Review Summary: A battleground of sounds.
You can't push the Squarepusher into a square. Ugh, yeah, I just did that. It sounded like a good idea, but now that I am looking at it on the screen, it's just awful. I'm not taking it out, and that is a deliberate decision on my part. Why? Because Squarepusher goes where the muse tells him to go, the writing muse told me to go there. Unfortunately, the muse assigned to me is nowhere near as talented as the one given to Squarepusher. In fact, my muse is often incoherent and brash, but so is Squarepusher's! However, his music leaves you satiated, and I can't promise you that this review will do the same.
Music is Rotted One Note is a paradox. It is an album filled with dying melodies that birth new ones. It is a musical Frankenstein that stitches together passages that appear contradictory but ultimately prove to be complimentary. The first track, Chunk-S, is a funk-inspired groove reminiscent of Herbie Hancock that somehow transitions into a psychedelic fever dream with the arrival of Don't Go Plastic. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Squarepusher was channeling the creative process of Bitch's Brew on this track. However, Square doesn't remain in this arena of sound for long. At the halfway mark of the track, the funk influences and more traditional jazz drumming make their way to the forefront before slowly drifting away into a more laid-back sound. This flirtation with various eras of jazz is still present throughout the record, but Square's IDM origins slowly surface. It's as if one school of music threatens to overtake the other. This record is a war for territory.
Music is Rotted One Note also has little pockets that are wholly separate from the funk, jazz, and IDM elements sprinkled throughout. The sixth track, Parallelogram Bin, takes a Brian Enoesque approach, yet it doesn't fully devolve into that ambient space. It appears as if Parallelogram is the transition point of the record into a more synth-based IDM collective. The jazz drumming is still present, but the prominent funk-driven bass is left in the shadows. Music is Rotted One Note is a battleground; each sound is fighting desperately to become the prominent voice in the record. This record is the marriage of Squarepusher's influences, and the ceremony is truly something to behold.
