About

Squarepusher, presents Kammerkonzert, a riot of onyx-hard, hyperfast riffs, fiendish orchestral themes and handbrake turns through varieties of progressive, ambient, electronic and experimental music. — (via Label)

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Real name Thomas Jenkinson, Squarepusher has returned with his first album since 2024’s Dostrotime. However, Kammerkonzert is a stark departure. Drill’n’bass has been replaced with multi-layered compositions of jazz-cum-IDM-cum-orchestral essences. Currently it’s impossible to not relate the word ‘chamber’ to the triggering buzzterm ‘echo-chamber’, but in a time of complacent self-confirming trends, fads and vitality, Kammerkonzert stands confidently on its own two feet.

Kammerkonzert is cinematic, but not confined to one particular film genre. The intro track,’K1 Advance’, begins with plucky call and response phrases, as slightly off-kilter drums join the scatty symphony, creating an uncanny start to the album. Squarepusher continues to create a filmic atmosphere on ‘K5 Fremantle’, which could be a horror movie theme with its high pitched Psycho vibrato strings. ‘K9 Reliance’ too could soundtrack any big 1990s cinema car chase with its booming ascending and descending piano scales. You could even make a case for ‘K10 Terminus’ aligning with Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (2014) score.

As if returning more to traditionalist roots now, Kammerkonzert is cemented in the fundamentals of music creation, using orchestral music as its base camp. But of course, Jenkinson wouldn’t let you get away that easy, and as the music builds he washes his wonderful, abstract pigments all over those traditionalist forms – whilst maybe just hacking off a few musical purists along the way. — (via The Quietus)

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Kammerkonzert originated from Tom Jenkinson's desire to work with classically trained musicians. He began writing music for orchestra in 2016, and workshopped the material with professional chamber musicians, but wasn't satisfied with the results. Years later, following a wrist injury which temporarily prevented him from being able to play bass guitar, and the COVID-19 pandemic which placed restrictions on large groups of musicians meeting up, he ended up recording the whole thing himself. He also made a point to prioritize pitch and harmony, though the music is still quite melodic and rhythmic. 

The resulting album is one of the most complex and ambitious works in the Squarepusher catalogue, and unlike anything he's previously attempted. There's elements of his jazz fusion-influenced works, and even the occasional presence of rave-inspired rhythms, but on the whole, it's closer to the avant chamber-prog of Magma or Univers Zero, with some moments even recalling Zappa at his most Stravinsky-esque. As knotty and over-the-top as it gets, it's still filled with whimsy and excitement. 

Jenkinson sounds like he's having a blast challenging himself to realize the most outlandish music he can imagine. "K4 Fairlands" is one of the album's highlights, folding choppy but muted breakbeats into creeping strings, then pushing it over the top with synth sequences matching the strings. "K2 Central" incorporates a slow electro-funk drum machine rhythm matched with funky fusion bass, live drum eruptions, and rising strings. "K7 Museum" incorporates harpsichord and mallet percussion, and sounds like some sort of haunted house avant-funk. The head-spinning "K10 Terminus" is irresistibly perky, and "K13 Vigilant" is similarly gleeful and mind-bending.

The longest piece, the drumless "K5 Fremantle," is much more ominous, with erratic strings and haunting echo painting a particularly dark and surreal scene. "K14 Wellbeck" is a glimmering organ piece continuing in the direction of All Night Chroma, Jenkinson's previous collaboration with James McVinnie, which originated as a 2016 performance at Royal Festival Hall. Kammerkonzert seems like it might end up being as divisive among Squarepusher fans as his 1998 fusion masterwork Music Is Rotted One Note, as it branches far out into a direction Jenkinson hasn't explored before. Even if it is an acquired taste, Kammerkonzert is still a fascinating release and a remarkable achievement. — (via Paul Simpson // AllMusic)

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Label: Warp Records
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 2026
Genre: Electronic, Jazz
Style: Experimental

File under: Electronic // Leftfield
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