Music Is Rotted One Note is the third studio album by English electronic musician Squarepusher, released on 12 October 1998 by Warp. The album is a departure for Squarepusher, with only elements of the familiar drum and bass style appearing in a largely jazz fusion production.
| Music Is Rotted One Note | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 12 October 1998 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 48:28 | |||
| Label | Warp | |||
| Producer | Tom Jenkinson | |||
| Squarepusher chronology | ||||
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Background
editThe production of Music Is Rotted One Note did not involve any sequencing or sampling equipment, which had featured heavily on Squarepusher's previous work.[4] Many of the tracks instead have a "live" feel, featuring virtuoso playing by Squarepusher on the drums and bass guitar. His own comments on the album include:
One of the reasons that I headed in that direction as opposed to the more computer sequence-type stuff is because I was actually beginning to feel really limited using sequencers and samplers... I was really beginning to yearn for the sort of unpredictability of the randomness of improvising with live instruments. I was just starting to choke. The sequencer is too square, too digital. I just wanted to get really fucking loose and just start again somehow.[5]
There were also other principles at play at this time relating to harmonic content. One was that I was to abandon the overt usage of melody. This was because I had come to see it as a cheap way of getting people to like my music. It disgusted me that it was so easy to appeal to people and I thus introduced arbitrary rules to make it harder.[4]
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| NME | 8/10[6] |
| Pitchfork | 9.8/10[7] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [8] |
| Spin | 7/10[9] |
In 2003, Pitchfork placed Music Is Rotted One Note at number 89 on its list of the best albums of the 1990s.[3]
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Tom Jenkinson
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Chunk-S" | 2:20 |
| 2. | "Don't Go Plastic" | 4:20 |
| 3. | "Dust Switch" | 4:28 |
| 4. | "Curve 1" | 2:06 |
| 5. | "137 (Rinse)" | 3:45 |
| 6. | "Parallelogram Bin" | 2:24 |
| 7. | "Circular Flexing" | 4:57 |
| 8. | "Ill Descent" | 2:37 |
| 9. | "My Sound" | 6:07 |
| 10. | "Drunken Style" | 0:45 |
| 11. | "Theme from Vertical Hold" | 4:25 |
| 12. | "Ruin" | 1:56 |
| 13. | "Shin Triad" | 2:26 |
| 14. | "Step 1" | 1:46 |
| 15. | "Last Ap Roach" | 4:00 |
Charts
edit| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Independent Albums (OCC)[10] | 40 |
References
edit- ^ "Squarepusher studies Cryptic Motion for Ed Banger". Fact. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ a b Prato, Greg. "Music Is Rotted One Note – Squarepusher". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ a b "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. 17 November 2003. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ a b "ask squarepusher! answers". Collective. Archived from the original on 8 December 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ Gross, Jason (January 1999). "Squarepusher interview". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ Martin, Piers (9 October 1998). "Squarepusher – Music Is Rotted One Note". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ Schreiber, Ryan. "Squarepusher: Music Is Rotted One Note". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 19 February 2003. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Squarepusher". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 773. ISBN 0743201698.
- ^ Micallef, Ken (January 1999). "Squarepusher: Music Is Rotted One Note". Spin. Vol. 15, no. 1. p. 122. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
External links
edit- Music Is Rotted One Note at Warp
- Music Is Rotted One Note at Discogs (list of releases)
- Music Is Rotted One Note at MusicBrainz (list of releases)