squarepusher Squarepusher - Ufabulum

  On 5/8/2012 at 5:53 AM, Kanakori said:

I also like me some SP so your pun is obsolete.

Just messin'... actually got more into "cosmogramma". Cheers

  On 5/7/2012 at 12:58 PM, GRVGLTCHR said:

  On 5/7/2012 at 12:20 PM, spratters said:

Am I the only one who's waiting for the release for a listen, outside Japan anyhow?

I'm here with you on this, apart from listening to Dark Steering once that is.

Also waiting for my disc(s) to arrive... only heard Dark Steering 2 or 3 times awhile back. I'm sick of getting albums in the mail and just putting them right on my shelf because I've already heard the music many times and have moved on to something else. Time to get excited about a physical package arriving in the mail again!

  On 5/8/2012 at 4:56 AM, Kanakori said:

Unreal wank

typical kanakori douche-post. nothing to see here,

Now the album has grown on me a little bit more, here's what I can tell about it :

First I don't really feel the "Squarepusher is back on force" vibe. Even if I never succeed in liking d'Demonstrator and thought Hello Everything was a bit under the quality standard Tom Jenkinson is used to drop, Ufabulum is right (and IMO) in his personal quality average.

Musically strong, surprisingly experimental (I mean naturally experimental : you won't put an "Abstract" or "Experimental" label on it but as usual it tries to experiment with sounds and clichés and it end up into an interesting and original album).

There are one or two moments I can't dig : Dark Steering after one or two minutes, and sometimes the end of Unreal Square (though I deeply like 80% of the track).

The interlude track is surprising for me, like out of purpose but still very well in place. For some reason the last track is the only one I still didn't get (not that it's complicated, it just didn't hit my memory so far).

I think Ufabulum will have the same impact Just A Souvenir had on me : an initial "what the fuck did he made" *disappointed* thought and then an appreciation twist leading into a regular listening for some time. Though I think it'll last a little bit less than JAS, which I hated at the first listen and then felt in love with.

as far as I can tell

edit : on a related thought, I don't think we can expect Go Plastic 2.0 from Squarepusher. Go Plastic! belongs to another time and an album like this can't happen every year. I feel like Squarepusher's music is always evolving into something else and dangerously though proudly surfing on the pure cheese / pure genius edge. That is in my opinion what makes him a master.

yo

  On 5/7/2012 at 1:38 PM, modey said:

  On 5/7/2012 at 1:23 PM, fumi said:

The melodies on 'Stadium Ice' sound like a Genesis instrumental from the late seventies. Fucking awesome.

Yeah, especially the parts where the bass note stays the same with the chords changing over the top. Tony Banks as fuck!

Yeah, I'm kjnd of convinced this is some sort of homage to Tony Banks

Good post.

  On 5/8/2012 at 11:49 AM, Antape said:

Now the album has grown on me a little bit more, here's what I can tell about it :

 

First I don't really feel the "Squarepusher is back on force" vibe. Even if I never succeed in liking d'Demonstrator and thought Hello Everything was a bit under the quality standard Tom Jenkinson is used to drop, Ufabulum is right (and IMO) in his personal quality average.

Well, there are only two stories that the music press can tell. One is, "so and so… HAS HE LOST IT??" And the other is, "so and so is BACK!" I agree that this album is not a return to the "classic" Squarepuncher sound, whatever that is. But it's not a "has he lost it??" album either, so I think they defaulted to the other story.

  On 5/8/2012 at 11:49 AM, Antape said:

I think Ufabulum will have the same impact Just A Souvenir had on me : an initial "what the fuck did he made" *disappointed* thought and then an appreciation twist leading into a regular listening for some time. Though I think it'll last a little bit less than JAS, which I hated at the first listen and then felt in love with.

I think one of the reasons I like Squarepusher is that he relates to music in a lot of different ways. I think other people, maybe specifically those who have been down on his recent albums, do not like this, or do not "get it".

Squarepusher, more so than most other electronic musicians, is a "complete" musician. I mean not only that he plays a "real" instrument, but he's aware of and interested in relating to music in a lot of different ways. He is unafraid to encompass or at least touch on a lot of oppositional things: improv vs. really "worked over" music, live virtuosity vs. live "theatrics", "serious" expressiveness (say, Tundra 4's apocalyptic opera section) vs. "cheesy" music, etc.

I feel like some people want him to be in postmodern Snow Crash break destructo mode all the time, but I like the fact that he jumps around into all these different modes. I mean it's quite clear that Go Plastic was an incredibly painstaking record, but that doesn't mean that this record, which I am guessing was put together in a less-insane, more "free" way, is BAD. It's just, a different thing.

  On 5/8/2012 at 11:49 AM, Antape said:

I feel like Squarepusher's music is always evolving into something else and dangerously though proudly surfing on the pure cheese / pure genius edge. That is in my opinion what makes him a master.

Everyone keeps saying that this album is cheesy, and I'm not really sure what that means. Is it the sounds themselves that sound like Sega Genesis? Is it the fact that this album expresses a different "feeling" than the total hardcore psycho industrial alienation of Go Plastic?

I used to feel like a lot of music was "cheesy" but gradually I've realized that that mostly says more about me than it does the music. I'm not saying that to anyone here specifically, but I'd be interested to know more about what people consider the definition of "cheesy" music.

  On 5/8/2012 at 7:36 PM, Ascdi said:

Everyone keeps saying that this album is cheesy, and I'm not really sure what that means. Is it the sounds themselves that sound like Sega Genesis? Is it the fact that this album expresses a different "feeling" than the total hardcore psycho industrial alienation of Go Plastic?

 

I used to feel like a lot of music was "cheesy" but gradually I've realized that that mostly says more about me than it does the music. I'm not saying that to anyone here specifically, but I'd be interested to know more about what people consider the definition of "cheesy" music.

He seems to be playing more major sounding, resolved chord progressions. There's nothing wrong with it, IMO. I think the elitist hipster inside some people here on watmm seems to want him to play more dissonant, awkward sounding chords (because that equals IDM or Braindance). Certain tracks have that awesome Jenkinson cheese, and it should be served with fine wine. Tom has pointed out that music is about laughing and crying. He's clearly having a bit of fun these days. Some tracks sound very Ceephax, and I think it's a welcome change.

You have to try n' look at the music from his perspective a bit. Those who dismiss it for being cheesy probably have some insecurity issues. Nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of cheese...

new page

  On 5/9/2012 at 1:33 AM, Enter a new display name said:

new page

why do you constantly feel the need to do this?

btw, ZOLE

  On 5/9/2012 at 1:33 AM, Enter a new display name said:

new page

Age 22 years old

I thought this was great on the first couple of listens, but I've never had the urge to go back and listen to it after that initial romance. Should I tell him?

  On 5/9/2012 at 1:33 AM, Enter a new display name said:

new page

That's some shameful shit, son. It's like those morons who feel the need to post "first" as the first comment of anything on the internet.

& why not?

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:36 AM, Gocab said:

I thought this was great on the first couple of listens, but I've never had the urge to go back and listen to it after that initial romance. Should I tell him?

I actually love the album, but also feel the same way. I also consistently skipped Dark Steering, though I had already played the track quite a bit.

But I do listen to select tracks at random... Mostly Stadium Ice and Ecstatic Shart

Sorry if this is probably mentioned in the past 25 pages, but is this streaming anywhere?

Dear Customer,

We would like to inform you that whilst ensuring every part of the

Squarepusher 'Ufabulum' vinyl set is perfect, Warp have experienced a

slight delay in manufacturing.

Whereas we generally dispatch pre-orders by customers outside the UK

up to 10 days prior to release date to ensure that they reach them on

or before the Monday of release. We have only just received the vinyl

edition of the album at our warehouse. These are being packed and will

be despatched tomorrow and Friday. This will mean that they will

arrive slightly later than you would generally expect from Bleep.

Apologies for this, we hope that you think its worth the wait.

In the meantime your download will be available to enjoy from release

date on Monday.

Best wishes

Bleep Support

angry chevs set fire to their warehouse because the dropz weren't heavy enough and the trance-synths not sufficiently euphoric

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:15 PM, iep said:

angry chevs set fire to their warehouse because the dropz weren't heavy enough and the trance-synths not sufficiently euphoric

lol

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:28 PM, baph said:

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:15 PM, iep said:

angry chevs set fire to their warehouse because the dropz weren't heavy enough and the trance-synths not sufficiently euphoric

 

lol

  On 5/9/2012 at 8:45 PM, Jenga said:

Sorry if this is probably mentioned in the past 25 pages, but is this streaming anywhere?

welcome to internet !

hope bleep will ship my copy tomorrow and receive it on monday. not going to listen to the mp3's before the vinyl, that's for sure.

after further listening I like this.

"On Crack" is kinda dry fun little extra though

the ride cymbal sample in the minute of so of Ecstatic Shock is the same as the one in Cock/ver10 on Drukqs

Can't wait to wrap my ears around this.