fri 06/12/2024

CD: Squarepusher – Damogen Furies | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Squarepusher – Damogen Furies

CD: Squarepusher – Damogen Furies

Electronica veteran returns with some challenging but engaging sounds

Damogen Furies - a powerful tempest of sound

In his recent theartsdesk interview, Squarepusher (or Tom Jenkinson to his mum) stated: “A subtle wave of conservatism has washed gently across electronic music over the last five years. One of the things the new record smashes against is that.” On this he really isn’t kidding, and Damogen Furies is unlikely to be heard as mood music to your shopping experience in any high street stores in the foreseeable future.

Hardcore rave sounds bump up against abrasive electro and abstract funk in a powerful tempest that is far from chilled out.

Opening track “Stor Eiglass” suggests an imaginary remix of Eighties popsters A-Ha by The Prodigy during their hardcore rave era, while “Baltang Ort” and “Rayc Fire 2” bring to mind the sound of Jenkinson’s occasional collaborator, Aphex Twin. While these tunes are certainly engaging, they may also present quite a challenging prospect to the EDM masses with their ad hoc changes in tempo and harsh textures. Similarly, the warped and speedy techno of “Kwang Bass” and the quirky hardcore of “Baltang Arg” lend themselves to the dancefloor but they are equally fiery and cerebral. The standout tune from Danogen Furies, however, is “D Frozent Aac”. It's a Burial-type menace that evolves into an abstract tech-house beast that is both sinister and yet able to move hips with a relentless twitchy groove.

Damogen Furies, like the recent albums by those other Grand Old Men of electronica, Aphex Twin and Plastikman, is a timely release that harks back to a time when dance music wasn’t so easily digested. When it didn’t soundtrack your nan’s shopping expeditions to the supermarket and when it was considered such a threat to civilisation that legislation was passed in an hysterical Houses of Parliament. It has to be hoped that the electronica scene’s clean-cut and fresh-faced young things are listening closely.

'Damogen Furies' harks back to a time when dance music wasn’t so easily digested

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters