Deep In The Scatter

Squarepusher “K10 Terminus” I’ve been thinking about how so many of the people we’ve been calling “electronic” producers and artists since the 90s really should’ve been classified as composers from the start. I understand why they weren’t: it’s kind of a lofty term, it’s not very commercial, and early on the most novel selling point was that acts like Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, μ-Ziq, and Autechre were largely working in an electronic mode and making futuristic music. But from this point in history, it’s pretty clear that electronic production was only a means to an end for most acts in this lane, and the game has always been about ambitious composition, not computers and synthesizers. This is particularly true of Squarepusher, who was asserting himself as a jazz artist working in an “electronic” milieu by the late 90s. Jump ahead nearly 30 years to his new record Kammerkonzert and he’s fully in composer mode – the electronic elements are still there, but the emphasis is on jazz…