“FFFFFGGGGGGHSHHSH” went to music, “GGGGJJSYSYSYSY” it went a bit more, as Squarepusher fiddled with some things on his laptop and grinned. Lots of clever looking men stroked their beards and nodded their heads in approval. Those of us more inclined to party when at gigs, danced like we’d just been stripped of our skin and covered in salt.
It’s the third time this humble reviewer has had the pleasure of having his squares pushed by the great man, and it was the best. In the beginning Squarepusher had a tendency to wander off into on-stage bass-guitar masturbation and leave the audience a little cold, at others the lack of a substantial back catalogue was noticeable. This time, showcasing the best of his new Just a Souvenir album, as well as some well worn favorites, the show was wholesome and rounded, moving between distinct and different sounds as the night progressed and our brains disintegrated. We even got a bit of metal in the middle.
Squarepusher spent most of the time standing center-stage playing on his bass along to his laptops, but was occasionally joined by a drummer, who somehow managed to keep up with the stupidly fast and complicated rhythms. It might all have been a bit underwhelming as far as stage presence goes, especially when you have just Squarepusher on the stage, but luckily he brought along some absolutely massive lights which, apart from making you feel like you were in the middle of a seizure, brought on a happy group neurosis. A good thing for most of us, though he did send some boring folks home after two songs complaining of headaches.
The only negative of the night was the price. If you paid on the door you were looking at not much less than 5000 HUF, which is crazy for a gig in Budapest. Foreign acts should just accept they will be paid less to play in these strange eastern lands. There were some DJs later in the evening, but most of the crowd went home/on to better clubs and so the party fizzled out.
At the end of the day however, the gig was a blinder and the new album was every bit as strange, wonderful and not-quite-danceable-but-will-give-it-a-go-anyway-able as we could have hoped for. Squarepusher continues to dance so far into the precipice of cutting edge, that he must wake up with bleeding feet every morning. We can just thank the great warp in the sky that he does it for the good of all (electronic music loving) human kind.
