Hello Everything

Now that Sofia Coppola has slipped Squarepusher onto not one but two soundtracks (Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette), the world must be ready for the producer's new record, right? Not so fast. We're talking about the former don of drill 'n' bass here, a classically trained musician who's balancing his booth time between contemplative and cushy jazz ("Circlewave 2," the future-shocked "Bubble Life") and splitting break beats like blood cells ("The Modern Bass Guitar," "Plotinus"). Neither of which are bound for the pop charts. Ah but that's just what makes Hello Everything so refreshing: An anything goes attitude that pays little attention to Squarepusher's past or anyone else for that matter. If he wants to close with 10 minutes of dank, droning jungle music (the place where monkeys swing, not the subgenre), he goes right ahead and unfurls a piece that could score b-roll footage on Lost ("Orient Orange"). If he wants to name a track "Theme From Sprite" and literally treat it like a jingle, he jumps right into a pool of melted cheddar. And if he must round out the rest of the record with stellar melodic breakcore songs of a wild and wooly nature, then so be it. We're not complaining.