Search - Squarepusher :: Burningn'n Tree

Humble beginings

eightpointagenda | Chicago, IL | 05/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After the release of Squarepusher's sucessful and ambitous full length debut, Warp records decided it would be okay to raid his backcatalog and let him release as much music as he wanted for the time being. In that span of time it produced to albums: Big Loada (a collection of hard to find singles) and Burning'n' Treee; a collection of the some of the earliest works from the musical prodigy. While the collection contains some of his least impressive work, it shows the groundwork of what he would later produce and ultimately transend.Largely, B'n'T is a collection of straightforward drum n' bass tracks with heavy emphasis on hyper-knetic drum programing and spastic bass playing. What certainly seperates his tracks from the rest of the drum n' bass gang is that he uses his formula largely to create more free form jazz tracks rather than leaning towards typical drum n' bass conventions. His songs evolve as if they are being improvised rather than being programmed. Sure, typical drum n' bass burner appears from time to time (the eleven minute Conumber is the definite highlight) and he certainly does it better than most.What the album lacks is a good jaw-dropping track. All of them are good, quality tracks but there isn't a huge stand out beyond Conumber (mostly because its so long). Big Loada had Come On My Selector. Go Plastic had its Red Hot Car. Feed Me Weird Things had Tundra. Even his tiny Buddakon Mindphone had Iambic 5 Poetry. But nothing on Burning'n Tree is comes close to rivaling that material. But then again, its not meant to be. If you're looking for a Squarepusher history lesson, Burning'n Tree will do you no wrong. If you're looking for solid drum n' bass with a twist, it should satisfy. Just don't expect to be knocked out of your seat."