21 October 2006

Hear the New Squarepusher Record!

Squarepusher, a.k.a. Tom Jenkinson, is a deeply confused young man:
The old preconceptions of machines (ie: drum machines, samplers, software) as inhibitive to "genuine" creativity/ "soulless" etc. are now quickly evaporating. The machine facilitates creativity, yes, but a specific kind of creativity that has undermined the idea of a composer
who is master of and indifferent to his tools - the machine has begun to participate. Any die-hard instumentalists that still struggle to retain their notion of human sovereignty are exemplifying a peculiarly (western) human stupidity - resistance to the inevitable. What is also clear, though certainly undesirable by any retaining an anthropocentric view of composition is that this process proceeds regardless of any ideal point of human-machine collaboration (ie one where the human retains any degree of importance.) One might say that music is imploding in preparation for a time when there is no longer any need for it.
Fortunately for us, his music is also wonderful! He's one of the most inventive and weird musicians around. And I say that even while listening to Ronald Shannon Jackson.

The new album is called Hello Everything, and you can hear it using the cyberweb.

No comments:

Post a Comment