With his twelfth album, Tom Jenkinson takes even a further departure from his staple Squarepuher sound of broken beats atop slapped bass and twisted triggers of the Amen Break. Warp's own store, Warpmart, categorizes the album as "Drum and Bass / Breakcore / Electronica", but I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth! (kind of misleading actually). Just A Souvenir is more in the realms of experimental rock and future jazz, with a touch of electronic treatment and a few very tasteful drills, where Jenkinson continues evolving (as a true musician should) in his experimentation with abstract accompaniment of acoustic instruments (mostly his custom built 6 string bass guitar once again) and drums that effortlessly morph between organic and digital. With Just A Souvenir, Jenkinson introduces an element of early garage rock, with vocoder and all, and reminds us once again of his amazing instrumentalist skills. First thing's first - I like it! And after only a few listens, the melodies come back haunting me later during the day. A true sign that I will return to the album! Just A Souvenir opens up with a track titled, Star Time 2 (makes you wonder about its first part) with a fun funky synth/clavichord melody and light beats. From then on Squarepusher moves into improvisational, jazzy, and effected bass slaps over barely comprehensible vocoder blurbs. All of it is truly of psychedelic nature with sparking notes in a kaleidoscope of white, red, green, blue and yellow. On his site, Jenkinson explains that "this album started as a daydream about watching a crazy, beautiful rock band play an ultra-gig." He then goes on describing his fluorescent trip which included an Eskimo on the drums and a classical guitar player that could speed up and slow down the time in his vicinity. I recommend you read up on on Tom's blurred delirium before embarking on this trip. Then bathe yourself in this album which is the interpretation of Jenkinson's memory of the daydream which he held on to as a souvenir. Running at (only) 45 minutes long, Just A Souvenir picks up where Hello Everything left off, becoming more organic with every track. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you'll enjoy this rubber band trip through time. Only the way Squarepusher could. Just A Souvenir hits the streets on October 27th (2008), and is currently available as a digital download (in FLAC as well) from bleep dot com.

This is a wondeful gem from mr jenkinson and a great example of the range of his artistic exploration.

I find it hilarious and sad when peopl critisize squarepusher for putting out a release that is "much diffwerent from his other works" or "great album just not one of his best" or other one track mind comments such as that.

Squarepusher gived us a solid concept album here that marks his first attempt to materialize this fantasy/dream he has about this futuristis space band that prob is made up of robots due to the creative punkish song that is trck 4. At first is sounds like a overprocessed punk rock song--(who would want to hear that esp from squarepusher-i thought at first then as the song goes on it becomes a classic mainly due to the thematic content.The track then becomes tripped out in it is a clever observation about humans from a robot or android perspective which quickly turns a cheesy approach into something with substance and valid artistic expression.

Track 2 "the coathanger" sound like something a robotic george clinton would of released. It is an eletro funk classic..

His use of the bass guitar is prob he standout feature of this album being that he has it ran therough an interface to sound like a guitar one min then an acoustic funcadellic bass the next.

I am not really a metal or punk fan as i feel that type of music has an age limit that sould not go far beyond highschool but i do love heavy music so the rock sounding tracks are fun for me.. (i really love track 8 or 9 from ufabulum it sounds like a heavy metal track)--this album represents ultimately what music will look like in the futureif styles were programmed into a robotic musician and by creating this concept album of this robotic or non human band squarepusher then frees himnself to use vastly differing styles because this fusion would prob be what it wouls sound like if all of the musical styles from the past 200 years were programmed into current pop music of this fictuitous band.. I think squarepusher is optioning a reality in which pop music could possibly become intersting and intellectual due to the categorization that current pop musicians put themselves into therefore reducing their potential-- here squarepusher is saying pop music can be sweet if approached outside any category rules or conditioning-- the concept of this album is deep and only for people who take music seriously and are open to new ideas-- the people who get mad at squarepusher for his shobandleader and just a sov-experiments are just single minded losers--one of my favorite things to do on amazon is to get a laugh at retards that critisize brilliant artist such as jenkinson--'uhhh its not hardcore drum and bass ohh nooo run and cry he used barely any drum machines on this runn ohh no its less than a squarepusher release" haaaaa--screw people like that--i loved that one review where the guy was said there was too much bass guitar on this album but the e.p. he released along with it"numbers lucient" was a "return to form to apologize for the mainly acoustic souvenier"--haaa retard there was just as much bass on numbers as on souvenier---- buy this album if your really down with squarepusher if you just want his early style stick to his early work and the new album--i am a big fan of his solo bass works as well as his fantasy space band phase--squarepusher cant make a mistake its not possible--

Squarepusher's sound continues to develop with his album "Just A Souvenir", taking an experimental step into rock with many of his classic, jazzy and bass centric sounds. The instrumentation of this album, though, really sets it apart from his past releases. With a rock heavy feel to this album, of course over a DnB foundation, Squarepusher creates a unique experience for the listener. For me, this album reminds me of the common roots that so many genres share. Jazz, rock, and drill and bass come together in this album to create colorful melodies, which are complex at times and simple at others, yet, never predictable.

Although it's not a huge leap from his past material, my favorite track on the album is Aqueduct. This jazz influenced track combines electronic music concepts from the musique concrete movement with highly stylized and processed live recordings. The result is a trippy piece with clangs, acoustic guitar and bass, and synth stabs that's an easy piece to sit back and think to.

On the other end of the spectrum, some tracks such as Delta V sound straight out of the 1970s glam and punk rock genres. As a child I mainly studied jazz and blues music, so heavy rock has always been a bit hard for me to grasp and enjoy. For my taste, then, this album is bit disjointed and will probably require every listener to press the "skip" button a few times. This album definitely can't be pigeonholed into a specific genre.

One thing I have always respected about Squarepusher is his ability to create complicated melodies as well as complicated rhythms. Aqueduct is a great example of his ability to make complicated melodies that stand on their own without even a simple drumbeat. The intriguing mixture of sampled and recorded sounds that make up the melody create a dark yet beautiful texture that invites introspection. The lead track of the album, "Star Time 2", is a prime example of Squarepusher's ability to create complicated rhythms. Better yet, the fast paced, sound bending rhythm is coupled with calming guitar melodies in a funky piece that's worth listening to over and over again. Every time I listen to the piece, a new rhythmic set or melody will catch my attention, making it a new experience every time.

For people who enjoy 1970s music, this album is a great modern take on those classic themes that were strong in 1970s jazz and rock. With jazzy strummed guitars and slapped bass lines, the album reminds me a lot of John McLaughlin's work on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew album. Short choppy bass clips with both quick and slow guitar strumming mixed masterfully to create a trippy feel. More so than any other genre, the jazz work in this album seems to be a great fusion of classic style with modern technological improvements that really make it easy to create the intricate drum rhythms that should be the foundation of experimental jazz.

I'll be listening to this album on and off over the next few weeks in search of inspiration for my next pieces.

3 1/2

SQ has spread his sound (which had been getting stale over the past few releases) out a little further, and when he really tries, concocts furious sonic statements that sound just as revolutionary as anything he used to produce. Problem is, between a majority of tweaked ephemera the disc comes off as playful but ultimately underdeveloped.

I have considered Squarepusher to be one the more exciting and interesting things going on in music this past decade. I was also happy to come across an LP version of this album which includes a very cool poster with a very cool and far out essay by Square himself.

But alas...the great possibilities of this album are not realized. I see some other reviewers liked it but I thought it totally sucked. It sounds like [...] Surfers meets King Crimson micro waved with a thin slice of weak house music sounds. It has Sqaurepusher's sense of humor and I also admire artists that try new things and try to surprise their audience but I didn't like this at all. Some of it even sounds like a crappy Black Sabbath sample looping. Awful.