Squarepusher
Big Loada
Warp/Nothing Records
I am so sorry for the long delay in reviewing this fine disc. This is some really twisted stuff. Nuts, really. Who are these people? How about this for a description: It sounds like Sir Millard Mulch and his Atari 1040 Ste are strapped to the front of a big suntanned girl with futuristic sunglasses and forced to rave all night. Complete with lots of falling down and vomiting. “Come On My Selector,” the opening track, for example… it’s going along, nice and hyper Chemical Brothers-type stuff, then out of nowhere this insane out of time, exploding drum-fill is inserted…which isn’t at all expected…and would probably confuse the hell out of any already confused, tripping, silver-shirted youngsters. “Journey To Reedham” has a really pretty little melody/chord change, and plenty more wacky drums. Cymbal overkill, absolutely. I love it. Samples of senseless people talking. Turns into funny mouth-noises. Guaranteed to launch anyone you know into a strangle-everyone-around-you-until-the-horrible-noise-stops frenzy. It’s like Chewbacca on cloud city in that sonic torture chamber. Have I used that to describe music before? My god, what could be comparable to this? This is probably in the same musical universe as Secret Chiefs 3, but more focus on the techno instead of unusual Indian instruments. “Jacques Mal Chance (il n’a pas de chance)” actually has some silly, screwed up whole-tone organ stuff. Is this stuff popular? If it’s not, I wish it was. My favorite thing about this album is the printing on the inside. Black and white stripes – that’s it. No info, pics, or lyrics. Perfect.
