reviews / 2009

SQUAREPUSHER - Numbers Lucent

Name: SQUAREPUSHER – Numbers Lucent
Item: Numbers Lucent
Rating: 5
Author: Mattia Braida

2009 (Warp)

electronic, IDM

by Mattia Braida

Thomas Jenkinson, also known by his alias Squarepusher, is one of those artists who, despite often displaying great skill, has never quite managed to pull off a true masterpiece. There are several reasons behind this missed consecration: his boundless eclecticism, his unchecked prolixity, his ostentatious mannerism. All of these are typical traits of Jenkinson's sound, which marked the electronic revolution of the 90s, following in the wake of the more visionary Aphex Twin and helping lead the Warp label to prominence in this field. Unfortunately, though, Jenkinson seems to have lost himself along the way.

“Numbers Lucent” is a six-track EP and twenty-five minutes of music, picking up the thread of the disappointing “Just A Souvenir” (2008), though thankfully leaving behind the jazz experiments, robotic vocoders and techno-punk episodes. Instead, we find a generous Squarepusher returning to his more extreme electronic territory of old, even trying to sink his teeth in with some rather forceful sonic drilling (“Illegal Dustbin”).

Of course, he hasn't managed to resist certain trendy, Italo-disco-leaning urges, offering music that's mostly not bad, but transparent, leaving the listener indifferent and failing to leave a mark.

A questioning, uncertain EP that tries to head in four different directions and ends up fragmenting itself in the attempt. Waiting for the long-form test, hoping for a sudden rebirth.

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24/01/2009

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Mattia Braida, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Tracklist

1. Zounds Perspex
2. Paradise Garage
3. Heliacal Torch
4. Star Time 1
5. Arterial Fantasy
6. Illegal Dustbin

SQUAREPUSHER on the web

Official website

Squarepusher on OndaRock

Monograph

Squarepusher

The clever chameleon

A histrionic personality, Welsh artist Tom Jenkinson has managed to fuse, with admirable character, the drum'n'bass current, a direct descendant of the "intelligent" revolution, the acid-techno of long rave nights, and a modern form of experimental jazz, on more than one occasion ending up all but smothered by his own wildly varied creativity. A journey through the career of the most eclectic figure in the IDM movement