AMG Review of Just a Souvenir

John Bush
All Music Guide

From the fevered imagination of Squarepusher's Tom Jenkinson, Just a Souvenir attempts to soundtrack a vivid dream where Jenkinson experienced a live concert like none other. Surprisingly, the album succeeds despite the dream's inclusion of portions where a river appears on-stage (forcing bandmembers to begin kayaking) and all the drums in the Eskimo's drumkit repeatedly changing places with each other. Obviously, the fact that a piece of art springs from a dream isn't very rare, nor is the fact that dreams are usually surreal, but this tale becomes important because it's a key way to describe the sound of the music -- kinetic, hyperactive, quickly changing from one previously unimaginable piece of music-making to another. Of all artists, Jenkinson continues to have one of the most active musical imaginations (another nod to dreaming). Granted, his ideas wouldn't sound half as astonishing if they were slowed to normal speed, but they'd still sound at least half-crazy. Of the entire Squarepusher discography, Just a Souvenir most resembles Hard Normal Daddy with its hyper-speed drums and bass, sounding more and more like a scattered but fascinating Weather Report with each passing minute. Jenkinson's work on electric bass is as good as it's ever been, and when he puts the bass down, he's reaching for all manner of played or programmed equipment to express his ideas. Still sounding like no other artist on the planet -- whether because of talent or intent -- Squarepusher succeeds again with a radical, challenging piece of music.