When I first heard Squarepusher, it was 1997. I was driving alone on the BQE, having just extracted myself from an unfortunate romantic entanglement. Or perhaps I was dumped. Either way, after just a short time on the road, it was beginning to dawn on me that not continuing this particular relationship might actually improve my life. A lot. That ended up being true, of course, but at that moment I wasn’t entirely sure. To sooth myself, I scanned the New York radio dial, hoping to hear something wonderful and crazy. I did.
By the time the aptly named “Male Pill 13” had run through its 8:38, I knew my life was not going to be the same. I squinted my ears, so as not to miss the name of the artists. I may have even had to wait through another song or two. And I had nothing to write with and about 2 hours of driving left. But when I finally did find out who was responsible for that amazing, shocking sound, I didn’t forget: The Squarepushers.
Well, it’s easy to see why the DJ made that mistake. It sounds like a band, sort of,… well, a band with a coked-up, six-armed tasmanian devil on drums. Of course, I went on to learn who Tom Jenkinson was and the rest is history. I’ve even been lucky enough to see him do his magic act in person a couple times.
But now, there is a band.
Shobaleader One members:
Squarepusher: Bass/vocals
Strobe Nazard: Keyboards
Sten t’Mech: Guitar
Arg Nution: Guitar
Company Laser: Drums
And on October 19, we will be listening to that band. I urge you to click below for a sample because it is wholly out of hand.
Squarepusher presents Shobaleader One – Megazine (taken from d’Demonstrator) from Warp Records on Vimeo.
Read more of the story here.
