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Squarepusher - Ultravisitor (Warp, 2004)
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Kaz
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
90
Posts :
2268
Posted : Jul 7, 2004 23:34
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Squarepusher needs no introduction, with a massive amount of releases and some timeless electronic classics, a lot of creativity, some humor and a lot of funk. I had heard the first track on the Squarewindow EP released a few months earlier, but other than that, all these tracks are just fresh for me. High expectations? Definately.
Tracklisting:
01. Ultravisitor - 8:33
02. I Fulcrum - 3:31
03. Iambic 9 Poetry - 6:55
04. Andrei - 2:00
05. 50 Cycles - 8:33
06. Menelec - 5:43
07. C-Town Smash - 1:29
08. Steinbolt - 7:44
09. An Arched Pathway - 4:06
10. Telluric Piece - 1:53
11. District Line II - 8:33
12. Circlewave - 6:28
13. Tetra-Sync - 9:27
14. Tommib Help Buss - 2:10
15. Every Day I Love - 2:37
Total Running Time: 79:42
Kicking off with Ultravisitor with his trademark percussion work - but this time used in a different way, it is so fast and complex that it is pushed into the background for most of the track... becoming just noise while the track itself is more orchestral and dramatic attitude than most of his previous releases.
Moving on to some sweet jazzy guitar work in I Fulcrum, without any percussion and barely any of his insane technical tricks but just giving some good music with a strong and funky acoustic vibe - continuing smoothly to Iambic 9 Poetry, which starts off as mellow acid-jazz with moments of intense glitchwork and moving back to standard musical worlds and back seamlessly, with a lot of jazz spirit (improv, improv, improv!).
Andrei is again, just guitars, no percussion, no effects - but again, just good music, with a few jazzy touches here and there, more emotional and less funky this time.
On the other hand, 50 Cycles is back to Squarepusher's abstract noise and glitch technical wizardry, moving from hip hop beats to just scary noises, twisted vocals, scratchy effects, and back to some more dark glitch-hop developing slowly and smoothly throughout the track.
More in the lines of his previous works, Menelec - but with the sounds blurring together in a chaotic mix of glitches and noise somewhat like in Ultravisitor in one of the more confusing tracks ever.
C-Town Smash has a few samples of a crowd cheering and a funky and energetic electric guitar solo... Steinbolt continues this with line with a distorted metal guitar and noisy percussions, the closest thing I've ever heard to heavy metal by Squarepusher - with the addition of gothic strings and a lot of angry noise from time to time. I think I've found something that's a bit over the top even for me, but people who enjoy extreme psychotic lunacy for extreme psychotic lunacy's sake should have a blast.
Combining the jazzy vibe, guitar work, noisy glitches and some samples of the crowd, An Arched Pathway moves from being just loud and harsh in the start to yet another guitar solo, but this time with some of the technocratic work I came to expect from this artist - and this time, Telluric piece as a passage is not a guitar solo but rather just abstract noises in an orchestral structure, again with a few subtle touches of the guitar and cheering in the background.
The atmosphere for District Line II is finally the classic slick drill'n'bass sounds but without the unifying theme that goes throughout the track like in most previous albums... and just when Circlewave feels like it's going to be a direct continuation of this, the track melts into mellow and moving jazzy music, perhaps being the most Squarepusher-ish track on this album so far, but also, less loops, less repetitions, more free flowing music than earlier works.
Continuing that line of thought, Tetra-Sync sounds more like a jazz band playing a dark smoke-filled bar with a drummer that occasionally goes berserk with his rhythms, and the track proceeds and becomes more and more driving and musical while being and less and less abstract but still occasionally glitched.
Tommib Help Buss is another nearly-acoustic and mellow piece, low paced and without any percussion, and Every Day I Love continues with this, only with a bit more optimism felt in the music, giving a sense of closure, but more than that, like waking up - this would be the perfect track to start a morning with when just getting out of bed.
Is this the new Squarepusher? More acoustic, more musical, more abstract, more serious? I don't know if it is or not. There are too many details crammed in some of the tracks, there's still a lot of confusing music here that not everyone can connect to. This is perhaps the most mature album in the long list of releases from this artist. The feeling of quality is there, the aesthetics of this music are more subtle than previous releases, there are some amazing moments here, but the music is disjointed even when compared to earlier works of Squarepusher's - the elements that unify tracks are not always here, but rather there are guiding elements for the entire album.
Each track here does not stand on it's own in such a powerful way as in Feed Me Weird Things or Go Plastic, but together they give a twisted and disturbing picture, that's not really clear at first glance but starts to make sense at a certain point. I don't know, this is something new. Words have failed me.
Is this going to be my favorite Squarepusher album? Probably not. I'll know after I listen to this a few more times. Is it worth a listen? It's worth much more than that... if you can find a way to connect yourself to what goes on here.
The border between insanity, noise and art is once again broken down, spat on and then thrown into a pool of acid. The bottom line? Just for the beautiful moments and guitar work this album is worth it. This is Squarepusher's deepest album from a musical point of view, and there's something here between the lines that I'm pretty sure will keep me listening to this album for a while, if only for the hope of finding out what it actually is.
Favorites: 1(!), 3, 5(!!), 7, 12, 13(!!), 15(!)
  http://www.myspace.com/Hooloovoo222 |
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sam i am
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
712
Posted : Jul 9, 2004 09:27
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Yep, 3 & 13 are prob'ly my faves. 8's great for the metal fans 
new Hadal Drop album on the way
if you don't have the last one get in touch |
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Panzer
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
188
Posted : Jul 9, 2004 14:00
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'Tetra Sync' has to be the best display of musical skills I heard this decade. The basswork is simply from another planet. For the rest its a typical 'hate it, love it' IDM album for me. 'Ultravisitor' is plagued with Aphextwinness; noise for the sake of noise but in non-abstract mode there is a lot to enjoy.
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grahf
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
107
Posted : Jul 9, 2004 19:34
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aphextwinish? hardly. aphex does not throw acoustic guitars and strings on top of drill n bass/noise. even the abstract/noisey bits on ultravisitor seem to me to have an underlying sense of order that i think older squarepusher albums didnt have. what sounds like noise is actually very complex and highly and intricately structured. some tracks recall amon tobin's dark and majestic album "out from out where." |
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Ketelf
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
103
Posts :
1175
Posted : Jul 10, 2004 01:06
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TiMMY
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1480
Posted : Jul 12, 2004 02:31
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This is quite simply one of the best albums I heard lately. All those noises are combined into one, huge and beatuiful musical creation.
I'm still digesting it. |
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LeeLoo
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
364
Posted : Sep 22, 2004 02:33
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ditto!!!
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Ringo Gringo
AnnoyingNinjas
Started Topics :
18
Posts :
139
Posted : Sep 22, 2004 23:31
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Best freakin album for a long time....
You can really hear his classical background on this one...
Thou' i could be with out the metal track... |
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david kebab
Faction
Started Topics :
56
Posts :
181
Posted : Sep 23, 2004 13:29
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i dunno
for me he sounds like what one of the kids with fruty loops who wanna do Squarepusher musik
but thats me:)
out on 31.05.04
faction - the end of tel aviv
on neo ouija
www.neoouija.com |
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