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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Squarepusher's best effort yet..., March 25, 2004
Ever since 1998's Music is Rotted One Note, it has always seemed that Tom Jenkinson never really managed to find a middle ground for his hardcore techno musings and his softer, freeform jazz musings. After having released the quite mixed Go Plastic and Do You Know Squarepusher, it seems like Squarepusher finally managed to find that longly-seeked middle ground that mixes both dominating elements of Squarepusher's style without having it sounding out of place and whilst still managing to surprise us with entirely new directions as well.Ultravisitor is a collection of every single aspect of Squarepusher's music, ranging from manic drill and bass compositions to jazzier, more musically oriented numbers as well. In the complete overall feel, his compositions have gotten to a more mature and sophisticated level as well. The title track, Ultravisitor, pretty much shows out what I'm talking about. It's an epic, futuristic and delightful electro-pop tune mixed up with Squarepusher's signature bleeps and manic snares. Even though it's actually 8 minutes long, it do feels a lot more shorter than that since the track's flow is so excellently crafted. The complaint I had with Go Plastic and DYKS was the lack of Jenkinson's live bass musings, and fortunately for all of the people who loved airing his bass playing, he finally decided to dust off his bass from the basement with Ultravisitor. He's quite an amazing player indeed, as shown into the extended bass solos being played through I Fulcrum and C-Town Smash. Andrei and Every Day I Love both are complete surprises, them being quiet and gentle classical guitar compositions without involving any digital trickery in the process. The album's biggest highlight though is Tetra-Sync, an amazing epic that almost squeezes in every single aspect of Jenkinson's music into 9 minutes of madness. It's a beautifully executed mesh of live and programmed drums, mind-numbing bass playing and beautiful melodies to boot. The middle section of the song is probably the best music that has ever came from Squarepusher. This album is worth getting for this song alone. It HAS to be heard, I tell you. Expect the rest of this album to be incredibly solid as well. Iambic 9 Poetry is a quite relaxing tune featuring well-crafted live drums while 50 Cycles is warped, noise-hop with an incredible atmosphere. Steinbolt is a complete mind twisting, sick experiment that has Squarepusher thinking for a while that he's part of a death metal band. The result is undoubtly the most violent track that has ever been put unto a CD, people who enjoyed Go Plastic as a whole are really going to love that tune. Anyone who's been familiar with Squarepusher since the past years are going to love this CD without any doubt since it's the best of both of Tom Jenkinson's worlds. There's something for everyone on this release and the results are as, if not more impressive than his previous efforts. If you like Squarepusher, you can't go wrong with Ultravisitor. If you're unfamiliar with him, I'd wager it's a good place to start with Squarepusher as well. However, don't expect any easy-listening music out of this album. This is purely music for adventurous listeners wanting to stretch their musical horizons further ahead. It's fantastic music, period.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
would you rather be deaf or blind?..., February 22, 2005
When I first heard Iambic 9 Poetry, it was a life changing experience. For years you search for songs that make you feel, and in electronic music that isn't easy to find... Danceable yes, maybe a few 4 to the floors will do, but they never seem to resonate in your heart the way a singer would. Songs that make you want to express emotion instead of motion. With this listen it pretty much salvaged my hopes for electronic music. Forget about taking it to the next level, we can make any sounds we want now, this is the next dimension. This is Tom Jenkins after he gave himself to his music and was held captive by ultra-unknown melodies and beats.
I dont want to go into every track because this album is just too beautiful to pick apart like that. Some of the tracks are a bit raw and not very meticulous. It's more like a foray to try and break new ground I think. I wouldnt want it any other way, this is how you feel your music, guitars, keyboards, drums, seamlessly blended at times, haphazardly thrown together forced to coexist with each other any other. I think you will be either completely enthralled with this, or...your deaf.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Very Best Album Of 2004, October 7, 2004
I saw Tom Jenkinson play at the Quest nightclub in Minneapolis in March 2004 and it was a life-changing experience. Jenkinson's music creates a confrontational sonic battlefield, with every bit as much ravishing beauty as there is chaos and hostility. We in the audience were members of a war, and we were going to all get through it together with the help of General Jenkinson, and we did (to overwhelmed & ecstatic cheers of the troops I might add). In the glow of the computer consoles, Jenkinson and his mangy, unkempt beard resembled an obsessive 30-year-old faux Stanley Kubrick; but when he picked up his bass and started playing impossibly athletic machine-gun riffs over his gorgeously cascading electronica, you immediately knew you were in the presence of an indisputable musical genius and visionary. That totally uncompromising vision and virtuosity carries over completely to his very latest CD, Ultravisitor (Warp). And it isn't (only) because of Jenkinson's exquisite musical soundscapes, textures, the fearless meshing of d&b with jazz with electronica with assaultive barrages of feedback with peerlessly delicate ambience (finally, the "everything and the kitchen sink" Squarepusher CD has arrived) - it's because Tommy Jenkinson is literally PLAYING HIS @#$% ASS OFF throughout the entire CD, giving full reign to his musical imagination, pushing and stretching the frontiers of what Squarepusher is all about, whilst using all his musical resources to the utmost. Once content to dwell exclusively in the realm of mind-expanding electronica, Jenkinson's music has taken on a more overtly confrontational approach: he now wants to tear his audience's minds to shreds (he told us as much himself at his live shows, screaming at the audience, "let's f***ing have at it!!! Let's smash it to pieces!!!"), and then stitch and glue us back together again with musical passages of indescribable gentleness and precision and strength. If one can say there is such a thing as "disciplined anarchy," Jenkinson has mastered its art, and Ultravistor is OD'ing on pure musical anarchy and bliss for 80 straight minutes. Mainstream critics have already dismissed this album in much the same way they dismissed Miles Davis' equally transgressive and revolutionary Bitches Brew upon its initial release; the passage of time will once again prove them shortsighted. Make no mistake: this is indisputably the very best album of 2004.
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