Like some ancient monolith, waiting for a celebrant to arrive and bestow its cultural secrets to the masses gathering at the bottom of the summit.
Tom’s electric rave chaos tornado and dirty old PC
It’s been 17 years since this reviewer last saw producer, iconic Warp Records veteran, and ninja-level bass player, Squarepusher (aka: Tom Jenkinson), play live. It was part of a Warp Records’ retrospective tour of prestigious 1500+ capacity concert halls, where Tom served a mini live Set (performing his classic mini-opus, “Tundra 4”) along with an improv set by vocal-experimentalist, Jamie Lidell, as bookends to a full repertoire of Warp classics performed by the London Sinfonetta orchestra, with visuals from Chris Cunningham. All very grand and arguably a peak display of Warp Records at the height of its “classic IDM” prime.
After the show, Tom mingled in the bar and signed my programme. We chatted about my shoes which he took a shine to and I asked if he produced his tunes on Mac or PC, to which he replied “Nah, just that dirty old PC, mate.” While it’s very unlikely that same PC is still alive in 2021, tonight’s “secret tour warm-up” show also featured the main focal point of Tom’s (current) dirty old windows laptop sitting tall and proud on top of various flight cases and mixers, in all its marked, battered and duct-tape covered glory. Like some ancient monolith, waiting for a celebrant to arrive and bestow its cultural secrets to the masses gathering at the bottom of the summit. The masses in this case being a tight 200 folk packing into Venue One at the Hare & Hounds Pub in Kings Heath, Birmingham, in front of its tiny stage surrounded by the most gargantuan of sound-system stacks.
Scale was another amusing aspect of tonight’s gig as, parked directly in-front of the venue, Tom’s full, Spinal Tap sized tour bus practically dwarfed the entire pub. This in itself was somewhat odd when you consider all of the visible gear onstage could easily fit in the back of an Uber. But (as was quietly advertised), this is a warm up show. So it is safe to assume the forthcoming actual-tour dates will have a few more signature Squarepusher stage sets, visual shenanigans and lighting to help melt minds.
Left to do all the mind-melting by himself ::
Tonight though, bar some manic red blue and green spotlights, an intense strobe light and a few red lasers covering the ceiling, Tom was left to do all the mind-melting by himself, with just his dirty old laptop and trusted 6-string bass guitar strapped tightly to his chest.
The tour itself has been advertised with the simple strapline of ACID / STROBE / ELECTRIC / RAVE / BREAKBEAT / BASS / CHAOS / SHRED / TORNADO. And well, yes—that is exactly what we got. Kicking off with some Disco-tinged, 4/4 bops which loudly and thickly evolved to tick all the above boxes and more over the following 90 minutes.
Tom’s 18 month lockdown has also seen the release of his 15th (…ish, depending if you count his many countless aliases and side projects) Squarepusher album, Be Up A Hello, as well as the 25th anniversary re-issue of his classic debut album, Feed Me Weird Things. While much of tonight’s set was hard to place in terms of any actual classics, a good chunk of Be Up A Hello, and 2015’s Damogan Furies album was certainly present throughout. Be Up A Hello‘s album opener “Oberlove” being a notable highlight and curveball as tonight’s closing number, being treated to a soppy, lovely and adorable 2-minute “acoustic” bass solo jam, before letting Dirty PC kick in and feed the children their final beats below.
Dirty PC ::
Dirty PC certainly contributed to the frequent chaos with more than a few drops in connection and playback—twice dropping to complete silence. However, it is abundantly clear that Tom simply relishes the challenge of battling with his cantankerous old laptop, and enjoys nothing more than sharing a “FUCK! Come on you bastard!” with the audience while practically pulling his own hair out in the process (already resembling Back To The Future‘s Doc Brown—after the lightning strike—by the second number).
Whether thanks to threatening language toward Dirty PC, or quickly knocking out a few bars on the bass, the vibe, beats and onslaught soon resumed with no atmosphere lost, and the party smoothly continued (if such an adjective could ever be applied to a lo-fi Squarepusher gig), much to a very appreciative audience’s loud but respectful delight.
Considering tonight is very likely the first post-Covid live show for many of the 200 folk here, Tom’s Electric rave chaos tornado blew the cobwebs well and truly away, and was a high-octane and thoroughly well-spirited reminder of the joy to be found in electric rave chaos in a sweaty room with a killer PA.
Cheers Tom. Have a good tour! Your audience certainly will as long as Dirty PC continues to behave.
Be Up A Hello is available on Warp. [Bandcamp].
Visit squarepusher.net for more info and additional tour dates.
