concert: squarepusher

Last night we headed into the city for some musical mayhem. We arrived around 11pm at the Mezzanine, a large club tucked away in one of the alleys between Mission and Market in the SOMA district of San Francisco. Alterna-kids, ravers, and the assorted lot of hipsters (ourselves included) had all come out to witness the spectacle that is Squarepusher (aka Tom Jenkinson), Warp Records recording artist and drum and bass virtuouso.

When we arrived, Luke Vibert (aka Wagon Christ), was working the crowd, while appearing to passively meditate over his laptop. He played a great mix, with lots of elements of dub, funk, and soul. My only gripe was that he overdid it on the dub vocals, as I have a rather low threshold for crazy over-stimulated rastas yelling incessantly in my ear. Just after midnight, Luke stepped off and Squarepusher came on.

I've been a fan of Squarepusher for about a year now and was excited to see him live for the first time. He didn't disappoint. Many electronic artists spend their sets twiddling knobs or playing with their laptops, trying to imbue the pre-programmed set with a little live performance. Squarepusher, on the other hand, walks out carrying a giant 6-string bass, with a fret-board so big you could eat thanksgiving dinner off of it. He didn't waste any time. He set the programmed tracks rolling and just went nuts on his bass, with hard-hitting, insanely fast breakbeats and improvised, lightning-quick bass runs pulsing through the Mezzanine's $10,000+ sound system. Acoustic energy saturated the room, so thick it penetrated every part of your body, even parts you didn't know you had. In addition, there was particularly intense rapid strobe lighting throughout the performance, resulting in a nearly complete sensory overload. My eyes and ears were crying rape, but my brain was begging for more.

The show was great, though certainly indulgent. I usually think of Squarepusher as being a bit more accessible than some of his colleagues (e.g. the ever enigmatic Aphex Twin), but his performance was anything but restrained. Tom would let the drums accelerate out of control, many times creating a cacophany that was nigh-impossible to dance to (with your feet, anyway) and went on many extended bass-outs (impatient souls might even refer to it as "wanking"). Squarepusher would stop at fairly regular intervals to throw his hand up in the air, his prompt for the crowd to shout. It was almost as if the music was so overpowering, the crowd had to be told when to cheer as opposed to hold on for dear life. The highlight of the set for me was the performance of Squarepusher's single "Come On My Selector" (the same track that was adapted into a wonderful music video by Chris Cunningham). It struck the right balance between out of control drums and spiraling bass licks, coming down to earth just enough for you to be compelled to dance, commanding you to throw your body every which way before being re-inveloped in auditory chaos.