Squarepusher

Saturday, April 17th, 2004 | 10:11 pm and filed in Music.

TXT:: So, I went to the Squarepusher show last night at the Avalon Ballroom in SF. I was somewhat hesitant about going after hearing mixed opinions about live squarepusher performances, but I’m really glad I did. I arrived a bit way too early and ran into Rich and Carson, who helped with the sample production for my book.

Squarepusher is indeed a fantastic bassist, and I especially enjoyed the musical interludes where he would just play without the tweaky beats like on “An Arched Pathway” off Ultravisitor. It was a pleasure to watch him perform, running his bass through filters and ring modulators. I couldn’t see what he was using, but they sounded vaguely familiar. The sound system has a beautifully tight bass response, and wasn’t too boomy in the boxy room. I was surprised to hear a live version of “Dimotane Co”, off Feed Me Wierd Things. People who’ve seen him perform before said the added laser light show ‘enhanced’ the experience ;-)

The best part of the show was being introduced to the opening act, Kenny Muhammad, the Human Orchestra System. Kenny is a human beat box extraordinaire - his talent is simply unbeleivable! It’s one thing to do hip-hop beats, or even mid tempo breakbeat stuff, but Kenny was cutting up some amazing 150+bpm drum ‘n bass beats! He was doing some crazy s#!t that people spend hours trying to program, all in real time with no delays or effects tricks. Even if you’re a lukewarm Squarepusher fan, I highly recommend going to the show to check out Kenny.

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