In the year 1999 when the science fiction classic starring Keanu Reeves, The Matrix, was released, Squarepusher aka Thomas Russell Jenkinson continued on with a musical journey to suit the times, alongside that major film release. He had already made some promising successes with some interesting albums, such as the 1997 Hard Normal Daddy release, with his music being released on the famous and historically important Warp Records label. Squarepusher followed his own path of a form of IDM, Drum and Bass and other genres, mixed into a giant pot of musical originality. This is his fourth EP release (technically referred to as a mini-album, as seen on the front cover of this release) and one hopes that it should be an interesting and exciting listen throughout. Let’s take a good listen to this EP/Mini-album and we shall hear where the music will take us.

Iambic 5 Poetry begins with the clacking of drumsticks and launches into a strange mixture of sounds and editing that sounds metallic (not Heavy Metal, but similar to actual metal being hit) and sounds trippy, dreamy and surreal throughout. This is a good mixture of unorthodox Breakbeat, Techno, IDM and other EDM-based sensibilities. Soon enough, this builds up nicely in terms of overall volume and sounds very much spacey. This is probably music to take a DMT trip to, and it certainly sounds different and surreal throughout. Eventually, this enters into a pseudo-guitar jam with some xylophone thrown in for good measure. This is quite different to much in the music scene then, and even now. Squarepusher, true to his musical name, pushes the envelope of music thoroughly and further than others. A good listen, but the xylophones sound a bit out of place on this track. Still, one cannot deny the musical craftsmanship and excellence of this piece otherwise. Solidly enjoyable, provided that you like your EDM more for the mind than just bangers to dance along to. There is a large audience out there for such a thing, and Squarepusher fills a void there. There is quite a lengthy fade out to conclude with, and the whole thing is fairly reminiscent of Public Image Ltd’s 1979 classic Second Edition album. This ends gently after five and a half minutes. Good but not great.

Fly Street begins with some treated and nicely edited drum samples and percussion. This sounds better than what came before it and is a more obvious mixture of IDM and Drum and Bass, which is less irregular and more interesting to listen to. A powerful, enjoyable and decent listen, this also has some robotic sounds and interesting suspense to it. This is very much robotic-sounding music, and it is a great montage of electronics and sound throughout. This is exactly the sort of music that Techno lovers should hear as they are coming down from an all-night Ecstasy binge, or in a similar scenario. This strange music doesn’t have a commercial appeal, but it certainly has a great intellectual appeal. A good and interesting instrumental to listen to, this is digital music that is very futuristic and it sounds as though Squarepusher was intending to create something very unique. Some warped editing is present towards the end of this track, and this is worth paying good attention to. This is music perfect for those of you out there with an IQ approaching Albert Einstein (or higher). It ends with some bleeps and beeps that are edited nicely.

The Tide begins with some interesting percussion and digital washes of sound. This is definitely an eerie listening experience. The music progresses very nicely here, and this sounds much like what Techno should, minus the 4/4 pounding bass drum beats. It sounds like music that aliens could make for future generations of humanity in space travel. It sounds okay, however. Some jazzy-style cut-up drumbeats are present on this track. This is highly experimental music, and to be fair, this is only good but not great. It sounds a little too experimental for its own good. Despite that, there is no overall need to skip this particular track as it is very interesting. It sounds cold, dark and otherworldly overall. Credit must go to Squarepusher for creating something very unorthodox and different, however. The music here would sound not out of place if humanity survives to the year 2100. An interesting, dystopian and creepy-sounding piece of music. This is so unusual that it sounds unnerving emotionally. It builds up and releases in intensity towards the end, before finishing up with a high-pitched theremin-styled sound. Different, all right.

Splask begins with some metallic-sounding percussion sounds and loose drum rolls. This is very unusual music, and to be frank, not a great nor inspired listening experience. It still retains the UFO-styled musical trip from Pluto present. This continues to change into a very unorthodox piece of music. Some people will no doubt enjoy this EP release, but those who listen to popular styles of music will not at all enjoy this. The unusual nature of this music is a bit too much to the listening ear, for the most part. Although this is highly intelligent in nature, it just simply sounds a bit off. The drums recorded and sampled here are very decent, however. Credit must go to Squarepusher for changing the way one hears music, although this is far from catchy or regular sounding.

Two Bass Hit (Dub) begins with some weird bass guitar and mixes in warped sounds and editing throughout. This is odd but it sounds strangely cool. This is another short piece by Squarepusher, but an improvement on the extremely weird Electronic Music made earlier on the album. This sounds quirky and irregular. This music is also quite freeform in nature. There is a bass guitar section that sounds very jazzy and different. Having said this, this is not overall worth your time too much. This seems much more like an exercise in oddity rather than a piece of music that works. Sadly, the experimental nature of much of this release is very unappealing to most ears out there. This is space Jazz for those who dig it, but otherwise, this isn’t anything special. It wraps up after three and a half minutes in length.

Varkatope begins with some drumsticks clacking and has some metallic sound drumming. There are some cut-up digital sounds as well. Again, this is not very impressive music to listen to. It sounds extremely unorthodox and just plain strange. The sounds and editing are intelligently and brilliantly done, however. There are some cut-up Roland TB-303 sort of sounds, but aside from that, this track has very little musical appeal throughout. Squarepusher is certainly making a unique form of music, but sadly, this is not very good listening throughout. There is an interesting sort of shuffle percussion-based drumming in the second half of this track, but still, this sounds much more like style rather than overall substance. The intricacies of this music certainly are interesting to hear, but this does not mean that the music is at all good. Towards the end, layers of sound build up and this is well-edited and crafted together. This ends after four minutes in length.

Gong Acid begins with an interesting fade-in, with some metallic percussion following it. This continues the rather odd and quite frankly, poor nature of the material here. This just does not sound fresh, inspired or good overall. It does incorporate some interesting percussion, but there is nothing decent nor sensationally great musically here. If this hadn’t been recorded by Squarepusher, this would not see the light of day. The metallic percussion increases in tempo along the way, but this is not the EP that we deserve to listen to. Which is a big shame. A very odd piece of music that has very little appeal, and not much else really should be said about this. World Music from Indonesia sounds much better than this, and this EP does not sound good or worth your time. One of the weirdest tracks ever made. Please hit stop if you are with us so far, there is far better and higher-quality music out there to listen to and experience. The music is repetitive as well, and it does not follow a strict tempo. Towards the end of it are some surreal sounds added to the mix, but by this point, it is too late. This ends with a science fiction-style sound, and the EP concludes there.

This is not a very good listening experience overall. Being much more style than substance, Squarepusher recorded an EP that makes little sense and has little appeal to listen to. Some may enjoy the mixture of Techno sounds, IDM structures and jazzy Drum and Bass percussion, but the material on this release is so poor that it makes you want to hit stop and listen to something else, never to return to this release again. So, should you listen to this release? Definitely not, there are much better EPs out there in electronic music that are much more worth it, even by Squarepusher himself.

Depressing and disappointing.

4/10