Squarepusher interview, modulations documentary (1998)

[draggonhedd]

not only does he kick out some freaky glitch, he is KILLER on the bass.

[RyckardPT]

lol aphex twin logos all over the gear

[datasoluble]

In the 90's it was still possible to get famous for just using computers to make music in a way not possible before... no one understood how the fuck they were doing it, it was like magic. It was really novel and cool at the time, but now there are so many tools to do crazy sample manipulation. It does take talent, even with the new tools, but there are plenty of talented people out there....sometimes it comes down to being in the right place at the right time.

[CaptainGalacticMusic]

Gosh Squarepusher is awesome!!!

[JavaSpitLava]

Tom is awesome...

[aeopmusic]

1:00 - BACON!

[aeopmusic]

Venetian Snares was probably just learning how to talk when Jenkinson was jamming DNB out in the late 90s.

[TheRiotousMind]

"All this music is automating computer sounds... It isn't even hard. I can press buttons too."

The outlook of 90% of people I'm surrounded by, I want to make them listen to LFO frequencies until they throw up. Maybe add a nice beat... Yargh.

[BenHaviour]

What's the Song at 0:38 ?

[basszushorbert]

@BenHaviour

Come on my selector

[spidertrax]

What is the title of the track playing at the very beginning?

[ArizonaIsAGreatTea]

All of that sound comes from a toy sampler? This guy is like the Macgyver of music.

[oryandymackie95]

Hero.

[patto2k]

idm food :)

[AnaDroid]

He looks and sounds like a teen here. Mental.

[konjunktion26]

he rather will fuck the drum machine than a group of models

[kotep777]

show us the goddam supercollider not the yamaha ps toy keyboard and breakfast!!!!!!!

aphex and tom .........masters of misdirection

[TheIndustrialism]

@kotep777 I only know that he uses Reaktor 5 since 2004 and reel-to-reel tape.

[LIGHTRONIX]

I lol'd at 0:07 ...he looks so funny just sitting there awkwardly staring at the camera.

[PhotoCrimeX]

what was the awesome song playing at the very beginning of this video?

[rebusd]

I personally compare him more to Frank Zappa... found sounds, shameless pasting/looping, off the wall phrasing, and a perpetually youthful outlook on the entire craft. Of course, he's dripping with Miles, Hancock, Buddy Rich, Bootsie, etc. Some of his performance based stuff sounds like Bitches Brew to my ears... This man obviously has a library card...

[superkulmedkniv25]

@rebusd As i do not care much for neither Mozart nor Beethoven, but rather Miles, Hancock, Bootsie and of course the great hidden treasure of music, Frank Zappa, it appreciated me to see your comment after reading the one on the top

[Vaselineum]

@rebusd i'm praying he'll never drip with zappa!

[pants362]

Jesus he's the same age here that I am now... FML.

[gregsie74]

@pants362 who cares

[nycpntr]

he knows how to flip an egg

[LeGronk]

lol @ opening shot... Tom looks like a friggin' geek hermit. He's changed enormously from this, these days with his long-ish tied back hair he's started to look more like a middle-aged jazz sophisticate.

[spidertrax]

what track is playing a the beginning?

[shenmue4life]

if you honestly think that stuff like squarepusher and aphex, is nothing more than a bleeding racket, than you are extremely ignorant, and just hating...

these guys have been described, and hailed as by some people the john westleys mozarts and beethovens of generation x...

these guys all have something in common, there music is totally real, and they're are definitely classified as musical geniuses, like i said before, they're arent just making music, they are like scientists of sound.

[Al5xmo]

@shenmue4life "scientists of sound" fucking exactly mate. Well done.

[Digalog]

@shenmue4life

Yes mate well said, they're the wizards !!

[messthetics]

@shenmue4life Those people that think it's racket should start with tracks like 'Tundra' and 'Squarepusher's theme'.

[estreet2007]

@shenmue4life dude, all my thoughts are wrote in your comment !

[dirtylare]

@shenmue4life Your spelling is awful! You talk about people being ignorant ... why did you ignore the spell check before posting?

[TiedYourTubes]

@dirtylare Did you learn the difference between spelling and grammar in elementary school? Why did you even bother posting period?

[simmy3000]

Something quite overatted and masterbatory about squarepusher, nob twiddling nerds getting far to obsessive about making what is basically a bleedin racket without any great musical value. don't respond to this, just words

[BreakbeatNightmare]

Fuck it. I'm replying. Music is noise. Music itself generally is made up of noises. For 'music' genres like IDM etc. you have to 'listen' to it, understand it. Not just dance to it. I'm sorry that I had to reply to your lack of knowledge about music and what it is.

Peace.

[simmy3000]

Music is noise?! what an absurd idea All I ask is, is this really about the love of music or the love of the machines that make the music? I'm not quite sure really, it's like alot of JAzz music I hear, rather bland and pointless.

[BreakbeatNightmare]

What I meant is that music is made up of just sounds. And sounds are noises. In IDM you are, in my opinion, supposed to listen to what the music represents or what atmosphere it's trying to create. It's a really complex subject that not most everyday people listening to music take into consideration. I didn't read over this after I sent this. (:

[cirqueduprick]

fuckit im replying too.... but i just thought i'd add that whoever calls this music idm needs to do their homework more. im not saying anything else because i dont want to get into a pointless internet argument among the comments.

[BreakbeatNightmare]

Yeah. I wasn't calling this music IDM at all. I was just saying music 'like' IDM etc etc etc etc.

(:

[123frizzlefry]

some types of music you just need to understand. you need to understand how maybe certain unusual melodies and rhythms can fit together. jazz is a type of music that moves you but you also need to understand what it's about. alot of squarepusher's music is abstract, and you need a trained ear to listen to it. I don't know if you sample, but pick up a sampler and a bass guitar and try to do stuff that squarepusher is doing. maybe then you'll understand how talented he is.

[simmy3000]

YEs yes, I have Samplers, synths, drum machines etc etc, I understand this kind of music, and other forms of abstract music. Iv'e been listening to it for years. I just suddenly became objective and started to question why I was listening to it and whether it was challenging at all or just fairly juvenile. I really think people are going to deluded extremes when they hail these guys as modern Mozarts. All very prtentious if you ask me, I still respect what he does, and like his music.

[123frizzlefry]

yeah, that;s true about the Mozart thing, I agree with that. square an aphex are talented and really good, but some people just take it out of proportion saying things like he's the modern Miles Davis or Mozart or wathever. there aren't many musicians that you can compare with those great composers.

[spectorm]

aphex twin and squarepusher are incredible geniuses. comparing them to miles davis and mozart isn't unreasonable.

[rebusd]

I second that.

Although I see Tom Jenkinson as more of a phenylethlyamine/tryptamine guy... not an opiate fan, or of anything else that will make one sell his instrument/body for anything other than food :P

[talentedMrRead]

Blah blah.. label your music and feel comfortable telling your friends what u like in the hope that u can associate with them on some level.. lol like all artistic endevours... its all subjective rendering this entire discussion pointless.

On a note, I personally think Amon Tobin is the DON!! haha ;)

[MrJohnQCitizen]

ha ha

[uniformxii]

I rather think you should listen to his recent solo bass endeavours. He shows a high level of skill in both composition and technicallity. He's not at all your average electro DJ. I respect this man for simply all the styles he's explored, and he's a trained bassist and drummer, so what more can you ask for? Personally, I do consider him to be a genius, but even if he wasn't.... he's still a badass :)

[amart7]

Who are the modern Mozarts then?

[rebusd]

we won't find out for years, maybe decades; a real modern mozart may obviously be recognized in hisher field, but would probably be dead by now from drugs or something. Hisher music may only now be gaining momentum, and heshe won't see a dime of it. Look at Robert Johnson.

[schmaks]

if you think that squarepusher has been properly recognized you are a fool. here in ny no one knows who he is. He is certainly one of the greatest musical minds to have ever lived- no doubt about it.

[xpez]

Blah blah.

IT takes an audience to be a recognized artist.

They have a huge huge audience.

So they are recognized artists by this huge audience. You cannot discount that fact.

You need an objective point of view based on historical references and can look at the phenomena with an opinion that isn't influenced by your whimsical tastes: a subjective description about what you hear and observe.

Why is it overated and masterbatory?

why is nob twiddling a negative thing?

what music has value ?

[shenmue4life]

some people think hes got loads of gear and its only until he got signed to warp did that happen, some of his best albums entirely I have on good note were made with a couple of pieces of 100 dollar gear and his bass sequenced on a computer or something

[zxcv12358]

i think in his early stuff it´s was all sequenced on a drum machine(or portable sequencer) not computer and recorded on a tape machine. :)

[patto2k]

so what's that sampler?

[michal23pl]

yamaha vss-30 i guess:)

[Greenjah81]

i think he's totally right about that people always forget about oldskool wikid tools. Big ups for that to TJ.

[gregsie74]

@Greenjah81 funny how gen y consider themselves old skool when they are gen y and when its convenient for them gen x is considered too 'old'.

[Greenjah81]

@gregsie74 Well I think I personally can consider my self quite an oldskool now I'm 29 8))))))

[mrblinkk]

what is the name of that song he plays live halfway thru the vid

its fucking sick

[owlwink]

The name of the track is "come my selector" the one halkf way through as you said.

[whackiton]

lol'd

[48kbrain]

jazzband