first squarepusher album and probably my favourite one, still, next to maybe go plastic. it's a fantastic record and I'm proud to own it on both vinyl and cd.

10/10!

I recently bought Hard Normal Daddy but it blew me away at the first listen. From the beginning of the album to it's end, I was like : " " Cooper's World and Beep Street apart, I was discovering all the tunes for the first time, and I never could have expected that ! The all album is just sick, beautiful, deep, powerful, and much more at the same time.

After a couple listen, my personal favourite on the album is Papalon, which is amazing. I'll write some review later in the week.

Fat Controller (G7000 Remix) has an amazing melody. Very underrated track.

Agreed Fat Controller (G7000 Remix)has got some ferox funk. Mad track.

i still think rustic raver is a masterpiece. i was utterly astounded once i heard that one. but totally agree about the fat controller remix as well

Cant wait to get my ears into these and really give em a good listen.

Beep Street is known to bring me to.. near tears.. it is literally the ULTIMATE nostalgic tune for me. Masterpiece

  On 8/3/2010 at 9:21 AM, Marked x 0ne said:

Beep Street is known to bring me to.. near tears.. it is literally the ULTIMATE nostalgic tune for me. Masterpiece

indeed. the use of the 'soul pride' break in that song works wonderfully with the synth lines.

i was getting down to some 'e8 boogie' earlier this week. that song is a burner as well.

personally, the only 'miss' on this album would be 'rebus' but that can hardly factor into the opinion, since the rest of the album is goddamn ridiculous.

  On 8/4/2010 at 11:11 PM, benc812 said:

(...) since the rest of the album is goddamn ridiculous.

I don't get you on this point, what did you mean by "ridiculous" (though I know you didn't use this word in it's pejorative sense...?)

For me, Rat/P's and Q's is way weaker than Rebus, which works good as a closer imho.

Plus a little story about Hard Normal Daddy : this is the first album I buy that my mother and sister and brother like, what allows me to play it on the great 5.1 system in the living room. Well done, Mr Pusher !

  On 8/4/2010 at 11:53 PM, StocKo said:

  On 8/4/2010 at 11:11 PM, benc812 said:

(...) since the rest of the album is goddamn ridiculous.

 

 

 

I don't get you on this point, what did you mean by "ridiculous" (though I know you didn't use this word in it's pejorative sense...?)

 

For me, Rat/P's and Q's is way weaker than Rebus, which works good as a closer imho.

 

 

Plus a little story about Hard Normal Daddy : this is the first album I buy that my mother and sister and brother like, what allows me to play it on the great 5.1 system in the living room. Well done, Mr Pusher !

by ridiculous, i meant it in the 'melts my face off' sense of the word, including rat/p's & q's (used to not be a huge fan but it has grown on me over the years).

rebus is a good closing track, i will concede that. for me, it just gets drowned out by the enormity of everything else on the album.

but yeah, i can see this as one of the few squarepusher albums i could probably play for my family and not have them freak out or suspect that i'm insane or loaded on drugs. i couldn't even begin to think of what they would say about go plastic, and quite frankly, i don't ever want to know.

The first time i saw Aphex Twin DJ, he dropped "beep street" .

It was then i realised the nexus of the universe was under my feet.

Vic acid is a killer too!

Plsue all the jazzy ones.....

HND sheer genious!

ANIROG, WHY AREN'T YOU LONGER??!?!?!

is that an oboe in papalon?

I've always wondered how the acoustic parts were done.

I'm wondering how such "big" album as HND can have so much difficulties to have a 2-pages thread here on WATMM after 5 days ? What's happening dudes ?

Here we are, I'm about to write my very own review of this album.

Please remember that this review has been written by somebody who bought the album 2 weeks ago

Coopers World : Ultra good opening track ! Not too violent, not too hard-listening, well produced...A very good "in media res" introduction to the rest of the album.But I can't listen to it without seeing the face of the FBI Agent Dale Cooper (remember Twin Peaks ?)

Very funny track indeed, love the melody, the chords at the beginning, love everything, the false applauses followed by a little bass solo, etc.

Beep Street : What can I say about this track that hasn't been said before ? Very nostalgic piece of music, but nostalgic in a totally different way than the BoC's one (imho). The whole thing is like a gigantic pillow of tears (let's fall into shitty poetry) slapping your face, like a pink marshmallow dancing on your table, crying because he knows he's gonna be eaten. What am I saying. I can't comment such a masterpiece.

Rustic Raver : This track embodies the back-sleeve of the album : a little old man from the deep English land walking with a gigantic 8-bit ghetto-blaster. As the rest of the album, this is a funny track. I love the way it turns into a weird/scaring tune, first with the pads around 2:00, then with the creepy synth at 3:00 (right after a lovely bass break). I can see Tom himself dancing at this track in his farm, baking some cookies.

Anirog D9 :

  On 8/5/2010 at 9:37 PM, Calx Sherbet said:

ANIROG, WHY AREN'T YOU LONGER??!?!?!

Because of the pizzicato violins and of the "drilly" drums, it reminds me of Richard D. James Album (Girl/Boy especially). This track works very well as an opener for...

Chin Hippy : Didn't like this track at my first listen because I though it was too much different from the rest of the album, but yet I tend to consider Chin Hippy has the expression of the whole energy created by the precedent tracks, a brutal, noisy, and ultra-fun expression. The work on the drums is incredible, they're like hyper-precise and powerful (ok, this is true during the whole album). Wouldn't listen to it without the context of the album anyway.

Papalon : OK let's talk seriously guys. This was my fave the first time I listened to HND, and it stayed my favourite track after a (big) couple of listens. A deep jazz track. It gets in all the directions, very diversified (what's this break at 3:42 ? I love it !). Love the E-Piano parts, the bass solos, the atmosphere of the thing, the main theme, the tiny high-pitched synth line (it is a 303 ??). 8 minutes of happiness. 8 minutes of " :music :" . This is a big one (what I'm saying, this is a MASSIVE ONE).

E8 Boogie : Another serious track ! The introduction make me thinks of an old man sitting on his rocking-chair in front of his house, deep in the Arkansas, looking at the sunset. But then, it's like a gigantic rave is shaking the house ! The breaks of flangered drums+chorus synth (like at 1:13), create an other sentiment, they morph the track into something more intimate, more personal, but only for a few seconds. Then you can bounce everywhere listening to this mad bass line. Until the next break (sometimes it's made with an E-Piano and it's wonderful too). The killer moment in this track is imo the new synth melody played at 3:55 : the dance is over, and all you want to do is to cry.

Yes, awesome things happen when I listen to E8 Boogie.

Fat Controller : More electronic stuff, yet wonderful ! At first, the beat reminded me of some early Chemical Brothers track. Hard track. I was fascinated by the transformation of this "simplistic" bass pattern into something totally crazy. When I heard the bass solo I was like "WAOUH" ! When I heard the hip-hop scratches I was kinda smiling, but when I heard the "Pump pump pump pump me up!" sample I was LAUGHING OUT LOUD.

I rarely feel so much fun in an album, but I mean fun like the fun that has a kid playing with a new toy !

Vic Acid : Ok. I'm not a big fan, but some power is running here anyway. The problem with Vic Acid is that it's situated between Fat Controller and Male Pill Pt. 13.

Male Pill Part 13 : It has this kind of jazz feeling, just like Papalon, but it's way more chaotic ! Fortunately we have the breaks, that allow us to take a little rest between the ultra-speed mayhem of the track. Love the synth at 3:45 sounding like a dull voices saying : "hey guys ? where are you ??? don't let me alone plz". The track is sick as hell, one of my favourites from this album, astounding piece of music. At the end, I'm like : "Where am I ?". Like after a great gig : my head is kinda aching but I'm glad I spent some time listening close to it !

Rat/P's And Q's : Huu scary thing, a bit too long imho. Don't like it, even after a couple listens. It stills for me the weakest track on this album, like nothing's happening to me when I listen to it, apart thinking : "Should I skip this track ? Give it another chance ?". But you know, I'm a nice guy, so most of the time I give it another chance.

Rebus : Heavenly tracks, love the pads, whispering something like : "OK, you just listened to Hard Normal Daddy, now, rest in peace". Some very deep, quiet stuff (despite those kinda processed rolling hi-hats), for once the drum sequencing is almost simple . I said that before, but it works perfectly as a closing track.

Overall opinion :

Hard Normal Daddy stands already in my top-5 album, tending more and more to the 1st place. A must of the genre ! I feel much love and much fun coming from this album.

Thanks you for listening, now you can go back and have normal and boring occupations.

9/10 album, masterful.

i've always wanted less of male pill part 13 and more of rat/p's and q's, though.

less frantic edits in vic acid would have been nicer too, i get tired of it pretty quick despite the short length. would have been better if the drums were similar in style to the psultan remix or something .

Papalon

I'm proud to announce that today, on the road to our vacations, HND was part of our "soundtrack". As I sat on the rear seats, all I heard was the drums, and they really, really are impressive. Because they never get boring. Would have been better with a bit more of the melodies thought. Anyway, my father stopped all my considerations by changing album right in the middle of e8 boogie, what a shame.

CHIN HIPPY is the best track for me. and more of rats p's and q's? definitely! the way that track starts is very unique

i had a sirius satellite radio and often times got off to listening to backspin 43 (RIP)... one day i'm listening to it and i hear this oldschool song with a hook that sounded awfully familiar

(autechre fans get a +1 for a cut they used on their radio mix)

suffice to say i've since become a trouble funk evangelist because... shit. ever heard this one?

once again, thank you squarepusher.

Don't forget the nearly full live version of this album... the 1997 Liquid Rooms set............squarepusher at his very best with some killer live bass grooves over a lot of the HND tracks........pure magic

It blows my mind to think of someone listening to this for the first time in 2010, after all the developments in the world of electronic music. It's awesome though, that you love it so much StocKo!

I remember listening to this shortly after it came out, and hearing those verbed out snare rushes in Beep Street for the first time, the precision of tom's programming, and just being utterly fucking floored by it...fucking beautiful.

Anyways, my favorite Pusher album. If this included Journey to Reedham (7AM Monday Morning Mix) I could declare this possibly the greatest album of all time.

  On 8/2/2010 at 6:14 AM, Retape said:

hard normal daddy was my first squarepusher album and probably my favourite one, still, next to maybe go plastic. it's a fantastic record and I'm proud to own it on both vinyl and cd.

 

10/10!

bingo

why would beep street make anyone sad?

hard to believe[punt intended] that this lp was done with an s-950 and the dr 660

you don't even notice that he can't pitch the drums up or down because its so dope

he reacted to this lp and mentioned in some interviews that "melody " was a cheap trick and veered awayfrom writing stuff in a similar vein

i reckon this was tom's peak and really caught that youthful ecstasy driven feeling of that time period

this lp also brings me back as i copped it as soon as it came out on vinyl at the now defunct :dub spot " record store in nyc

ahhh the 90s how i miss thee

beep street makes me want to take x and rave like a loon

i would have loved to have been in th uk when that whole scene was blowing up