Do You Know Squarepusher

Do You Know Squarepusher

With a clutch of album releases under his belt and a growing reputation, it seems a little strange that Tom Jenkins still feels obliged to include a lengthy synopsis of his musical standpoint in relation to popular culture (hence <I>Do You Know Squarepusher</I>). Maybe this is the result of a bad review or confused audience feedback, or maybe it was simply about that time when justification was finally met. Logically, it follows that the musical template remains a hallmarked cacophony of splintered beats and fractured sonics that find an aggressive medium of balancing melody in and around contorted backdrops. Lyrically, it's a pastiche, with "F-Train" coming across as the Streets played off and out by the Anti-Pop Consortium. Not a particularly comfortable thought, but then, Squarepusher doesn't necessarily do easy listening. The closest to that comes on the latter half of the album ("Mutilation Colony"), where the beats are dropped in favor of soundscaping, which again combines abstract parts (akin to Carlos and Richter), but still finds a path for more accessible pieces, too. Rounded off with a passable version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart," it's another astute album with a hint of aging and acceptance. <I>--Found Sounds</I>