As with most of my electronic music, this track is found on a compilation. In this case, Squarepusher Theme comes from EMI, Inst. Tracks Elec. Vol 1, Disc 1. Further, I was unable to find it on iTunes to offer you a preview.
And those three sentences really sum up artists like Squarepusher. They’re hard to access. While I rarely listen to the radio anymore, I never found artists like Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher’s given name) there anyway. Genres such as jazz, electronic, and classical music might simply appeal to fewer people on a sonic level, but I would argue that their minority status is in part due to the work it requires to discover them. I’m not about to spin off on some “tyranny of the majority” rant. Instead, I would like to suggest that it is that inaccessibility which makes genres like electronic so enjoyable. It requires you to go out and make the effort, but it also gives you a greater sense of ownership when you eventually find something. Most things are better with a back story. Music is no exception. With electronic there almost has to be a back story. There will almost always be something unique about how you accessed it. You won’t hear any DJs I know say, “Following Oops!…I Did It Again, we’ll spin Squarepusher’s latest on Ronkonkoma’s best rock…47.7!” The story generally goes something more like this…
When I moved to Washington, DC in 1995, my friend Joe and I did more on Saturday than visit those CD trading posts (see #3 Aeroplane). In the evening, we often settled onto the couches of the Chi Cha Lounge or the Eighteenth Street Lounge. Chi Cha was a little more welcoming but also a little further out of the way. The Eighteenth Street Lounge, on the other hand, was in the heart of the action and replete with a line at the door, multiple cover charge levels, and that anxious moment where you were judged for your collective cool. Once inside the non-descript, black door and up the stairs, the lounge was a series of levels, bars, couches, and musical offerings…one level generally featuring electronic music and another some form of jazz. The drinks were the type of expensive that reminds you that DC likes to think it is NY. And adding to the charm, the building was turn of the century (that century, not this). I never had a bad experience, but I can’t remember a single conversation or event. ESL was about the vibe.
I don’t know if I heard Squarepusher Theme at ESL, but it does have vibe. It delivers some serious drum machine action with interwoven bass riffs. At times there’s a grinding synthesizer that sounds like someone just released one of those base-board mounted, coil-shaped door stoppers. It’s a fine piece of music, but I’m not sure this genre was meant to be six minutes cut from a mix of all genres. You kind of have to sit back and listen to it along with similar tracks in one long wave…maybe with the appropriate lighting…maybe with couches. You can keep the velvet rope.
Ps. In doing some research, I found out that ESL opened right around the same time we started going. I also learned that the group Thievery Corporation was formed there between a part owner, Eric Hilton, and a guest, Rob Garza. I’ve only actively followed a few artists in this genre. Thievery Corporation is one of them. Maybe they made an impression back in the day.
PPs. Speaking of electronic, I pass this vet office every day on my way to drop off my daughter at school. The sign out front currently says, “Free microchips.” What are we doing?
PPPs. I find the sub-mini-genre-classification of music tiresome. Electronic music is amongst the biggest offenders…trance, house, rave, ambient, jungle, techno, industrial. Give me a break. If I incorrectly label a genre, I humbly repent.
And those three sentences really sum up artists like Squarepusher. They’re hard to access. While I rarely listen to the radio anymore, I never found artists like Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher’s given name) there anyway. Genres such as jazz, electronic, and classical music might simply appeal to fewer people on a sonic level, but I would argue that their minority status is in part due to the work it requires to discover them. I’m not about to spin off on some “tyranny of the majority” rant. Instead, I would like to suggest that it is that inaccessibility which makes genres like electronic so enjoyable. It requires you to go out and make the effort, but it also gives you a greater sense of ownership when you eventually find something. Most things are better with a back story. Music is no exception. With electronic there almost has to be a back story. There will almost always be something unique about how you accessed it. You won’t hear any DJs I know say, “Following Oops!…I Did It Again, we’ll spin Squarepusher’s latest on Ronkonkoma’s best rock…47.7!” The story generally goes something more like this…
When I moved to Washington, DC in 1995, my friend Joe and I did more on Saturday than visit those CD trading posts (see #3 Aeroplane). In the evening, we often settled onto the couches of the Chi Cha Lounge or the Eighteenth Street Lounge. Chi Cha was a little more welcoming but also a little further out of the way. The Eighteenth Street Lounge, on the other hand, was in the heart of the action and replete with a line at the door, multiple cover charge levels, and that anxious moment where you were judged for your collective cool. Once inside the non-descript, black door and up the stairs, the lounge was a series of levels, bars, couches, and musical offerings…one level generally featuring electronic music and another some form of jazz. The drinks were the type of expensive that reminds you that DC likes to think it is NY. And adding to the charm, the building was turn of the century (that century, not this). I never had a bad experience, but I can’t remember a single conversation or event. ESL was about the vibe.
I don’t know if I heard Squarepusher Theme at ESL, but it does have vibe. It delivers some serious drum machine action with interwoven bass riffs. At times there’s a grinding synthesizer that sounds like someone just released one of those base-board mounted, coil-shaped door stoppers. It’s a fine piece of music, but I’m not sure this genre was meant to be six minutes cut from a mix of all genres. You kind of have to sit back and listen to it along with similar tracks in one long wave…maybe with the appropriate lighting…maybe with couches. You can keep the velvet rope.
Ps. In doing some research, I found out that ESL opened right around the same time we started going. I also learned that the group Thievery Corporation was formed there between a part owner, Eric Hilton, and a guest, Rob Garza. I’ve only actively followed a few artists in this genre. Thievery Corporation is one of them. Maybe they made an impression back in the day.
PPs. Speaking of electronic, I pass this vet office every day on my way to drop off my daughter at school. The sign out front currently says, “Free microchips.” What are we doing?
PPPs. I find the sub-mini-genre-classification of music tiresome. Electronic music is amongst the biggest offenders…trance, house, rave, ambient, jungle, techno, industrial. Give me a break. If I incorrectly label a genre, I humbly repent.
No comments:
Post a Comment