From Squarepusher to Hundred Waters
Somewhere during my undergraduate degree i discovered Squarepusher. I forget exactly why or how - i do remember pretty vividly the video for Come on My Selector which may have been the catalyst, but it's hard to say. I know that I was kind of getting into a bunch of IDM at the time for the first time.
In any case, when i moved to Eugene for grad school, there was a day where my brother told me about a Squarepusher concert up in Portland (where he lives) so i decided to go. It was a gig where Plaid was opening for Squarepusher. I had never heard of Plaid at this point, but it turned out that Squarepusher was super sick and had to cancel his appearance, so Plaid took the whole show, thus starting my obsession with Plaid.
Plaid is one of a very few set of bands that i have remained a consistent fan of for the past fifteen or so years. Their US appearances are rare, and i've thus flown out to see them when they play in a city where i don't live that fits in my schedule. My fandom of Plaid has exposed me to other artists that I like and have become fans of (e.g. both Luke Vibert and Clark opened for Plaid in concerts and I still listen very regularly to Clark and still have a passing interest in Vibert, Plaid is on Warp Records and has thus exposed me to PVT), and this has happened again as of last week because I got some news that Plaid is about to release a new track that is a remix of a song by a group called Hundred Waters.
And yeah. Hundred Waters is pretty fantastic.
It's interesting - it kind of represents music that i used to listen to more than music i listen to now - it's very reminiscent of Bjork/the Sugarcubes in some ways mixed in with old Cocteau Twins and, well, Plaid. So it almost doesn't fit any of the rest of my Google Playlist, yet for the past week i haven't been able to stop listening to a YouTube mix of their tracks at work and at home.
There's an interesting sort of inventiveness with some of their rhythmic structures that is pretty disguised because their music is generally very relaxed - and you don't think of 7/8 time being associated with relaxed music. I guess i would describe the music as rhythmically intriciate and intimate without being intense or overbearing - something that I really appreciate after listening to a lot of IDM in my youth and thus burning out on the more intense versions of it such as Venetian Snares and some early Squarepusher.
Plaid's remix version of the song is outstanding too in its own right. It's very Plaid, yet very Hundred Waters at the same time in different ways.
Anyway, the point is that i think that despite some rather strange resistance to buying albums of new bands sometimes, i think i'm about ready to pull the trigger on these guys.
Here's the original song in question:
And here's the Plaid Remix.
And here's another Hundred Waters song with neat rhythm and a freaky video:
In any case, when i moved to Eugene for grad school, there was a day where my brother told me about a Squarepusher concert up in Portland (where he lives) so i decided to go. It was a gig where Plaid was opening for Squarepusher. I had never heard of Plaid at this point, but it turned out that Squarepusher was super sick and had to cancel his appearance, so Plaid took the whole show, thus starting my obsession with Plaid.
Plaid is one of a very few set of bands that i have remained a consistent fan of for the past fifteen or so years. Their US appearances are rare, and i've thus flown out to see them when they play in a city where i don't live that fits in my schedule. My fandom of Plaid has exposed me to other artists that I like and have become fans of (e.g. both Luke Vibert and Clark opened for Plaid in concerts and I still listen very regularly to Clark and still have a passing interest in Vibert, Plaid is on Warp Records and has thus exposed me to PVT), and this has happened again as of last week because I got some news that Plaid is about to release a new track that is a remix of a song by a group called Hundred Waters.
And yeah. Hundred Waters is pretty fantastic.
It's interesting - it kind of represents music that i used to listen to more than music i listen to now - it's very reminiscent of Bjork/the Sugarcubes in some ways mixed in with old Cocteau Twins and, well, Plaid. So it almost doesn't fit any of the rest of my Google Playlist, yet for the past week i haven't been able to stop listening to a YouTube mix of their tracks at work and at home.
There's an interesting sort of inventiveness with some of their rhythmic structures that is pretty disguised because their music is generally very relaxed - and you don't think of 7/8 time being associated with relaxed music. I guess i would describe the music as rhythmically intriciate and intimate without being intense or overbearing - something that I really appreciate after listening to a lot of IDM in my youth and thus burning out on the more intense versions of it such as Venetian Snares and some early Squarepusher.
Plaid's remix version of the song is outstanding too in its own right. It's very Plaid, yet very Hundred Waters at the same time in different ways.
Anyway, the point is that i think that despite some rather strange resistance to buying albums of new bands sometimes, i think i'm about ready to pull the trigger on these guys.
Here's the original song in question:
Click to viewAnd here's the Plaid Remix.
And here's another Hundred Waters song with neat rhythm and a freaky video: