Hello friends and neighbors =) Today I will be doing a track-by-track review on a harsh and psychotic yet quite incredible album by Warp artst Tom Jenkinson, also known as Squarepusher. It is called Ufabulum.
Album: Ufabulum
Artist: Squarepusher
Released: May 15, 2012
Genres: IDM, glitch, drum and bass, dubstep, neo-trance
Obtained: 2 weeks ago, purchased CD @ HMV
OVERVIEW
Squarepusher is one of
the more well-known IDM artists out there, and has always been quite the
experimentalist, as most musicians of his palette are. He is usually found
playing either with glitchy jungle and/or drum and bass elements, or using live
instruments to give his tracks a more jazz feel. As the latter was the case for
AT LEAST 3 of the preceding albums (not including Solo Electric Bass, which
would make 4), Ufabulum being the exact opposite has seemed to be the cause of
many a heart attack among Squarepusher fans recently.
Ufabulum consists
mainly of choppy drum n bass beats, and layers upon layers of chip synths and chimes, buzzing bass and spacey sound effects that, unless you have a
fine-tuned ear for this style of music, make much of the album nearly
impossible to follow. However, for those that do possess the ability to process
multiple sounds flying at them all at once (namely, persons with ADD/ADHD),
this album is quite fantastic, for the most part.
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4001
The first track begins
with a relatively simple yet familiar DnB/glitch beat under soft, barely
audible atmospheric synths sprinkled with a light acid bass. Right at 2:00 the
beat explodes into an epic theme-song melody, which acts as the catchy hook
repeating between acid FX solos, and leaving remnants of its presence therein.
A brilliant track overall; I could personally get lost in the placid psychosis
of it all again and again.
UNREAL SQUARE
The second track
instantly sucks you in with its catchy chiptune-like melody, which is repeated
and messed with through the whole track. I admit when I first heard the sample
displayed on iTunes, I was hesitant to buy the album because of the horribly
off-beat solo at 3:00; thankfully it was only 10 seconds long. However, the
crescendo afterward and everything that followed was enough to make me not only
change my mind, but fall in love with the track as a whole.
STADIUM ICE
Stadium Ice is a nice
change of pace - relatively calm beat, mellow yet cheery melodies. There
is a considerable bit of energy in this track as well, but it comes not from
psychotic glitch, but from the fact that the melodies go farther than mere
catchy techno string loops. The music and the title does indeed remind one of
skating on a large ice rink in a dark stadium under a spotlight. Truly
inspiring.
ENERGY WIZARD
Energy Wizard almost
seems to fit right in line with the previous track like a puzzle piece, or a
sequel. Same beat, same instruments, same chords. Near the middle, the mood
changes from cheery and exciting to sombre and emotional. Although it seems a
bit like a distorted copy of Stadium Ice, it is still a very uplifting track.
RED IN BLUE
I find the title of
this track fitting, in that putting a dark, slow, sloppy attempt at ambience
such as this would be much like throwing a red paint splatter onto the center
of the album cover. That's not to say it's a horrible track, or even a bad one
- however, unless you're looking at it as an "intermission" track in
relation to its location on the album, it simply does not belong on the album,
anymore than the Japanese Bonus Track, "On Crack."
THE METALLURGIST
The Metallurgist
begins with an eerie noise not unlike something you would hear on an oldies
horror show, then launches into an extra-distorted mess of percussion, which
sounds very interesting at first, but soon becomes repetitive. Not worth paying
a whole lot of attention to the details, better to simply let your ears ride on
the waves and enjoy it, at least until it comes to an abrupt stop shortly
before 4:00.
DRAX 2
Supposedly, Drax 2 is
considered one of the "main" tracks on this album. I find it to be a
bit too dark and airy to be an outstanding track, due to its slow twilight-zone
string melodies and beat repetition. It becomes more and more apparent by this
stage in the album that only one set of sounds was used in the entire series of
tracks, which could be really good or really bad, depending on your
perspective. Drax 2 sounds much better as a standalone track.
DARK STEERING
Dark Steering, the
single of the album, has the same choppy beats and string synths, but there are
some differences, mainly the sound effects used in the track, which sound like
processed alarm clocks, old-school Game-Boys and revving motors, among many, many
other things. There are so many places your mind can go with such a cluttered
yet carefully composed mess of a track, such a mixture of adrenaline and mixed
emotions. This track is probably the most outstanding track on the entire
album, if not the entire Squarepusher discography.
303 SCOPEM HARD
The intro sound
effects seem to follow up on the ending of Dark Steering. This track seems a
lot angrier, however; the tempo is considerably higher, and there are a lot
more prevalent acid effects and the "revving motors" I mentioned
earlier are a lot harsher. As far as those string synths, well... there are
none here. Great track when you've been fired from work or are getting ready
for a boxing match and you're feeling a little extra crazy.
ECSTATIC SHOCK
Clever title, but I
found this track to be quite the opposite of "ecstatic." It seems
like Mr. Jenkinson tried to wind down the album with something much similar to
"4001," but I found the lack of punch in the percussion made this track
seem a lot more lackluster than it was probably meant to be. It's
actually almost hard to believe this is the final track because the ending
is so static and abrupt, it makes you feel like you bought a pirated copy with
the last 10 seconds of the audio chopped off.
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Overall, I quite
enjoyed this album in its entirety. While the repeated use of the same drums
and synths in each track can get a little monotonous despite the album's
glitchy and experimental nature, the tracks usually tend to flow almost
flawlessly, the way the beginning of almost every track sounds similar to the
ending of the one priior to it. If you like energetic, glitchy electronica, I
would definitely recommend this album.
Favorite Tracks:
2. 4001
3. Dark Steering
4. Stadium Ice
5. Energy Wizard
Free mp3 streaming
courtesy of Grooveshark:
Great Review!
ReplyDeleteLoved the professionalistic tone!
Thanks =) I spent a lot of time using the thesaurus for this one XD
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