Hard Normal Daddy was Squarepusher’s first album to come out on Warp Records, the label that would remain his home until the present day. Released in 1997, one year after his debut, Feed Me Weird Things, it’s a far more consistent and comprehensive artistic statement and represents the first true realisation of the ideas that were in embryonic form on his debut.
I don’t really rate albums, but if I did there are three in Squarepusher’s discography that I would rate as 5-stars, one is Go Plastic, one is Ultravisitor and the other is Hard Normal Daddy. I’d also rate Big Loada as 5 stars, but that’s technically an EP so never mind about that for now.
Much like his debut, HND brings together jazz, jungle, acid rave, breakbeat and more but unlike FMWT, here they’re successfully synthesised into a coherent and unique style that is truly Jenkinson’s own. If you’re new to Squarepusher, or you’re looking to get a sense of what he’s about then I’d recommend this as a great place to start because it includes so many elements that run through his music – especially the first period of his career during the 1990s.
In the sleeve is a note saying ‘this album is dedicated to the Chelmsford rave scene’. And the artwork features 8-bit illustrated figures of little ravers populating various suburban landscapes, including a gasometer, which was once an iconic element of the British low-rise urban environment, though now there’s not too many left. And I really see this setting, the mundane semi-urban sprawl around Greater London – or it could be any medium sized city in the UK – as the grounding for Squarepusher’s sound.
What do I mean by that? I mean the character of his melodies so often evoke this kind of environment and specifically during the era of late 80s or early 90s. One of the earliest examples of this is from FMWT rather than this album, and that’s Theme from Ernest Borgnine. The melody is bright, uplifting, sunny and uncomplicatedly optimistic; it’s kind of spacey but definitely not in a deep cosmic way. It’s the sort of refrain that would soundtrack grainy footage of a new shopping centre opening and crowds of fresh-faced shoppers in brightly coloured synthetic fabrics rushing in to peruse the wares. It’s full of that wide-eyed techno optimism of the pre-internet age – well the internet existed but it hadn’t become the monstrosity it is today.
A track like Beep Street on Hard Normal Daddy is the perfect encapsulation of this. There’s clearly a melancholy undercurrent too, as well as the lighter side, and that duality is what makes it such an incredible piece. But it instantly makes me feel like I’m sitting on a bus, in some anonymous borough of outer London with my head pressed to the window watching the world go by: cars, road signs, tower blocks, playgrounds, pedestrians. That might sound dull but I really don’t mean it in that way, it’s the pure tableau of everyday life and there’s something deeply comforting and grounding in it – especially as someone who spent a lot of my youth in that kind of environment. You only have to watch a few fan videos made for Beep Street to see how many people have set it as the soundtrack to car journeys.
No doubt if you’re watching this you know how good a track it is; the fact it’s one of Squarepusher’s most streamed tracks speaks to that. The chopped snare at the start sounds like it’s going to go into some badman jungle but then the energy is smoothed right down with the jazz chords and layers of what sound like processed cello playing off against the piano notes.
Beep Street is the perfect distillation of the album as a whole, the way Squarepusher unites those disparate styles: jungle and jazz, but via a common seam – their innate urban-ness. There are much more concentrated examples of each style on HND, but Beep Street is the yin yang symbol where both are in balance.
At the jazzier end of the spectrum is the pair of tracks, Papalon and E8 Boogie that make up the record’s midsection. I tended to skip these back in the day, as I was after the harder breakbeat stuff. But now I enjoy them in the context of the album as a whole. Both feel heavily inspired by film soundtracks – I’m thinking vintage action thrillers from the 70s and 80s, each track has a distinct narrative arc and spans 8 minutes each. Papalon is a bit more on the moody side, E8 Boogie as you’d expect is more lively, with some insanely funky bass playing.
My favourite of the jazzier tracks however is Male Pill part 13 which employs the same moody synth sound as Beep Street, and then what I guess is electric piano and electric guitar taking turns at providing the lead, over more insane bass playing and chopped breaks. These three tracks all have this cool urbane hip feel to them, which you get from the live instruments and Tom’s highly technical playing style. He has stated clearly in interviews that he was not classically trained but largely self-taught, plus he played in bands for several years before becoming Squarepusher so that obviously moulded his style.
Another track I used to skip, God knows why ‘cos it’s a banger, is Cooper’s World which opens the album. A YouTube commenter put it better than I ever could: best intro music for a courtroom drama ever. Heavily leaning into that 80s vibe with funky guitars, jazzy licks and breakbeats, you can just picture a montage of a snappily dressed protagonist (the eponymous Cooper I guess) winning cases with his maverick approach in the courtroom overlaid with neon credits and over-the-top swish transitions.
At the ravier end of the spectrum, we’ve got Rustic Raver, which is an absolute beast. The burbling 303 bass synth does most of the work here, and the beats sound more like they were done from scratch than the usual amen sampling. And for the final portion of the track, Tom introduces this hypnotic melodic riff that has this delightfully psychedelic freeform character to it. The treatment of the beats and the fluid, liquid way the track progresses is a major precursor to what he’d do next on the Big Loada EP.
Bringing even more intensity at track 5 is Chin Hippy, which seems to be an attempt to create the most hectic and abrasive possible execution of breakbeat. I don’t think breakcore had been coined as a genre label in 1997, but this could be considered proto-breakcore in its intensity and atmosphere. This is the kind of thing I lapped up when I first got my hands on HND; though now it comes across as a bit much. Tom would pull off this kind of barely controlled insanity on Go Plastic much more adroitly, and indeed most recently on Wendorlan from his latest album Dostrotime. Can’t beat Chin Hippy for youthful ballsiness though.
The best of the ravier tracks in my opinion however, is the absolute ripper: Vic Acid. It’s impossible to put this on and not find yourself reaching for the volume control to crank it up and just let loose. A twisted acid bassline snarls all over the place like a demonic beast and the amen break is shredded to within an inch of its life; like the sample itself becomes an instrument in Jenkinson’s hands and he’s soloing like crazy – really testing the limits of what’s possible with that 7 seconds of rhythm.
At well over an hour, Hard Normal Daddy is a substantial listen, and if you’re not already sympathetic with some of the influences, it can take a bit of getting used to. When I first got the CD, I would often skip the jazzier tracks in favour of the electronic ones. But the album wears its weight well and over time, I’ve come to appreciate it in totality. And I’ve still never managed to properly get into jazz.
Through the way the tracks are sequenced, and Tom’s flexing across different styles, Hard Normal Daddy never loses itself in the doldrums. And it’s a true evolution of the sound he debuted on FMWT. I’m sure he must have got his hands on a more kit in the time since recording those early tracks, and not only that but got a lot better at producing and arranging. Because as well as exploring new vistas with a wider variation of sounds and tones, so many of the compositions have incredible levels of detail and complexity. Especially when you think this was created without the kind of Digital Audio Workspace producers use today.
By dedicating the record to the Chelmsford Rave scene – whether that’s tongue in cheek or not – I feel like Tom was situating his music in that lineage and asking us to consider it in that context. He grew up going to raves; I’m sure I’ve read that a key inspiration was LFO’s classic track (also called LFO) and while there are clear rave influences – the breakbeats, the Roland 303, the energy etc – it’s also deeply cerebral, reflective, not to mention funky, jazzy and with more than one foot in the mid 20th century. It’d be easy to never think that all these strands have anything to do with one another but on Hard Normal Daddy, Squarepusher challenges us to see them as part of the same continuum.
So for me, a classic album, one of the many high watermarks of 1997 and late 90s electronic music in general. A perfect introduction to early Squarepusher. A deep and varied album, challenging at times but ultimately rewarding.
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