Wednesday 31 December 2008

Squarepusher - Just A Souvenir



Squarepusher
"Just A Souvenir"
Warp 27/10/2008


If the Mars Volta decided to make an idm/electronica/whatever-you-wanna-call-it album, the result would probably not be too dissimialar from "Just a Souvenir".
Those of you expecting a follow up to "Hello everything" will be suprised, this is not a dancefloor album, there are no "my red hot cars" or "the modern bass guitars". This album is Tom Jenkinson experimenting with Jazz, and experimental rock. The songs sound very "live", most of the main parts being played by bass, drums, and guitars which sound like sound like they have been played by a solid rock band rather than edited and processed by a bedroom producer.
Squarepusher also exposes himself in a new light, giving us more of his own vocals than ever before (although heavily vocoded in an old school kraftwerk style) making tracks like "A Real Woman" seem like futuristic "pop" songs.
Stand out tracks Include "Star Time 2", "A Real Woman" and "Quadrature".
A prog / jazz fusion collection of tracks from one of drum 'n' bass's finest experimentalists, this album is worth a listen. Let's hope, however, that the spirit of Rave is not dead in Tom Jenkinson...

Track Listing:


1. Star Time 2
2. The Coathanger
3. Open Society
4. A Real Woman
5. Delta-V
6. Aqueduct
7. Potential Govaner
8. Planet Gear
9. Tensor in Green
10. The Glass Road
11. Fluxgate
12. Duotone Moonbeam
13. Quadrature
14. Yes Sequitur