Search - Squarepusher :: Big Loada

The best of drill-and-bass

I Smith | NYC | 06/07/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher has been through a lot in his brief career. Starting with his Spymania drum&bass tinged releases through his fusionesque "Music is Rotted One-Note" and to his current uneasily categorized electronica, Squarepusher has kept listeners guessing, and rarely bored. This American release is a collection of 3 of his 'drill & bass' EPs from the late 1990s (for lack of better description): Port Rhombus, Vic Acid, and Big Loada. This CD contains what I think is the best of this era of Squarepusher, though Hard Normal Daddy is nearly as good.Squarepusher, whether or not you enjoy his music, is an amazing programmer/sequencer. His drums, unlike typical drum & bass, rarely loop, and are constantly changing in sound, rhythm, and at times, speed. This is most evident on tracks like 'A Journey to Reedham,' which also features a strikingly pretty synth line, 'Tequila Fish,' and 'Come on My Selector,' the album's hit, if it has one (the CD also contains an excellent video for this song, directed by Chris Cunningham, director of superb Bjork and Aphex Twin clips). Squarepusher is known as something of a bedroom musician: All of these songs were created in his home, and one has to wonder how much time it took to make these incredibly intricate songs. The only real problem with this, and all of Squarepusher's releases, lies in his bass-playing. Squarepusher likes to add live bass to some of his songs, and unless you are a fan of his Jaco Pastorius-style funky bass-playing, which I cannot say that I am, it sometimes is a little too much. Luckily, on Big Loada, it rarely gets in the way.Admittedly, I have grown out of touch with Squarepusher; his most recent release, Selection Sixteen, has left me worried that his best work is past him, though I wouldn't put it past Mr. Jenkinson to pull a fast one on me. But this album was my introduction to electronic music, and easily my favorite of albums of this genre of eletronica. I think the first seven tracks (the Big Loada EP) stand best as a solitary EP. All three EPs are available separately as imports, but that can get expensive. This American release is something a serious electronica fan cannot ignore."

Blending reality for aural consumption

ixion75 | 08/30/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ask three of four different artists to paint you the house across the street, and you'll get a variety of portraits. One of the responses might be a series of unconnected multicolored blocks. Asking your artist friend if there was some mistake, the artist might reply, "No. There is no mistake. You asked me to represent the house, and I have. It's not my problem if you can't see it."This is my probably unsuccessful attempt to describe the staccato beauty and pockmarked majesty of these tracks by Tom Jenkinson. _Big Loada_ is a 1998 collection of three Squarepusher EPs. It was my introduction to the young bassist and jazz [fan] from England, and it has some of his finest work."Come On My Selector" is a 3-and-a-half minute dollop of poodle hiccups and bass strums, and yet so much more as well; it sets a perfect tone for the disc. "A Journey to Reedham" and "Port Rhombus" deliver brilliance in brooding yet wholesomely gorgeous mixes of electronic rhythms and drum and bass samples. "Problem Child" is more traditional drum n' bass, and "Massif" and "Tequila Fish" continue the ride. The cd ends with higher tempo faux-Aphex madness, with two tracks from the Vic Acid EP.This is a recommended listen for anyone into progressive or alternative electronica, whether drum and bass or techno. It's music being done at the edges of established conventions by a vital talent. Slap it on and see what portraiture Squarepusher's music creates for you."

Brilliantly crafted Intelligent Dance Music

Stephen Atkins | St. Petersburg, FL | 12/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tom Jenkinson, like many of his labelmates, makes music that show us that electronic music doesn't always mean a consistent thump of bass over slowly changing harmonics. Tom Jenkinson's music is truly engaging in every sense of the word. It makes the listener actively absorb every facet and subtle element of the dense complexity of the music. Although, it is not to be said that listening to his work is arduous or exhausting, it merely allows for a deeper and more complete appreciation. Squarepusher is not for everybody, as is common in progressive music. Jenkinson creates thickly layered beats, rhythms and harmonies.
When one listen's to Jenkinson's beats it can conjure up the image of a hundred-armed jazz drummer. Much of it's influence is derived from that genre. Squarepusher's drill-and-bass take on that style of drumming is, although occasionally confusing, nothing short of brilliant. His ear for rhythm and the tweaking and manipulation of it is amazing.
On "Big Loada" Squarepusher somewhat departs from his often jazz-heavy music. There is a much more synthetic, mathematical feel. "Journey to Reedham (7 AM Mix)", one of the album's best tracks, is also unlike much of his previous efforts. This is so in the sense that it is much more happy and up-beat than even the more optimistic tracks on previous albums. The song conjures up the exact image it's title implies, one of being half-awake, on a road-trip, driving into the rising sun as it leaves the horizon.
"Come on my Selecter", another amazing track on the album is break-neck to say the least. This track moves like an amphetamine-soaked hummingbird. Meant, I am supposing, for club-goers who enjoy contorting their bodies and flailing their limbs at a million miles per hour. This track is a prime example of, like Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy", Jenkinson's devious and ironic tweaking of more mainstream musical genres. This one being the club-friendly electronica that warp artist are often the antithesis of.
"Big Loada" is a woderfully orchestated masterpiece of drill-and-bass. Squarepusher is one of those artists that goes largely unappreciated but is, although below the radar, reshaping electronic music as we know it."