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Squarepusher Ultravisitor Released in 2004 7.8/10 Styles Drum 'n' Bass Electro-jazz Live Performance (sort of) Song Highlights Ultravisitor Iambic 9 Poetry |
Tom Jenkinson's last album, the ego-stroker Do You Know Squarepusher? was a beats-centric garage album, with little in the way of the electro-jazz that made up his previous efforts. The music simply didn't have the same impact without this key element. With Ultravisitor, Jenkinson has finally returned to form. This is definately his best output since 1998's brilliant Music is Rotted One Note, and it's arguably even better than that. The jazz element is back, but that's only the beginning. The experimental tendencies are in full swing as always, but unlike on previous recordings, they are not weird to the point of intimidating the listener. While the music isn't always catchy and danceable, it's almost always interesting and accessable. The really exciting thing about Ultravisitor is that it sees Jenkinson treading some completely new ground for a Squarepusher release. Even on his earlier efforts, most albums felt like collections of individual songs, to the extent that you could probably play the tracks in any order and the difference would be trivial. Ultravisitor finally sees the progressive nature of the typical Squarepusher song carry over to the layout of the entire album. There's definately a feeling of every track being meticulously laid out, resulting in a wonderful flow throughout the album, with tracks bleeding into one another seamlessly. There's also a distinct live-performance feel to Ultravisitor. The music has the atmospheric tone of a live recording (although it wasn't actually recorded live), and there are occasional samples of audience noise, as well as onstage banter from Jenkinson himself. However, since this live feel is essentially faked, the recording quality doesn't suffer, and the music never has the hollow sound and unevenness constantly found in live recordings. All this combines to make listening to Ultravisitor feel like going to a really good concert. One that you'll want to revisit many times over. |