'Be Up A Hello' Review: Squarepusher's upcoming LP challenges listeners to solve mathematical applications
The long-awaited album by Squarepusher, 'Be Up A Hello', is just around the corner, releasing on January 31, and the intelligent drum and bass musician has taken things to the next level.
Squarepusher plays on mathematical fields of music that emphasize careful theatrics of multiple instrumental overlays with a focus on surprising his listeners.
Squarepusher has amassed a specific fanbase that finds ecstasy in broadening openmindedness to abstract art that one would have to keep listening to find a goldmine of musical resources. Squarepusher does not yield to consistency by overwhelming his listeners until they find a conclusion about the music's meanings for themselves.
'Be Up A Hello' appeals as a piece that one can fixate on, either by connecting every particle of your brain trying to solve its mathematical intricacies or by using its electronic pulses to distract you away from your surroundings entirely.
The 9-track album opens with 'Oberlove' and we are treated to an introductory precedent of mixologies of rhythms and frenetic positively-fused melodic scores that lead us down trickier paths than the previous albums.
With 'Be Up A Hello', Tom Jenkinson, professionally known as Squarepusher, boasts a return to using an array of vintage analogue and digital hardware, which is the same equipment that first helped him develop his sound in the early '90s.
These synths, effects units, and even the 8-bit home computer Commodore Vic20 which was first announced in 1980 are in complete contrast to the tools he used to create 'Damogen Furies', his 14th studio LP released in 2015.
Despite returning to the equipment he used 25 years ago, Tom is still exploring new innovations of sounds and textures within it. "While analog sounds can be cliched, if you look at the processes that generate them analytically, there are still ways you can create new sonic palates," Jenkinson comments.
The fourth track on the LP, 'Speedcrack' manifests as an entity that does whatever it sees fit to do... at a super high tempo. It uses bass synths to majorly drive the melody over drum and bass rhythms that scatter and contract at rapid successions.
'Detroit People Mover' is highlighted as one of the slower Squarepusher renditions, reminiscent of the background music of glorious cyberpunk dystopia, such as in the 'Bladerunner' films. It appears as a tragedy piece at first but sheds glimpses of light through its dark theme by its use of synth strings melodies.
Track number eight on the LP, 'Mekrev Bass' fuses old school club techno and 16-bit video gaming riffs, reminiscent of early 'Mario Bros' games. It is no surprise that it plays at a very high tempo, and we have been blasted away with multiple scores, frequencies and riffs that begin to take shape as something alien by nature.
One is tempted to keep drinking glasses of water along to maintain the energy required to keep up with its extra-terrestrial technological advancements protruding through.
Like the mood of the LP, the approach to making it was spontaneous and adjusted to high-speed production. The nature of the analog equipment requires many parameters to be finely tuned to generate a given set of sounds, which proves a difficult task to revisit tracks to improve mixes and adjust timbres.
The result, 'Be Up A Hello' leaves one entranced by its psychedelic and somewhat trippy nature of fierce drum and bass electronics between intelligent mathematical postulations. It is certainly worth a listen for those familiar with Squarepusher and for those keen on expanding their musical boundaries.