Ever since 1998's Music is Rotted One Note, it has always seemed that Tom Jenkinson never really managed to find a middle ground for his hardcore techno musings and his softer, freeform jazz musings. After having released the quite mixed Go Plastic and Do You Know Squarepusher, it seems like Squarepusher finally managed to find that longly-seeked middle ground that mixes both dominating elements of Squarepusher's style without having it sounding out of place and whilst still managing to surprise us with entirely new directions as well.

Ultravisitor is a collection of every single aspect of Squarepusher's music, ranging from manic drill and bass compositions to jazzier, more musically oriented numbers as well. In the complete overall feel, his compositions have gotten to a more mature and sophisticated level as well. The title track, Ultravisitor, pretty much shows out what I'm talking about. It's an epic, futuristic and delightful electro-pop tune mixed up with Squarepusher's signature bleeps and manic snares. Even though it's actually 8 minutes long, it do feels a lot more shorter than that since the track's flow is so excellently crafted.

The complaint I had with Go Plastic and DYKS was the lack of Jenkinson's live bass musings, and fortunately for all of the people who loved airing his bass playing, he finally decided to dust off his bass from the basement with Ultravisitor. He's quite an amazing player indeed, as shown into the extended bass solos being played through I Fulcrum and C-Town Smash. Andrei and Every Day I Love both are complete surprises, them being quiet and gentle classical guitar compositions without involving any digital trickery in the process.

The album's biggest highlight though is Tetra-Sync, an amazing epic that almost squeezes in every single aspect of Jenkinson's music into 9 minutes of madness. It's a beautifully executed mesh of live and programmed drums, mind-numbing bass playing and beautiful melodies to boot. The middle section of the song is probably the best music that has ever came from Squarepusher. This album is worth getting for this song alone. It HAS to be heard, I tell you.

Expect the rest of this album to be incredibly solid as well. Iambic 9 Poetry is a quite relaxing tune featuring well-crafted live drums while 50 Cycles is warped, noise-hop with an incredible atmosphere. Steinbolt is a complete mind twisting, sick experiment that has Squarepusher thinking for a while that he's part of a death metal band. The result is undoubtly the most violent track that has ever been put unto a CD, people who enjoyed Go Plastic as a whole are really going to love that tune.

Anyone who's been familiar with Squarepusher since the past years are going to love this CD without any doubt since it's the best of both of Tom Jenkinson's worlds. There's something for everyone on this release and the results are as, if not more impressive than his previous efforts. If you like Squarepusher, you can't go wrong with Ultravisitor. If you're unfamiliar with him, I'd wager it's a good place to start with Squarepusher as well. However, don't expect any easy-listening music out of this album. This is purely music for adventurous listeners wanting to stretch their musical horizons further ahead.

It's fantastic music, period.

Squarepusher -- Tom Jenkinson -- stares serenely from the cover of "Ultravisitor," as if he's examining whoever is considering buying it. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel weird. Somehow the cover seems appropriate, as Jenkinson seems to have matured musically in the frantic, beautifully mad newest album, and the calm cover reflects it.

The title song kicks off "Ultravisitor" in a whirlwind of mad bleeps, robotic flashes and breakneck percussion. And that's just the first few minutes -- what follows is a mixture of jazzy solos, a delicate guitar melody, and a halting ambient pop melody that seems uncertain of where exactly it's supposed to go.

About one-third through, Jenkinson gets more expansive, creating a mix of sweeping electronic panoramas and robotic vocals in "50 Cycles." It sounds like a compressed cyberpunk movie. Then he strays deeper into sputtering feedback, buzzing tools, and ghostly creaks. Don't expect a robotic, mad climax -- instead, he chooses to end it with a pair of startlingly delicate little instrumentals.

Squarepusher sounds more polished and sure of himself in this release, as if he has a good grip on what he can do best. It's sparse, cold and metallic at times, but is warmed up by the acoustic instrumentals. Those songs are where Jenkinson sounds least sure of himself, but it gives "Ultravisitor" a gentler tone.

Jenkinson is in fine form as he creates apocalyptic hard electronica, sounding like a robot city imploding on itself. But he also indulges in his love of jazz music, and performs songs that are nothing but a hesitant little solo on an acoustic guitar. It's difficult to believe that these songs are all by the same person, or that Jenkinson could do them all so well.

Squarepusher stretches his boundaries in "Ultravisitor," a more mature album that displays all his musical talents. Definitely worth getting.

I never know what to expect from Tom Jenkinson (sp?) (AKA Squarepusher). I do know that I have never heard anything bad from him. I confess that I was not overly thrilled with the Do You Know..? album. Ultravisitor brings him back on track and BEYOND.

The thing I sense that Tom is going for artistically is a fine balance between his Drill and bass jazzy sound juxtaposed with some ambient type of musical interplay. He has pulled it off on this record folks. It is some Good...!

The title track takes the listener to a place they really have not seen before. I agree as well that it is hard to tell if the way in the background audience was live in the studio or not. But what became very clear to me is that Tom DOES actually play all the instrumentation and is an exceptionally talented young man! He grows with each record and I find that, in and of itself, refreshing. Excellent spin!

It goes without saying that this album is great, however I just wanted to clarify what another user posted about the tracks not actually being live. Here is an excerpt from an interview with Tom for i-D magazine, March 2004:

Q: Were parts of Ultravisitor recorded on tour?

A: Yes, in fact most of the tracks are recorded from shows either in the UK or in the US/Canada. The point of using live versions of the tracks is that they show stupid people that, though their own stubbornness prevents them from being able to engage with my music, they hear other people cheering in the background, and realise that although this music is obscure, it cannot be totally inaccessible because other people like it. Because it is obscure, but not totally inaccessible, this makes it cool. This makes stupid people buy it. One day their children will dust it off and play it, and realise that I am the supreme musical genius of my generation. This means I'll still be able to play gigs when I'm an old fart with no ideas. Hopefully.

With his 9th album, Tom Squarepusher Jenkinson simply comes

on top of Warp's Best List.

Ultravisitor immediately becomes his best ever effort.

Ultravisitor makes you a co-visitor to all possible range

You can find ambient noise hum and deep dub (Telluric Piece, Menelec), classical compositions (Andrei, Everyday I love, Tommib Help Buss), jazz (I Falcrum, C-Town Smash), broken beat hip hop (Iambic Poetry, 50 cycles) and ... sure the beloved drill'n'bass and warp core electro (Ultravisitor, Steinbolt, District Line II).

The music is hypnotic, multifaceted, innovative, unconventional and most important of all - uncompromising!!!

Once again TJ shows us unseen landscapes from unseen (even for warp) heights.

Though Squarepusher has always been in the avant-garde of modern music making, this album shows still greater depths, complexity and ... wisdom in this magnificent craft.

Favourite tracks: needless to mention them all.