Squarepusher-A Critical Survey

[Cubist]

Hey everyone,

This is a copy of my Thesis I did at uni about 2 years ago. It's just been sitting in my room and I thought I should do something with it. It's a uni based thesis so it's pretty heavily academic in parts but should be intresting to any squarepusher fans or music fans. If ur not that interested in Squarepusher you might find the chapters on the history of DnB/Hardcore/Reggae/Jungle or Hip Hop interesting. There's probably a few mistakes or bogus claims in there but all in all it should be a good read if ur interested...Enjoy.








Squarepusher: A Critical Survey





A Critical Essay Submitted to Fulfill the Requirements of MUS4600

A Special Research Project in Music




Eden Krumins


October 2003


Monash University



Contents


Introduction

Squarepusher



Chapter One

Origins of Squarepusher’s Music

Reggae

Hip Hop

Hardcore & Jungle

Drum ‘n’ Bass



Chapter Two

Characteristic Features of Squarepusher’s Music

Representative Examples



Concluding Observations

Bibliography

Discography


Introduction

John Cage anticipated the substantial role rhythm and timbre would assume towards the end of last century and today, when in 1939 he stated “Percussion music is revolution. Sound and rhythm have too long been submissive to the restrictions of nineteenth-century music. Tomorrow, with electronic music in our ears, we will hear freedom.” (Cage 1973; 87). A majority of non-electronic music of the early 21st century written for concert halls, such as music by leading Baltic composer Arvo Part, and much commercially successful popular music found in the top 40 charts, such as music by American song writer Jack Johnson, continues to make use of traditional instrumentation to generate conventional rhythmic and timbral formulae to organize sound. Nevertheless, much post-war music exploration probes the possibilities of rhythm and timbre through electronic instrumentation. The divide between art music and popular music has functionally disappeared. From Pierre Schaeffers beginnings in ‘cut and paste’ techniques of music concrete, with his first piece ‘Concert of Locomotives’ (1948), to DJ Shadows milestone album Entroducing (1996). Electronic tools and methodologies used primarily in universities have been seen to influence the highly lucrative popular music industry.

Squarepusher is an electronic dance music producer/composer, born in 1974. Squarepusher’s music may seem unnatural to some listeners, as it does not rely on traditional melodic and harmonic formulae of figure and ground to transmit sound. Therefore lacking a traditional ‘singable’ melody. Popular music scholar Phillip Tagg has argued that electronic dance music of the 1990’s has radically changed the basis of musical composition. He states that dance music “differs radically from that encoded in the European melody/accompaniment paradigm” (Tagg 1994; 7). Tagg believes the traditional notion of ‘ground’, i.e. bass and drums, has come to the fore and ‘figure’ i.e. melody, is treated as secondary musical information. Squarepusher illustrates Tagg’s belief precisely through his compositional emphasis on rhythm and bass.

Squarepusher’s music shows similarities to the majority of electronic dance music originally labeled techno or rave, which was spawned in the late 1980’s. To the generations of people who have not grown up with popular electronic dance music exploration, the music of Squarepusher and other electronic dance music may seem unnatural. Nevertheless, Squarepusher’s music, a popular music, communicates to an audience through a rhythmic language, although one that can seem incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with it. Cage predicted that timbre and rhythm would come to the fore – Squarepusher’s music animates these ideas on a mass scale.

This essay will analyze the musical history that influenced Squarepusher’s music and the musical innovations that he has incorporated to create a unique sub-genre of electronic dance music. Squarepusher’s music has emerged in the last decade, incorporating a number of musical influences and innovations, his music is a compelling hybrid of musical genres including reggae, hip hop, hardcore/jungle and drum ‘n’ bass (DnB). In chapter one, the cultural heritage and immediate history of the genres reggae, hip hop, hardcore/jungle and DnB, along with their compositional practices are analyzed in relation to their influence upon Squarepusher’s music. Chapter two illustrates characteristic features of Squarepusher’s music and the analysis of six musical examples spanning Squarepusher’s relatively short career. This critical essay will survey Squarepusher’s music as a unique style within electronic music, discussing the vital role displayed by rhythm and timbre.

In 2003, electronic music has become so diverse it is not possible to speak of one unifying style. Electronic music is around us daily. Found in television advertisements, concert halls and underground dance parties, electronic music fuels not only the top 40 pop charts but also a thriving underground sub-culture. Electronic dance music blossomed in Britain as a subculture in 1988 under the name “acid house”, and has steadily grown, manifesting its music and culture around the globe. The acid house movement has spawned many different dance music genres such as house, garage, techno, gabba, big beat, hardcore, jungle and DnB.

Squarepusher’s music reveals direct influences from previous genres, yet is distinctively unique. Incorporating a number of musical influences/innovations, it is a compelling hybrid of musical styles.






Squarepusher

Popular electronic dance music critic Peter Shaprio, author of A Rough Guide to DnB states “Squarepusher makes drum ‘n’ bass of the absurd, his pre-adolescent scatology, stubborn refusal to groove and arrogant soap boxing about complexity is unbecoming to say the least.” (Shaprio 1999; 210) However, many reject such an argument. Squarepusher performs to sell out audiences throughout the world. There have been two live performances at the Prince of Wales in Melbourne, Australia where fans have been locked out as the venue was filled to capacity. Squarepusher’s music is a benchmark of modern electronic music, to be appreciated as both strange and beautifully complex.

Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher, was born in 1976 and grew up in Chelmsford, Essex, England. He started playing the bass guitar when he was twelve years old, influenced at an early age by his father’s extensive dub-reggae and jazz record collection (Metalheadz 2003). As a child, Tom Jenkinson had no intention of ever creating music electronically. “I started off thinking electronic music was rubbish. I thought, how can you value music that’s not written on instruments, how can it be any good if it’s written on a keyboard?” (Palmer 2003). However, Jenkinson’s opinion changed drastically when he was fifteen - he was exposed for the first time to electronic band LFO. “It kind of totally changed my mind about electronic music. I just thought, yeah, there’s loads of value in this and there’s plenty of stuff to be explored” (Palmer 2003).

The majority of Squarepusher’s music could be interpreted as DnB taken to extreme levels of abstraction. Unlike many common forms of DnB that use simple structural forms - a single common time four-four bar rhythm is looped over eight bars, followed by a change in rhythm/timbre, then looped again for eight bars - Squarepusher’s music often uses much more complex and unexpected rhythmic and timbral structures, often morphing into new and unexpected musical territory on every beat of the bar, through changes in rhythm or timbre, which hover just the right side of collapse. His music takes direct influences from reggae, hip-hop, hardcore/rave, jungle and DnB, harnessing the raw energy rush of the original raves, where people dance for hours in euphoric states of exuberance, but pushes musical structure to new limits through his rapid uses of rhythmic and timbral transformation.

Squarepusher’s debut release was on the ‘Spymania’ record label in 1995. The tracks typify Squarepusher’s approach to composition - complex, fluid, restlessly inventive, constantly striving to strike a balance between energy and innovation. His early tracks prompted English electronic dance music pioneer Aphex Twin to release 'Feed Me Weird Things'. Squarepusher’s debut LP in June 1996 inspired other electronic dance music composers, such as U-Zqip, to new heights of musical innovation. It was in this album that Squarepusher began harnessing the energetic production normally associated with hardcore and early DnB. Also, in 1996 was Squarepusher’s first release on the infamous electronic record label ‘Warp’. His ‘Port Rhombus EP’ was frantically energetic, with attention to programming detail that rivaled jazz drumming greats such as Buddy Rich and Art Blakey. This was merged with his often complex and beautiful melodies. Squarepusher is also renowned for his live performances, such as acclaimed gigs at Glastonbury, Mount Fuji Rock festival in Japan and Belgium's Ten Days of Techno from 1997 to 2000.

Squarepusher continued in 1997 with his ‘Hard Normal Daddy LP,’ taking further compositional risks, showcasing his ever-increasing cerebral and unique method of composition. By the end of 1997 the album had sold 75,000 copies worldwide (Palmer 2003), an extreme achievement for an abstract electronic dance music producer. Squarepusher plays all the instruments live or in real time, the drums forming the foundations upon which he performed the bass and keyboard parts. There is no sequencing on this album, Squarepusher abandoning his trademark infinitesimal production techniques in favor of a more relaxed and entirely live structure.

In 2001, Squarepusher released his third LP, ‘Go Plastic’. Here Squarepusher took his previously restrained level of timbral change and applied the same level of complexity that he had applied previously to rhythm, to include bass and timbre. Squarepusher’s music was now literarily catapulting in a new unforeseen direction every beat of the bar.






Chapter 1


Origins of Squarepusher’s music

Squarepusher’s music pays homage to a number of musical genres. Reggae, hip hop, jungle/hardcore and DnB - they are all rhythmic languages of popular dance music culture. Beginning in the 1950’s, Jamaican reggae spread to America to influence the birth of hip hop in the 1970’s. Hip hop emphasized the breakbeat, an extracted drum solo taken from funk and disco records of the 1960’s and 70’s, then traveled across the Atlantic to England, where a unique dance culture, coined rave emerged in the early 1990’s, later spawning jungle/hardcore and DnB. These musical genres have strong West Indian/African roots and share many musical similarities, which will be discussed later, but most importantly they share a basic rhythmic style with emphasis on the second and fourth beat of a common four-four time signature. These genres will be analyzed in regard to current social trends at the time, in terms of their relative musical influences and technological innovations.

Reggae

Jamaican popular music has always mixed the rhythms of Africa with the harmony and melody of Europe (Chang 1998; 12). Although the British banned most drumming, the slaves inserted their tradition of call and response into Christian hymn services. An early native music, mento, combined African rhythms and European melody in a call and response format. In the 1950’s, reggae emerged from the cultural mix of mento, traditional burru drumming and imported American R&B. Reggae is both a generic term given to all Jamaican popular music from 1960 onwards, and a particular style popular from 1969 to 1983. (Chang 1998; 12-22)

Reggae changed popular music phenomenally through a new form of instrumentation. Reggae introduced the disc-jockey (DJ), a solo performer whose instruments are two turntables and a mixer. The introduction of the DJ as a solo performer would later transfer into American hip hop and fuel popular dance music culture of the 80’s, 90’s and today. DJ’s performed reggae in dance halls or out in open yards, called “blues dances”. The most successful DJ’s were those who could keep a crowd enthralled and dancing for many hours on end. A strong bass line had been a part of Jamaican pop music since the 1950’s, but during the early 1960’s, due to experimentation with studio techniques, the bass line grew more prominent. A strong drum and bass rhythm section called “riddems” encouraged people to dance. (Chang 1997; 12-20)

As American music moved away from R&B towards rock ‘n’ roll, a Jamaican record industry began to form. Several producers set up their own record labels and began recording local artists with intent to service the reggae culture. The beginnings of remixing can be found in the Jamaican preference for “versions”, which were different arrangements of the same song (Chang 1998; 213). Versions were composed when producers applied techniques such as cutting the vocal from a track, leaving only the instrumental mix, or boosting certain frequencies within the mix. Seeking to distinguish his versions or “remixes” from others, pioneering producer King Tubby begun experimenting in his studio. He removed the vocal from the mix, leaving only the instrumental track. From here, Tubby alternately boosted the mid-range and bass frequencies, adding reverb and delay for effect. The original melody, though still recognizable, is highly fragmented with a guitar usually emphasizing the second and fourth beats of a common four-four time signature. This style of production is known as “dub” and was popular in dance halls from the early 1970’s, as it is today.

From the 1950’s, sound system DJ’s had always “toasted” slogans over the top of the music they were playing. The slogans were semi-spoken rhythmical interjections that enticed people to dance by displaying direct communication between audience and performer(s). By the late 1960’s, vocal artists appeared in addition to conventional singers, specializing in the toasting style. Also known as talk-over artists, they began recording their rhythmic patois over instrumental reggae tracks. Artists like U-Roy and I-Roy had hit records with their talk over. The tones of the talk-over artists were usually boastful, and often called upon “bad man” posturing to impress an audience or intimidate rivals (Chang 1998; 110-119). Talk-over artists would later transfer to hip hop where they found a new platform as highly respected MC’s. When Jamaican reggae artists were attracted to hardcore/jungle, they brought this style of talk over to the new sound. Squarepusher closely imitates Jamaican techniques of toasting. Often in live performance and throughout some of his recorded albums such as Go Plastic, Squarepusher yells out boastful catch phrases over the music, delivered in a fast rhythmic patios, draped in electronic sound effects such as echo and reverb.

It is significant that a prominent bass line has always figured strongly in Jamaican music. A convincing bass line was an expressive entity in itself, influencing dancers’ moves and providing drive for the music. After experiencing the sound system parties of Jamaican immigrants, many English hardcore producers incorporated the Jamaican emphasis on bass in their music. Consequently, the bass line found itself center stage in a musical culture – hardcore - like Jamaican music, also based around dance. As with toasting, Squarepusher strongly imitates Reggae’s use of bass. As bass lines move with the tempo in Reggae (roughly 60bpm), Squarepusher uses a reggae bass line at half tempo of his average 220bpm, being 110bpm. Reggae is crucial to the development of Squarepusher’s music. Elements such as a sampled vocal line, heavy bass lines, toasting and DJ performance practice have influenced Squarepusher’s composition, as well as hip hop, hardcore/jungle and DnB.

Hip hop

Hip hop originated in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx area of New York City. It originated within the African American community and was initially recorded by small, independent record labels and marketed almost exclusively to a black audience. Hip hop music originated as a cross cultural product. Most of its pioneering practitioners such as Kool Herc and Africa Bambaataa were either first or second generation Americans of Caribbean ancestry. (Toop 1984; 192)

Hip hop owes much to African-American musical genres such as funk, soul and disco, all of which utilize elements of traditional European composition, such as harmony and melody. On the other hand, hip hop’s radical modification to composition is its use of the breakbeat. The breakbeat is the solo percussion section found in funk and disco records where the drummer is given time to improvise. Hip hop DJ’s, through the use of two turntables, mixer and two records with identical or different breakbeats, were able to create a new musical style which emphasized the fractured rhythmic foundation of breakbeats (Toop 1984; 192). Unlike disco’s smooth rhythmic grooves, where emphasis is placed on solo instrumentalists or vocalists, hip hop places emphasis on the breakbeat, creating a rough, fractured texture of snare, kick and high hat solos.

The first hip hop innovator, Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), was a Jamaican immigrant who bought to New York a knowledge of reggae sound systems. Originally playing music for house parties and community centers, he owned a powerful sound system that could be set up in parks. In 1974, Kool Herc played his first block party (Toop 1984; 132). He developed a style where he played the most percussive section of a funk track - the breakbeat or break (usually about 30 seconds). Kool Herc wasn’t interested in pure disco, so he created a new sound by looping the same breakbeat on two identical records adding and subtracting elements from each to create a new and interesting fragmented texture (Toop 1984; 210-216). Similar to reggae talk-over artists, hip hop uses a vocalist or MC to toast rhythmic slogans over the music, usually in a boastful manner. The MC’s importance has increased over the years. Traditionally, MC’s supported reggae DJ’s, as the DJ was the most important performer. Most hip hop now places greater importance on the MC and less on the DJ.

The looped breakbeat, which forms the basis of hip hop, is integral to Squarepusher’s music. Hip hop promotes rhythmic language through recontextualising the percussive breakbeat of pre-existing funk and disco music. The new focus in hip hop is not melody or harmony but rather rhythm. Squarepusher slightly modifies this characteristic by speeding up his cut up drum samples. The primary focus in Squarepusher’s music, similar to that of hip hop, is the use of syncopated rhythm. Unlike much of contemporary dance music, where rhythmic emphasis is placed on the down beats of every bar, hip hop’s essence is found in its use of fragmented rhythm, sudden rhythmic stops and drum hit splutters create a sense of musical tension.

From the mid 1980’s, music producers could easily obtain a digital sampler. It enabled the digital recording of any natural sound or recorded sound, as well as its storage and manipulation. Hip hop artists freely sampled sounds taken from their direct environment. For example, a prolific hip hop group from Brooklyn, N.W.A, on their album Niggaz4Life (1981), sampled atmospheric sounds such as police sirens and conversations, whereas New York hip hop artist DJ Shadow sampled sounds entirely from previously released records on his debut release, Entroducing (1996).

In its formative years, hip hop was essentially a performative art. DJ’s displayed their dexterous use of prerecorded music on their turntables in parks, community centers, block parties, and eventually, small nightclubs (Toop 1984; 52). This aspect of DJ’ing continues today. An important element in hip hop culture is the unique relationship between DJ/performer and audience. Similar to reggae, a DJ will enthuse the crowd and encourage audience participation to the point where the best hip hop/DJ performances are those where audiences are extremely vocal, screaming and dancing to the DJ and others in enjoyment of the music.

Hip hop’s cutting and mixing of disparate sound sources to form a texture over breakbeats is also a feature of Squarepusher’s music. In the 1970’s this sort of collage was created in hip hop by turntable manipulation. Playing two records simultaneously, cutting between the two and manipulating them both to create a new texture, whilst initially baffling audiences, is now a technique widely used in popular music and holds firm ground within the extremely lucrative pop music industry.

Hardcore & Jungle

To examine the origins of Squarepusher’s music, the migratory routes of West African people must be considered. The subsequent diaspora of African people during the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries sowed new cultural seeds in the West Indies and North America when their traditions merged with European culture. Two musical traditions that have particularly shaped Squarepusher’s music have been examined - reggae and hip hop. Within America during the late 1980’s, Chicago house and Detroit techno are musical genres that emerged characteristic to the area in which they came from. Chicago house is a genre of electronic dance music performed in clubs through DJ culture. In contrast to the development of hip hop, Chicago house maintained the smooth sexy groove of 1980’s disco. Detroit techno, a dance genre also performed by DJ’s, gazed into the future, experimenting with musical timbres through the use of synthesizers and finely crafted sounds. Whilst Squarepusher’s music takes no direct musical influences from either of these genres, their influence on the progression of electronic dance music and the British rave movement is essential.

In 1987 and 1988 a subculture formed in London and its suburbs, based around Chicago house music and Detroit techno. This new style of music known as acid house or rave music was similar to house and techno, but developed a distinctive synthesizer bass sound through the use of the Roland 303 bass synthesizer. The term acid house did not refer directly to the drug LSD known as acid, but rather to the distinctive wobbly bass sound emitted from the Roland 303 bass synthesizer, which represented a similar psycodelic sound to “acid rock” bands of the late 1970’s. Acid house eventually incorporated hip hop’s breakbeat to create firstly a genre known as hardcore in the early 1990’s, and consequently a genre of increased rhythmic complexity known as jungle.

The development of these genres was centered on a new style of musical presentation known as rave; these are large events where people danced through the night in warehouses, clubs or in the countryside to DJ’s playing electronic music. The soaring synthesized timbres and clean electronic drum sounds of house records by Derrick May, a Techno pioneer from Detroit, could unite and lift the spirit of an entire crowd. The introduction and influence of the drug ecstasy during the late 1980’s in England, created open-hearted friendliness and relaxed dress codes, which were a far cry from the atmosphere of mainstream 1980’s clubs, that promoted a culture of exclusivity and excess.

The acid house scene had spread beyond the urban centers of London and Manchester to become a nation-wide subculture. By 1990, England began producing its own style of house and techno. Although many producers directly imitated the style of their favorite records, eventually the original sounds from Detroit and Chicago became distorted through an English lens. Before long, recognizably English rave music emerged from the north and south of the country.

Following acid house, the new sound, known as hardcore, was geared towards the chaotic style of dancing found at large raves where patrons followed no pre-arranged dance moves, but rather threw their bodies wildly, in a sense of chaotic exhilaration. Music journalist Simon Reynolds states “By early 1992 hardcore had mutated into a barely imaginable new form of music, light-years beyond Detroit. And at the core of that future sound wasn’t bleeps or mentasm riffs, but breakbeats and samples.” (Reynolds 1998, Energy; 130)

Due to its use of breakbeats hardcore bears a close relationship to hip-hop. The breakbeat injected a different kind of energy to the music compared to the clean, programmed electronic drum beats of house and techno, which consists of a heavy electronic bass line and simple synthesizer melodic melodies. The breakbeat gave hardcore a live-drummer feel though it lacked the machine precision of four-to-the-floor techno (Reynolds 1998, Energy; 105).

The collage aesthetic, part of hip-hop from the beginning, resonated with British hardcore producers. Armed with a sampler, they seized this aspect of hip hop and married it to British dance culture. ‘Shut up and dance’ were a duo that, in accordance with the grassroots spirit of hardcore, also ran their own record label. They confirmed hardcore’s ties to hip hop with comments like “We’re not a rave group, we’re a fast hip-hop group” (Reynolds 1998, Energy; 121), this was an attempt to break away from rave and forge new ground in the genre of hip hop influenced hardcore. Shut up and Dance lifted slabs of uncleared samples from various sources and in 1994 they were eventually sued. The threat posed by potential lawsuits did nothing to stem the sampling tide – it continues to play a large part in electronic music. Producers sometimes receive permission from the owners of the original song, but it is more usual for a small sample to be disguised by processing techniques (Reynolds 1998, Ecstasy; 80-81).

In order to create their desired sound, a hardcore/jungle producer needed only a record player, synthesizer, sampler and sequencing program. Sampling breakbeats directly from funk or hip hop records for rhythm, and using synthesizers and samplers to create timbre, hardcore producers painted a palette of frenzied beats and musical colours over time, suited for the dance floors of modern raves.

Alongside hardcore a new musical thread developed which some termed “jungle techno” or jungle. Artists such as Blame, an original hardcore producer from Bristol, London, whose compositional style emphasized the four-four kick drum, begun to change his compositional practice when an artist by the name of LTJ Bukem, a jungle pioneer from Manchester, originally born in Hawaii, released Demons Theme in 1990. This was the first hardcore song that abandoned the four-four kick drum to leave a bare breakbeat rhythmic skeleton. Demons Theme was the birth of jungle. Here, the sine-wave sub-bass frequencies, which are created by synthesizers and are usually performed below 60 Hz (where frequencies are felt due their high level of amplitude), found in hardcore, found a new platform. While hardcore bass lines followed the rhythm of the kick drum found on every crotchet beat of a four-four bar, the jungle bass was often sampled from dub records or created using synthesizers and consequently moved at half pace of the drum patterns, usually on every minim beat of a four-four bar. Breakbeats got faster as producers became adept at cutting and pasting the original break in new and chaotic variations.

During 1993 and 1994, jungle carved out a small space for itself in London’s post acid house landscape. Jungle became self-sufficient, building an active scene from the ground up. English pirate radio stations like Kool FM and Don FM played a large part in sustaining jungle, as did independent record labels, small club nights and specialty DJ shops.

Jungle fused reggae, hip hop culture and compositional techniques with raves futurism. Technology mediated rhythm and roots, propelling the music forward. While undeniably electronic, hip hop breakbeats and bass lines coloured jungle so that it remained an element of funk.

Some time around 1994, when the mainstream media discovered this remarkable new music, the close-knit jungle scene fragmented. Some producers were enticed by major record labels, while others proudly guarded their corner of the underground (Reynolds, Energy 251-54). Those producers whose compositional techniques were distancing them from the frantic sound of cut up drum loops and reggae samples had created a new electronic dance music genre - Drum n Bass. Jungle was a hotchpotch of samples from records, films and sound modules, whilst DnB sought to streamline the organization of sonic material, combined with the high production values of techno.

Drum ‘n’ Bass

DnB has a rich musical history spanning many genres from reggae to jungle. It is an incarnation of rhythm as multi-cultural expression. 1990’s London was a melting pot of social and cultural diversity where the combination of social change bought about by the immigration of thousands of West Indians to London in the post war years, combined with the technological advancement of electronic music hardware and software in the early 1990’s, to create a cauldron of influences that included reggae, hip hop and hardcore/jungle. These genres then progressed to the evolution and birth of DnB.

Late 1994 saw the transition from jungle to DnB. This bought for the first time major record label interest, in the case of a Goldie’s debut album Timeless, released in 1994 on the ‘FFRR’ Record label. Timeless was universally hailed as a masterpiece. The release marked “DnB’s shift from the populist energy of hardcore to the elitist progressivism of what Simon Reynolds labeled Artcore” (Shaprio 1999; 81). This shift marked a turning point in DnB compositional techniques, where producers were no longer satisfied with the “quick fix” of hardcore’s hedonism; they developed musical ideas over time to achieve high musical production values. Compositional techniques such as achieving extended development of melodic material over time, similar to techno pioneer Derrick May, and finely crafted sounds due to increased production detail were developed. Timeless illustrates these ideas precisely.

To those unfamiliar with it, DnB can sound quite strange. The texture is pared down to the essentials – drums and bass, which alongside syncopated rhythms can wrong foot a listener expecting to hear the repetitive kick drum found in techno or house. Drum loops can take unexpected turns as samples and snippets from popular culture are sometimes exposed ambiguous textures. Bass lines can appear menacing due to their low frequencies below 60 Hz and high amplitude. Vocals are sometimes heard over the minimal electronic texture – occasionally in a verse/chorus structure, yet the effect may still be unsettling for someone bought up on a diet of rock music, usually in DnB the vocalist is not supported by the harmony. In DnB the primary carrier for melody is the bass, and harmony is not often found. DnB’s musical canvas supports popular music scholar Phillip Tagg’s hypothesis that the traditional notion of ‘ground’, i.e. bass and drums has come to the fore and ‘figure’, i.e. melody, is treated as secondary musical information (Tagg 1994; 209).

The emphasis on only drum and bass creates a new timbral canvas. The listener’s awareness is drawn immediately to the drum patterns that splutter forth a barrage of snare drum, cymbal and hi-hat sounds, where the kick drum is usually syncopated. Like reggae, hip hop and jungle, rhythmic emphasis is on the second and fourth beat of a common four-four time signature. The bass line usually continues at half speed of a common four-four time signature, similar to reggae music. Electronic samples or synthesizer patches are used to create timbral interest, similar to hardcore music. It is the interplay between the bass line and rhythm, seemingly ill matched, which creates tension to energize the music, propelling it forward.

Producers left the abstract collage of jungle and bought the machine-like precision found in techno to DnB. DnB has formed into more of a ‘groove’, where the music contains a higher degree of repeated loops underneath a slowly evolving timbral texture. Squarepusher takes from DnB its emphasis on fragmented rhythm, but retains form of a jungle vein, incorporating frequent rhythmic change, unlike DnB’s usual eight bar repeated groove.

DnB’s roots can be identified in Squarepusher’s music. Hip hop’s legacy to Squarepusher’s music is the breakbeat, which divorces Squarepusher from the steady flow of kick drum down beats characterizing most electronic dance music. Reggae’s influence is pronounced through his use of half tempo bass lines. Also, Squarepusher pays respect to hardcore’s anarchic punk spirit through the use of basic synthesizer melodies and frantic breakbeat structure.














Chapter 2


Characteristic features of Squarepusher’s music

The texture is usually pared back to the essentials of drums and bass along with melodic synthesized melodies or sampled motives. The difference between Squarepusher’s music and standard DnB or jungle is his manipulation of cut up drum loops and hectic textures. Squarepusher’s music rarely grooves in the conventional sense, such as repeated eight bar drum loops similar to most electronic dance music. Instead, he creates a sense of listener intrigue and musical tension by constantly morphing sound over time into frequently updated textures.

Squarepusher’s live performance practice consists of two turntables and mixer or a computer. When performing live, he often toasts, similar to reggae and hip hop and often performs bass guitar. His ability to perform conventional instruments combined with modern technologies separates Squarepusher from most of contemporary popular music performers who often lack traditional musical instrumentation training.

A high degree of rhythmic syncopation is found in Squarepushers’s music. Within the majority of electronic dance music a producer usually works with a single bar drum loop and repeats this loop eight times over time. Squarepusher’s approach to rhythm is similar to a jazz drummer’s solo, using the solo approach throughout a whole piece of music with a tempo of roughly 220bpm. Squarepusher often cuts up drum loops and uses them in such a way that it is impossible to predict where the drums are heading and how they will evolve.

The three distinct breakbeats that characterize Squarepusher’s music have gained colloquial branding due to their recurrent use throughout hip hop, hardcore, jungle and DnB. Prized for their gritty live feel, the reason why these breakbeats have become the building blocks of so many genres is a mystical phenomenon. The most used breakbeat in Squarepusher’s music is the “Amen”, a hard-driving snare and cymbal sequence from “Amen Brother”, by the soul group, the Winstons. Recorded in 1969, this break has been chopped up and processed and resequenced to tiny detail by Squarepusher. This break has also been used in over a million jungle and DnB tracks and is still being reworked. The second most used break by Squarepusher is the “Think” break, recorded by Lyn Collins and James Brown in 1971. The break is characterized by James Brown yelling “You’re bad sister” to Collins. When sped up to Squarepusher’s common 220bpm tempo, the words become a feverish, percussive set of tics, almost as catchy as the amen. The third most used break is the “Apache”, by the Incredible Bongo Band, recorded in 1970. The apache flow surges forward in a barrage of snare and cymbal sequences as bongos fill the air to create a flowing polyrhythm. These breaks all contain distinctive sounds of popping snare, and riding high hat hits. Throughout their proliferation in hip hop, hardcore/jungle and DnB, they have gained a remarkable mystical status.

The prominent electronic bass line used in Squarepusher’s music often contains frequencies below the human hearing threshold of 40Hz. The bass lines need to be played through large diaphragm speakers in order to be felt. The bass lines in Squarepusher’s music usually switch between full and half tempo, similar to those of reggae. Unlike most music, such as classical, rock or pop music, where bass outlines the harmony of a piece, Squarepusher uses bass to outline melody. As in the proposition put forward by Phillip Tagg, the carrier of ‘figure’ or melody within Squarepusher’s music is rhythm and bass.

Sampling is a common technique used by Squarepusher. The sampler is a computer that converts sound into numbers, and because the sound has been converted to numbers such as 0, 1, 2 etc, the sample can then be rearranged or disguised. In most cases Squarepusher samples reggae quotes or environmental samples similar to hip hop, jungle and DnB.

The use of drums, bass and timbre found in Squarepusher’s music has already been discussed. While the texture of his music is quite hectic and can sometimes be interpreted as a relentless wall of sound, the synthesizer wash found in house and trance is usually lacking. Consequently, Squarepusher’s use of melody in most cases is bass or rhythm. Where bass is not used as a melodic instrument Squarepusher uses the synthesizer to create a distinctively ‘acid’ sound. In common with many hardcore producers, Squarepusher uses the Roland 303 synthesizer to create a unique ‘wobbly’ sound. It can be noted that Squarepusher’s use of synthesis is nearly universal throughout all of his tracks.


Representative Musical Examples

Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 (CD track 1)

Within the context of most of Squarepusher’s music, Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 is relatively conventional DnB. Unlike his usual employment of spasmic rhythmic textures, Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 is representative of a sub genre of DnB known as intelligent DnB. Contrary to musical journalist Peter Shaprio’s description of Squarepusher’s rhythmic ineptitude, Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 demonstrates his ability to groove. Squarepusher creates a sense of groove by simply repeating a drum loop over time, combined with occasional snare drum rolls.

Intelligent DnB is characteristic by warm melodic/harmonic textures, ambient synthesizer washes and soft percussion sounds. LTJ Bukem popularized the “intelligent style” in 1995, in an attempt to make DnB more “musical” and listenable. It was around 1995 that some producers of DnB albums started to use musical elements they considered conducive to home listening as opposed to dance floor culture. Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 represents this ethos precisely.

Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 opens with a piano melody with heavy reverb and a harmonic texture that is probably strings modified by a ring modulator. There is also a subtle tapping sample that adds intrigue (8sec) - due to its unrecognizable source - to the short introduction, before the drums and bass “drop” or enter the musical texture (22sec). The ten-note sine bass line melody is representative of jungle and remains melodically constant throughout the piece. The drums are also heavily modified by reverb as they outline a standard DnB beat similar to rock music with an emphasis on the second and fourth beat. A solo trumpet slowly enters (47sec) with occasional snare drum rolls (1 min). The harmonic texture creeps forward and back in the mix, creating a soothing, evolving effect.

After the first “break-down” - a musical section minus the bass and drums (2min 50sec) - a guitar and vocal motive is introduced, again creating listener intrigue within this subtle rolling texture. As the second break down begins (5min 16sec), Squarepusher varies the bass line by adding distortion (5min 53sec). Whilst maintaining the groove and ambient soundscape, this modified bass line followed by a solo high hat momentarily fading away, drops to a full bodied texture of vocals, trumpet, synthesizer washes and drums and bass (6min 49 sec).

Although Lost in Space Drum ‘n’ Bass 2000 represents simple yet effective use of sequencing, uncharacteristic of the majority of Squarepusher’s other works through its repeated rhythm, his placement of sound over time is graceful. The snare drum rolls are characteristic of his compositional technique. Squarepusher’s use of timbre is evocative and his use of rhythm proves his ability to groove as he creates ambience by taking focus away from his customary distinguished use of fragmented rhythm.


The Barn (CD track 2)

In The Barn, rave minimalism can be heard alongside the introduction of the breakbeat found in hardcore. The track begins with a distorted sound that could be feedback, followed by a characteristic rave/hardcore acid bass line (23sec) and a kick drum falling on the down beat and high-hat on the off beat of a repeated four-four rhythm. Interestingly, the acid bass line is filtered, creating a whooshing effect similar to the sound of a jet.

The amen breakbeat then enters (50 sec), quite unexpectedly, after a distorted robotic kick drum placed on each crotchet down bet of the common time four-four introduction. The acid bass line and drums remain, creating a new and different texture with the introduced breakbeat. This rhythmic texture consisting of a four-by-four drum pattern combined with a breakbeat is characteristic of early hardcore music in the early 1990’s when the introduction of the breakbeat enabled rave music to develop rhythmically, from the four-by-four beat to a more interesting and syncopated rhythm emphasizing the second and fourth beat of a bar instead of the first and third.

Unlike other Squarepusher tracks, The Barn utilizes only one breakbeat, the amen. Squarepusher does not increase listener tension by introducing more complex rhythms. Instead he uses distortion (1min 32 sec) and reduces the amount of rhythmic activity, by deleting certain snare and kick drum hits (1min 40sec). This track ends abruptly (2min 9sec) on the fourth beat of the bar.

Although the drum patterns are not complex, the individual components are traditional drum-kit sounds in common with most of Squarepusher’s music. There are no additional samples or synthesized sounds. Within The Barn, Squarepusher has integrated some elements of early hardcore music, such as the four-four beat and acid bass line, with the more complex breakbeat of jungle and DnB.


Bud Mic (CD track 3)

Unlike much of Squarepusher’s music, Bud Mic is recorded live or in real time, Squarepusher himself performs all instruments including drum kit, bass guitar, synthesizer(s) and sampler. Similar to other examples of Squarepusher’s music, Bud Mic contains elements that can be traced back to hardcore, rave and jungle.

The track begins with a recorded drum loop, played by Squarepusher. As the music gradually fades away, the listener becomes comfortable within the created ambient musical world. Suddenly, an explosive acid sound emerges (23sec), then disappears (25sec), providing the audience with a taste of what is to come. This process illustrates one of Squarepusher’s compositional techniques. The acid bass line enters in its entirety (44sec) at a soft volume. The texture remains stagnant, as it slowly fades away. This long introductory section builds tension, therefore the impact of the main rhythm and bass section, when dropped (1min 06sec) has a heightened effect. The rhythm and bass section continue to communicate in a swirl of movement as the heavily reverbed timbral motive winds with the bass and drums. The bass line and rhythm continue simultaneously, continually varying as individual drum hits are treated with effects such as short delay and ring modulation. Short cow bell hits protrude from the texture in contrast to the relatively 2D texture.

In Bud Mic, Squarepusher has integrated live instrumentation with previously computer generated genres such as hardcore and jungle. Live drum and bass playing, combined with computer generated effects and manipulation, combine to create a complex rhythmic surface, colored with subtle timbral motives. The percussive elements of jungle have not been sacrificed in favor of a live performance.




Thundra (CD track 4)

Squarepusher released Feed Me Weird Things at 21 years of age, and “bombed all other practitioners of the breakbeat science back to the Stone Age” (Metalheadz). Thundra is a representative example of Squarepusher’s skew on jungle. The track opens with an eight note repeating melody, reminiscent of film music in its sweeping, slow movement through time. The amen breakbeat is introduced at half tempo (53sec), in time with the melody. The drums then enter at full speed (1min 38sec), alongside a reggae bass line. The fragmented breakbeat and reggae bass line continue simultaneously, providing the listener with two metric options: the slower reggae bass line, or faster drum patterns. The display of two possible metric layers, both of equal significance, is a feature both common to jungle and DnB. While Squarepusher’s highly chopped up breakbeats rocket along at roughly 200 beats per minute, a listener usually feels the pulse of the bass line at half speed of the drums, as mentioned in chapter one.

A “breakdown”, the time in music where the rhythm and bass disappear from the texture and the audience is given time for rest, is introduced half way through Thundra (2min 42sec), the melody then becomes more complex and moves with the amen at half tempo (3min 10sec), as at the beginning. The breakbeat then increases in complexity and drops with the bass (5min 25sec). This second drop combines most of the previously introduced elements. The reggae bass line returns, combined with an increasingly complex rhythmic line. The track then slowly fades out as the bass and rhythm disappear leaving only the timbral melody.

Thundra exemplifies Squarepusher’s rhythmic complexity along with reggae and jungle influences. Thundra is an noticeable stepping stone in Squarepusher’s compositional techniques, between the beginnings of rhythmic complexity found in Thundra, composed in 1998, to increased complex textures to not only rhythm but to complete instrumentation as in his latest album Go Plastic in 2001.

Come On My Selector (CD track 5)

Come On My Selector is similar to a sub-genre found in DnB known as “jump up”. Jump up tracks are usually produced with a good-time party atmosphere in mind, and are usually aimed squarely at dance floor culture. Squarepusher’s compositional style of frantic cut up rhythmic textures suits the energetic approach of jump up. Elements of Come On My Selector can be traced back to jungle and hardcore, such as minimal instrumentation and sparse rhythmic textures. Come On My Selector is produced with a good-time party atmosphere in mind, and is aimed at club culture’s dance floor. The jump up style of composition Squarepusher uses can be humorous and tongue in cheek, percussion interplay between rhythm and bass is important.

The track begins with a sampled think break, played at roughly 220bpm. A bouncing bass line ostinato then enters (11sec), each pitch is well defined, followed by a procession of a chopped and sequenced think break. Squarepusher chops the break into individual sections of kick, snare and high-hat hits, with snare and kick drum rolls. This brief introduction sets the tone throughout the track, showing clear similarities to the genres hardcore and jungle. Jump up is characterized through Squarepusher’s use of minimal instrumentation.

An amen break beat is introduced (33sec) as rhythmic complexity increases and tension builds with frantic rhythmic turns. Unexpectedly (1min 33sec), a live bass guitar enters, followed by a vocal sample “Let the bass kick” (1min 53sec), the track then explodes once again into the only singable melody, a frantic slap bass guitar. Squarepusher’s voice is then heard, “Who’s your fucking daddy”, (2min 53) as the track reaches it climax through spasmatic drum edits and frantic live bass guitar playing. It is typical of Squarepusher to toast “Who’s your fucking daddy”, heard also on the Go Plastic and Hard Normal Daddy LP’s. This is a display of Squarepusher’s attempt to control his audience. By visibly displaying its jump up roots, Come On My Selector retains the cut and paste spirit of early hardcore and jungle.




Go Spastic (CD track 6)

Go Spastic is representative of Squarepusher’s modern, highly developed approach to fragmented composition. Go Spastic represents influences of reggae vocal samples, hip hop DJ scratching, the sound of turntable manipulation and sped up jungle breakbeats. Go Spastic is frantic in its complexity. The track begins with only drums and bass guitar, plus the introduction of a reggae vocal sample (38sec). The bass guitar represents the only singable melody, whilst effects are used to alter samples, which function as a secondary melody. Mid-way through the track, the tempo drops to half speed (1min 40sec). Hip hop DJ scratching, is employed (1min 50sec). Squarepusher builds tension with this slower than expected tempo, so that the impact of the next drop is surprising when it is introduced at the original tempo (2min 29sec). It is characteristic of hip hop to jump unexpectedly, like this, from one segment to the next.

As this new section begins, Squarepusher catapults the track in a new and unexpected direction every beat of the bar. Unlike DnB or jungles usual repeated 8 bar loops, Go Spastic morphs into a new texture at literally every beat of the bar. Vocal samples and scratching combined with the slowing down and speeding up of the tracks heightens listener excitement. Vocal samples such as “Rude boy selector” (3 min 42sec) is characteristic of reggae; Squarepusher chops up these samples over time to create his characteristic fragmented sound.

Some producers and DJ’s who take DnB seriously sometimes ridicule Squarepusher’s highly cut-up textures. They are defensive about the nature and musical content due to their puristic attitude to its legitimate stylistic boundaries. To an artist such as Squarepusher, however, the complexity and attention to detail is a far more interesting listening experience as apposed to a track consisting of a repeated eight bar drum loop. By visibly displaying its cut-up ethic, Go Plastic retains the cut and paste spirit of hip hop and jungle, but takes the idea one large step into the future.
















Concluding Observations

This essay has addressed the origins of Squarepusher’s music, outlining the collision that took place at the cultural cross roads of London. The Jamaican love of a heavy bass register, hip hop syncopated breakbeats, joined with raves technology to form a unique electronic dance music genre. In discussing several representative musical examples, this essay has illustrated the defining characteristics of Squarepusher’s music and its breakbeat predecessors -hip hop, hardcore and jungle. A detailed picture has formed around Squarepusher’s musical features: Squarepusher’s music eschews traditional melodic and harmonic models of figure and ground, like other electronic dance music genres, where the carrier melody has been replaced by bass and drums.

The distinction between low and high art culture became blurred in the late 20th Century and inevitably art music ideas filter into Squarepusher’s music. As DnB matured around 1997, art music concepts appeared to visibly affect some of the music. The idea of recontextualising recorded environmental sounds as in hip hop, to construct a different aural reality is explored within Squarepusher’s music. Like Pierre Schaeffer’s “music concrete”, Squarepusher’s music paints vivid pictures with its cut and paste sculptured sound.

Innovations in 20th Century electronic art music have been truly significant; however, they have not translated effectively to performance. The future of sound does not sit comfortably with the centuries-old cultural phenomenon of the concert hall. Composers are often disappointed when their work, transferred to a larger acoustic space, loses the subtleties of texture and dynamics realized in the intimacy of their studio; and audiences, used to the traditional concert-going experience, become restless due to the lack of live action on stage (Manning 1993; 359).

Additionally, audiences familiar with a contemporary acoustic repertoire often find a sound system in a concert hall to be out of place; their gaze is directed to a blank area on the stage where musicians would normally stand. An audience of popular music would find no such discomfort to such modes of listening and sound production. The sound system has been part of youth culture since the advent of electric guitars and rock concerts of the early 1950’s. In popular electronic music, the sound system functions as a communicative interface, similar to an orchestra, as the point where social groupings of participants interact with amplified sound. By its nature, club culture ensures that new and exciting electronic music ideas are conveyed immediately.

Electronic timbres, musical collage and highly syncopated rhythms are integrated in Squarepusher’s music and transmitted via sound systems in clubs or at home. Squarepusher’s music revels in its obscurity, often disregarding popular dance music techniques of repetition, yet taking influences from age old popular music traditions such as reggae, hip hop, hardcore/jungle and DnB.

A compositional technique found in Squarepusher’s music is the manipulation of rhythm over time. The development of complexity can be seen when his music is viewed over a time line, beginning with the rhythmic complexity of Thundra, moving to the developed complexity of rhythm bass and timbre found in Go Spastic. Previously, Squarepusher had applied the principles of complex arrangement of material over time purely to rhythm. As his compositional techniques increased in efficiency, he was able to apply these techniques not only to rhythm, but also to all instrumentation of his composition, including rhythm, bass and timbre.

A popular music subculture like Squarepusher’s does not have a history of music notation. An oral tradition, it is based around electronically synthesized sound and recorded sound, stored and manipulated in the form of digital data. From its predecessors and beginnings in reggae, hip hop, hardcore, jungle and DnB, Squarepusher’s music has always created energy on the dance floor and found solace in the lounge room. Squarepusher’s music forms its identity by way of electronic bass timbres, highly syncopated drum patterns and sampled sound fragments, meaningful to those who share similar musical understanding.

Without some commonality of emotional thought between composer and listener, it is impossible for a listener to share understanding of a composer’s music. George Meade states “Communication takes place only where the gesture has the same meaning for the individual who makes it that it has for the individual that responds to it” (Keane 1983; 103). Squarepusher’s music hosts a barrage of gestures that provoke a response in listeners. Fragmented percussion, half speed drum patterns, reggae samples, hip hop acknowledgements, bass lines that incite physical acknowledgement due to their subsonic battery, a constant forward movement where listeners experience edge of seat lack of comfort: all galvanize a particular reaction within the listener.

Electronic dance music has developed a common language between composer and listener. In the electronic art sector, it is rare for this sort of common musical language to be shared between composer and audience. Discussions about contemporary electronica often give the short span of time electronic music has existed as a reason for the lack of development of a common language between composer and audience. Some say the techniques and sounds are not “common enough” for the general public to understand, with audiences generally grasping avant-electronic sounds as no more than background effects to science fiction visuals. At worst, the approach is disregarded as noise and non-musical. Squarepusher has developed a coherent musical language understood by his audience.

In stark contrast, Squarepusher places electronic timbres within a framework of familiar re-arranged drum sounds and samples. The seemingly haphazard juxtaposition of disjunct sound sources and segments makes sense to a specific audience, when pulled into a forward rhythmic motion organized around a common time four-four time signature. Youth cultures equate electronic drum sounds with dance. Squarepusher has evolved a new timbral language, one that is also accessible to a home listening environment, which provokes thought and questions nearly two decades of popular electronic dance music repetition of rhythm.

It is remarkable that Squarepusher’s exploration of rhythm and timbre has found a platform in popular dance culture. Despite a lack of rhythmic repetition, his success in contemporary electronic dance music is remarkable, as most contemporary dance music manages to speak one unifying language; repetition. The lack of traditional figure and ground found in Squarepusher’s music has nurtured a revolution in rhythm, popularizing complex rhythms and new timbres for many. Squarepusher has made a vital contribution to the evolution of popular dance music. Squarepusher’s music is a significant cultural phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st century.












Bibliography

Cage, John. Silence. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1973.

Dodge, Charles and Thomas A. Jerse. Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition and Performance. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997.

Garratt, Sheryl. Adventures in Wonderland: A Decade of Club Culture. London: Headline Book Publishing, 1998.

Hagar, Steven. Hip Hop: The Illustrative History and Breakdancing, Rap Music and Graffiti. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1984.

Hucker, Dave. “Jungle Fever Spreads in UK: Reggae/techno Hybrid Growing Quickly.” Billboard 29 Oct. 1994: 1-3

Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Marcus, Tony. “UK Raves: the End of Innocence?” Billboard 26 Sept. 1992: 34-36

Metalheadz. Music review: feed Me Weird Things. Available: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/st ... 52-5048038. (25 August, 2003)

Morgan, Robert P. Twentieth-Century Music. New York: V.W.Norton & Company Inc., 1991.

Noys, Benjamin. “Into the ‘Jungle’.” Popular Music 14 (1995): 321-32.

O’Brien Chang, Kevin and Wayne Chen. Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.

Palmer, Tamara. Squarepusher Thoughts: Excerpts from a Chat with Tom Jenkinson. Available: http://www1.linkonline .net/fresh/tamara.htm.(11 August, 2003)

Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstacy: Inot the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1998

---. Energy Flash. London: Picador, 1998.

Shaprio, Peter. Drum ‘n’ Bass: The Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides Ltd., 1999.

Tagg, Phillip. “From refrain to rave: the decline of figure and the reise of ground.” Popular Music 13 (1994): 209-22

Toop, David. The Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip Hop. London: Pluto Press Ltd., 1984.



















Discography

Squarepusher. Big Loada. Warp records, 2000.

Squarepusher. Budakhan Mindphone. Warp records, 1999.

Squarepusher. Feed Me Weird Things. Warp records, 1998.

Squarepusher. Go Plastic. Warp records, 2001.

Squarepusher. Hard Normal Daddy. Warp records, 1997.

[Ag3nT[]0raNg3]

nice one eden!

PORT RHOMBUS!

thats a top 5 tune of all time for me!

[Cubist]

nice one eden!

PORT RHOMBUS!

thats a top 5 tune of all time for me!

did you read it all that quickly...

[elysium]

Nice

It's always a bonus when you can combine uni assessment with something you are genuinely passionate about...

[wasp]

wish my thesis was that short... would have saved me months!!
lucky farker

[Ag3nT[]0raNg3]

how many words is that?

...


nearly 9000.

im gunna bookmark this for bored at work reading.

[factory worker]

I wish you had written it a bit slower, I can't that fast.

[fmf]

cheers mate. i'll stop hassling you for it now

[Cubist]

yeah AO, it's about 10,000 words and FMF...I hope you enjoy.

[factory worker]

Just finished reading it, quiet at work.

Who else has music thesis I can read at work?

[flippo]

Just finished reading it, quiet at work.

Who else has music thesis I can read at work?

I've got a stingray one you can read .

Wasp.. what is your thesis..

Nice one Cubist, might print her out and give her a read later tonight. Huge Squarepusher Fan .

[Cubist]

cheers flippo

[Dave_wratH]

nice, sqaurepusher is bomb. Saw him at the first splendor in the grass. He dumped a pill on stage while playing.

Tundra is the mad note. That track has some awsome soundscapin.

[Cubist]

Cheers peepz. I gotta say I don't listen to Squrepusher much any more, or come to think of it I haven't listened to him for ages. Maybe I'm over my INTENSE angsty period...I used to argue to people that his music will have just as prolific impact on society as Beethovens'...hmm guess I'll never know. The only tune of Squr I listen to these days is 'Lost in Space DnB 2000'...such a classy tune. Think I need to bring back my Squarepusher vibez.

[exploited]

nice work Cubist, I think the history chapter is one of the best descriptions of hip-hop/reggae I've read. I think it's a really difficult subject area to write on academically but its done with aplomb (I love that word, is there still a word of the day thread )

the move from 'versions' in Jamaican music to kool herc is easy to follow, even for someone like me who only has a vague understanding of terms like 'timbre' or 'syncopated'; love the phrase 'timbral canvas' though...

am thinking 'It is the interplay between the bass line and the rythm , seemingly ill matched, which creates tension to energise the music, propelling it forward' is almost good enough to go on the MB t-shirts.

nice work

[Ag3nT[]0raNg3]

DnB 2000

http://webdisk.berkeley.edu/~amirb/unid ... _8m14s.mp3

this is not a squarepusher track. i myself went on a mission a long time ago to find out who it was after having the mp3 for a while.

it is actually a track called Outernational Meltdown - Hungry On Arrival (Spring Heel Jack Remix)

http://www.rolldabeats.com/release/b_an ... c/bwr072_5

you can listen to it here.

http://www2.emusic.com/album/10591/10591080.html

Lost In Space: Drum & Bass - Phase 00:03 is actually a compilation album released in 97. i came accross this after trying to find out what a tune was called that i had an mp3 of named, Lost In Space Drum and Bass [DJ Die Remix] and found out it was actually a track by Aquasky called Moondance which is also on this compilation, mad tunes. i only have moondance on vinyl, have been looking for the Outernational Meltdown tune for ages now.

http://www.rolldabeats.com/release/lacerba/cerbad04



so.. there ya go. just thought i would let you know!

[fmf]

did you know that there is a sequel to trainspotting coming up? it's set 10 years later when Begbie gets out of jail & goes looking for Renton...
cool

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/590/590569p1.html

[Ag3nT[]0raNg3]

[factory worker]

with any luck begbie will find himself in collingwood.
now I'd go and see that.

[KAmis]

cheers for that, nice read : )

[Cubist]

DnB 2000

http://webdisk.berkeley.edu/~amirb/unid ... _8m14s.mp3

this is not a squarepusher track. i myself went on a mission a long time ago to find out who it was after having the mp3 for a while.

it is actually a track called Outernational Meltdown - Hungry On Arrival (Spring Heel Jack Remix)

http://www.rolldabeats.com/release/b_an ... c/bwr072_5

you can listen to it here.

http://www2.emusic.com/album/10591/10591080.html

Lost In Space: Drum & Bass - Phase 00:03 is actually a compilation album released in 97. i came accross this after trying to find out what a tune was called that i had an mp3 of named, Lost In Space Drum and Bass [DJ Die Remix] and found out it was actually a track by Aquasky called Moondance which is also on this compilation, mad tunes. i only have moondance on vinyl, have been looking for the Outernational Meltdown tune for ages now.

http://www.rolldabeats.com/release/lacerba/cerbad04



so.. there ya go. just thought i would let you know!

Hmmm...Very, very interesting. I always thought it didn't sound totally like Sqaurepusher. Very nive tune thought. Classic liqweed DnB.

[RMHC]

apparently he will be here next year, march 11th at the myer music bowl, my birthday

[Ag3nT[]0raNg3]

earthcore in the park?

along with Raja Ram, Skazi, Infected Mushroom, Tristan and Eat Static.