Squarepusher

Rephlex, 1996

He may be one of the most celebrated producers of his, or any generation, right now. But, when he started, the man they call Squarepusher couldn’t get no love. As Tom Jenkinson, he’d poured his soul into 1994’s Stereotype EP – a blistering stew of filthy force and fusion, years ahead of its time. Yet, of the 1000 made, 200 were couriered back and dumped in his doorway. “They couldn’t sell them,” says Tom. “Based on that, I came out of it thinking, ‘OK. I had a go’. I took it as a creative success. But, in all other respects, a failure. I accept that the world wasn’t interested in it…”

Thoughts turned to jacking it all in. Tom, an academic to his core, would get back to his learning. However, a string of other 12”s and EPs from the era began to catch light. And his experimental fusions of head-smart jazz stylings and breakbeat chaos became the hottest sound on the underground.

To his surprise, a bidding war began to rage between ice cool labels like Ninja Tune, Warp, and R&S. But, the eventual album deal would be struck with Richard D James’ Rephlex Records. And Mr Aphex Twin himself would whittle down a stack of DATs to piece together Squarepusher’s mind-melting debut album.

“The album came together through that process,” says Tom. “It was driven by Richard, with the earliest music from late 1994, to early ’96.”

The resulting LP would showcase the full spectrum of Tom’s technical and inspired bass playing, insane junglistic drum programming, and car-chase future funk. And become a landmark release from one of the most experimental producers, in one of the most experimental eras in electronic music.

Not that he ever thought he’d make a career out of it, though: “I never aspired to be a professional. They tend to suck the life out of everything. I’m still doing my best to hold it at bay, now.”

Feed Me Weird Things turns 25 this month, and gets a full reissue on Warp Records. And they’re not expecting many returns, that’s for sure.