Do You Know Squarepusher?...

I was lucky enough to get hold of the 3" promo CD entitled Square Window included in pre-orders of Squarepusher's 2004 album Ultravisitor from Warp Records online store.

Wheareas Ultravisitor was truly great in places but probably twice as long as it should have been, Square Window is a succint 20 minute blast of vintage Pusher, and for those not in the know, a perfect introduction to the great man. This is one of those posts where you really love what you're posting and hope that someone else will be as in to it as you. Hey, that's what i'm here for anyway. What i especially love about Square Window is it's total mental and musical breakdown. Each track gets progressively more wilfully obscure, until all that's left is bleeps and blips where once was melody and coherent music. Pick of the bunch is Abacus 2, which skips along and has great layers of sound that build and fade away when the next great melody hits. This is Squarepusher at his experimental best.

Square Window

01 Square Window
02 Abacus 2
03 Venus No.17 (telephone + siren x beats = magic)
04 Itti-Fack
05 Melt 14.6

From Ultravisitor

Tetra-sync

I couldn't do this post without sticking up at least one track from the LP. Tetra-sync is my favourite piece on the album, mainly because my friend Kes pointed out that you can hear the instrumentation switch from live to programmed and then back again, but also because it's a total stomping epic of a tune. Build and release. Build and release.

Official Squarepusher website

Read an interview with Tom and listen to his latest album Hello Everything in FULL at the BBC Collective

Squarepusher Live fansite with loads of sets from festivals, gigs, live video and interviews.

WarpRecords official site

Bleep for digital music downloads from Warp, Planet Mu, Ninjatune and others.

Got love for The Pusher? Hit the comment button charles...

Songs that make you go 'Hmm'...

The Decemberists - Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect

and here i dreamt i was a soldier
and i marched the streets of Birkenau
and i recall in spring
the perfume that the air would bring
to the indolent town
where the barkers call the moon down
the carnival was ringing loudly now
and just to lay with you
there's nothing that i wouldn't do
save lay my rifle down

Maybe I haven't been looking in the right places, but there's not enough poetry in popular music these days. Well, that's not true but i'm too lazy to list any artists apart from Ray Lamontagne who write really beautiful songs. The Decemberists aren't a new band but they do make amazing songs with rich melodies and intelligent lyrics that you can either whistle along to or get involved with. Fresh.

Carl Orff - O Fortuna

Not much needs to be said about the opening to Carmina Burana, but I have recently been using it to get me out of bed in the morning. I can't see anything working much better, save an electric shock to the face. Rousing, exciting, and menacing in equal measure.

Angus & Julia Stone - Sadder Than You

Oh! The triple. If there's anything diometrically opposed to O Fortuna then it must be this track by Australian brother and sister duo Angus & Julia Stone. Simplicity is your friend here. The guitar part never rises above a slow finger pick that sets the tone like a funeral march, and the subdued vocals carry the sentiment of the song perfectly. If anything, this song makes you want to go to bed and cry. Haha.

LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

I'm kind of late getting on the LCD bandwagon, but this track not only got me on board, it got me driving the damn thing. My flatmate had the first album but back then I was into different music and didn't pay much attention, even when he said 'Listen to this album it's fucking amazing.' More fool me. Well now i'm posting this track so if you haven't heard or haven't got the new album yet, as your attorney I advise you to do so. Someone Great is one of the standout tracks and it definitely makes me go 'Uhh?' then 'Mmm'.

That's it for now. Warning: next post may contain tunes that will bash your face in.