Hard Normal Daddy

Hard Normal Daddy
Studio album by Squarepusher
Released 28 April 1997
Genre Drill 'n' bass
Length 62:07
Label Warp
Producer Tom Jenkinson
Squarepusher chronology
Port Rhombus EP
(1996)Port Rhombus EP1996		 Hard Normal Daddy
(1997)		 Big Loada
(1997)Big Loada1997
Singles from Hard Normal Daddy
  1. "Vic Acid"
    Released: March 31, 1997

Hard Normal Daddy is a 1997 studio album by British electronic musician Tom Jenkinson under his alias of Squarepusher. The album was Jenkinson's first studio album as Squarepusher for Warp Records. A single for the track "Vic Acid" was released in 1997 prior to the album's release.

The album has received praise since its release including a five star review from AllMusic and being listed as one of the best albums of the year by The Wire and the NME. Stylus Magazine referred to the album in 2003 as Squarepusher's "masterpiece".

Production

Tom Jenkinson was offered to sign to Ninja Tune, Rephlex Records, R&S Records and Warp Records. Jenkinson eventually chose Warp as he was more interested in the label's music.[1]

Style

Pitchfork cited the album's musical style as an example of the drill 'n' bass subgenre, described by the online music database AllMusic as a version of drum and bass that warped "old midtempo beats and breaks into a frenzied, experimental potpourri of low-attention-span electronic music."[2][3]

The Palm Beach Newspaper described the album as jazz fusion influenced, describing its contents as "Lyrical, complicated keyboard riffs, dense, churning beats, nimble, melodic fretless bass – add in a saxophone, and you'd have the drum 'n' bass equivalent of Weather Report."[4] Tom Jenkinson has stated that his music on Hard Normal Daddy was not influenced by jazz fusion, but more funk oriented music like Herbie Hancock's Death Wish soundtrack and cop show themes.[5]

Release

Hard Normal Daddy was released by Warp Records on 28 April 1997. It was released on compact disc, double vinyl, cassette and digital download.[6] A single was released for the album for the track "Vic Acid" on 31 March 1997 by Warp on compact disc and 12-inch vinyl.[7][8]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]

AllMusic gave Hard Normal Daddy five out of five stars, comparing it favourably to similar releases from the music labels Spymania and Rephlex describing the album as "substantially cleaner and more thought out than previous releases" from those labels.[9] The music was also praised for not "simply relying on the shock value of "tripping-over-myself" drum programming and light-speed fretless bass noodling."[9] In 2003, Stylus Magazine referred to the album as Squarepusher's "masterpiece" and that Squarepusher "refrains from such mind numbing repetition and put down his most accomplished work to that point."[11] The Wire placed the album on their list of the best albums of 1998.[12] The NME placed the album at number 34 on their list of best albums of 1997.[13]

In 1999, Jenkinson referred to the music on his albums Feed Me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy as "already beginning to sound a bit... It sort of reminds me of being a bit younger in a way. It's a bit more (of a) naive approach, a bit more fresh. The sound as well. I've gotten better production." and "I still REALLY like it. I like my stuff 'cause I only ever end up with tracks that I really, really like. It always appeals to me. There's only about four tracks that I've done which I don't really like. The rest of them I like."[1] Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half stars out of five.[10]

Track listing

All songs composed by Tom Jenkinson.[9]

No.TitleLength
1."Coopers World"5:09
2."Beep Street"6:37
3."Rustic Raver"5:08
4."Anirog D9"1:11
5."Chin Hippy"3:16
6."Papalon"8:10
7."E8 Boogie"8:13
8."Fat Controller"5:38
9."Vic Acid"3:07
10."Male Pill Part 13"8:38
11."Rat/P's and Q's"4:33
12."Rebus"2:47

Credits

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Gross, Jason (January 1999). "Squarepusher Interview". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Drill'n'bass". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  3. ↑ Walls, Seth Colter (24 January 2017). "The Top 50 IDM Albums of All Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Fusion an Inspiration for Many Musicians". Palm Beach Newspaper. 12 April 1998. p. 6J.
  5. ↑ Blanning, Lisa (8 August 2012). "Interview: Squarepusher". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Warp / Records / Releases / Squarepusher / Hard Normal Daddy". Warp Records. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Vic Acid – Squarepusher: Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  8. ↑ DiGravina, Tim. "Vic Acid – Squarepusher". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Cooper, Sean. "Hard Normal Daddy – Squarepusher". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  10. 1 2 Wolk 2004, p. 773.
  11. ↑ Burns, Todd (1 September 2003). "Squarepusher – Hard Normal Daddy". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "1997 Rewind". The Wire. December 2007. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "Albums and Tracks of the Year for 1997". NME. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

Sources

  • Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Squarepusher". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743201698.
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