This album is, without question, Tom Jenkinson's finest. Ultravisitor was my gateway into the world of Squarepusher, but it's a whole lot more than just a crash course into his music. The album begins with a handful of 'smart' electro songs that lure you into a false sense of security, before the middle section of the album smashes your ears to pieces. The final third of this album returns to the ... read more
Description:It's been a slow, almost imperceptible evolution, but on Ultravisitor, the seventh album from Tom Jenkinson's Squarepusher project, we finally see this Chelmsford-based electronica guru shrugging off the rather primitive drill 'n' bass tag, and maturing into a fully-fledged musical auteur. Look at him on that sleeve, all serious stareIt's been a slow, almost imperceptible evolution, but on Ultravisitor, the seventh album from Tom Jenkinson's Squarepusher project, we finally see this Chelmsford-based electronica guru shrugging off the rather primitive drill 'n' bass tag, and maturing into a fully-fledged musical auteur. Look at him on that sleeve, all serious stare and mutton-chop sideburns: this record feels like a conscious attempt to install Jenkinson into a serious musical canon alongside his obvious heroes John Cage, Miles Davies and Sun Ra.
It's a good try, as over these 70-odd minutes of electro-rave mayhem and frighteningly complex jazz-fusion improv, Jenkinson shows absolutely no sign of slowing his dizzying inventive velocity. The flirtation with UK garage that formed the synthetic exoskeleton of 2001's My Red Hot Car is sadly absent, but pieces such as "Menelee" and "Steinbolt" demonstrate fresh fascination for all manner of mutant strains of electronic hardcore and urban junglism, and fill the gap admirably.
Elsewhere, we find Jenkinson's passion for live instrumentation more pronounced than at any time since 1998's "Music Is Rotted One Note". This isn't always a good thing. The thrumming, masturbatory bass-soloing of "C-Town Smash" takes jazz proficiency into new realms of ridiculousness. But "I Fulcrum" carries the interstellar legacy of Sun Ra into as-yet undiscovered galaxies, and "Iambic 9 Poetry" proves Jenkinson's gift for melody remains gloriously intact, a perfect example of chiming instrumental clarity amid the deranged chatter of machine-code chaos. --Louis Pattison
"28. A song that changed your music taste in some way.
Squarepusher - Ultravisitor
The albums Ultravisitor and Endtroducing are undoubtedly two that caused a massive awakening in my taste in music. Suddenly I realised that there were other instruments than guitars, and that not all electronica music was a guilty pleasure. When I first heard the eponymous first track from Ultravisitor I was amazed. It led me to ask - what if every one of his songs was actually this good? I was even more amazed th"
The Flagship added this to a list 3 years, 4 months ago
"Artist: Squarepusher
Country of Origin: England
Year of Release: 2004
Favourite three tracks:
1. Tetra-Sync
2. Ultravisitor
3. Iambic 9 Poetry
Metacritic rating: 74
Reviewed? Here!"
The Flagship posted a review 3 years, 9 months ago
“This album is, without question, Tom Jenkinson's finest. Ultravisitor was my gateway into the world of Squarepusher, but it's a whole lot more than just a crash course into his music. The album begins with a handful of 'smart' electro songs that lure you into a false sense of security, before the middle section of the album smashes your ears to pieces. The final third of this album returns to the more intelligent tracks that are easier to listen to and give you time to recover from the noise in the middle.
There's not much of the funk that graces his previous albums here, instead he has strung together an album full of glitchy electro melodies, and some of his tracks are amongst the greatest electro tracks I've ever heard. Songs like Ultravisitor and Tetra-Sync are simply fantast” read more
The Flagship added this to a list 4 years, 3 months ago
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