Squarepusher at Webster Hall

By Jake Bernstein 

Squarepusher at Webster Hall 

For many people, artists such as Skrillex, Skream, and Skism have replaced the "IDM" giants that once were, one being Squarepusher. After fellow booking agency mate Falty DL was finished with his mostly glitch/ambient set, the venue went pitch black and all that was visible was the signature Squarepusher logo. The audience stood in dead silence, embracing themselves for what would be Squarepusher's first US appearance in over 6 years. A week or so before the show, it was announced that Squarepusher had cancelled his planned Shobaleader One performance and decided to premiere his new album Ufabulum instead. This made sense, as Shobaleader did come out two years ago, and ticket sales were very slow.

Ambient noise blared from the stage, smoke filled the room, and Tom Jenkinson took the stage screaming to a captive audience: "C'mon everyone!" just as the bass dropped. Ripping through a full set of brand new material from Ufabulum, you could hear many sounds and samples resembling his hit record "Go Plastic." Unlike most electronica/IDM (or whatever you want to call it) nights, Squarepusher stopped almost after every song to lead into the next one, playing basically like any other rock band. There was no mixing or blending each song into each other (for the most part). The let-down of the night, no classics. No "Red Hot Car", "Come On My Selector", or even "Journey to Reedham"…straight drum n' bass mixed with (surprisingly) commercial-esque dustup.

Aside from the music and the new album, the most impressive part had to be the light-show. Carefully mapped to sequence with his mask, shards of light hit the audience through every bass drop, drum kick, or snare hit throughout the show. There was no bass guitar on Jenkinson's arm, as he had said in the release of the Ufabulum teaser: "I've started thinking about pure electronic music again. Something very melodic, very aggressive." It was Tom, a podium, and what seemed like two Lemur pads ala Daft Punk. This was pure electronica.

To create a setlist for this would be nearly impossible. Squarepusher ripped through his whole new album (most likely), which comes out May 15. Check out the preview for Ufabulum below.