Squarepusher presents Shobaleader One – d'Demonstrator

 

Whether or not its highly dubious back-story is a smoke screen (allegedly Shobaleader One is a band formed by Tom Jenkinson together with a bunch of RnB-loving metalheads), d'Demonstrator is a fucking odd record. Every song bar one features Jenkinson's own vocoder-filtered vocals riding way up in the mix – the initial effect being almost as unsettling as walking in on your dad singing karaoke to a T-Pain track. Clearly this is Squarepusher's own take on over-produced electronic pop, yet it's disconcerting that much of it sounds like a watered-down Daft Punk or Ratatat, given that a decade ago he was making music like My Red Hot Car which demonstrated his ability to eviscerate a whole genre (UK garage) and make it sound like the future of everything in the space of a single track. Occasionally beautiful, frequently ridiculous, d'Demonstrator is another heroically unhip curveball from the 'pusherman. [Mark Shukla]