Do You Know Squarepusher

This 2002 collection brings together two conflicting aspects of Squarepusher’s musical performance: the studio and live performances. The first seven tracks here are new songs recorded in 2001 and 2002, while the last 10 are taken from a live recording in Japan during the summer of 2001. The title track revolves around a twisted-and-chopped vocal line that Tom Jenkinson manipulates to the point where it resembles a sort of robotic scat. The first set closes with an unexpectedly faithful reading of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” a signal that Jenkinson doesn\'t completely shy away from vulnerability or sentimentality. While Squarepusher is permanently associated with the insular world of the home computer studio, the Japan set is a reminder of Jenkinson’s deep connection to rave culture. Listen to the punishing percussion and bass of “Direct to Mental” and “Anstromm—Feck 4” ricochet off the concrete walls of the Japanese venue; despite all its schizophrenic self-absorption, Squarepusher still plays an extremely visceral form of dance music.

They say that J.S. Bach was obsessed with numerology and the practice of gematria, which says that each letter ...

From the total effect, Do You Know Squarepusher (a brief LP or a good-sized mini-LP) doesn't just pose the question in the title, but practically demands compliance with the fact that Tom Jenkinson can't be pigeonholed.