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Feed Me Weird Things

Feed Me Weird Things is the debut studio album by English electronic musician Tom Jenkinson under the alias Squarepusher. It was released on 3 June 1996 through Rephlex Records.

Feed Me Weird Things
Studio album by
Squarepusher
Released3 June 1996 (1996-06-03)
RecordedDecember 1994 – February 1996
Genre
Length66:27
LabelRephlex
ProducerTom Jenkinson
Squarepusher chronology
Bubble and Squeak
(1996) 		Feed Me Weird Things
(1996) 		Squarepusher Plays...
(1996)

Upon release, Feed Me Weird Things peaked at number 10 on the UK Dance Albums Chart. The album received positive reviews from critics and has been retrospectively cited as a landmark release in the drill 'n' bass subgenre. A 25th anniversary remastered edition was released on 4 June 2021 by Warp.

Background and production

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Around late 1994, Tom Jenkinson started experimenting with breakbeats and incorporating them into the electronic music he produced. His earliest songs in this new style were released on the Spymania label.[1] Jenkinson produced the tracks on Feed Me Weird Things from December 1994 to February 1996, while he was a student at Chelsea College of Art and Design.[2] He used his student loans to purchase much of the equipment that he utilised in recording the album.[2]

Richard D. James (also known as Aphex Twin), who co-founded Rephlex Records (where the album was originally released), selected the tracks that appeared on the final album.[2] The tracks were mastered by Paul Solomons at the studio Porky's.[2]

Title and packaging

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According to Jenkinson, the title Feed Me Weird Things was inspired by a conversation with Steve Beckett, a co-founder of the label Warp, "in which he told me about his girlfriend who would ask him to 'feed me drum & bass'."[2] Jenkinson collaborated on the artwork for Feed Me Weird Things with Johnny Clayton.[3]

The packaging for the album features various photographs taken by Jenkinson at different London locations in February 1996,[2] which were subsequently edited by Clayton.[3] The front cover photograph was taken inside a job centre in Palmers Green.[2] The album's liner notes were penned by Richard D. James.[4]

Release

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Feed Me Weird Things was released on 3 June 1996 by Rephlex Records.[5] It entered the UK Dance Albums Chart at number 10 on 15 June.[6] On 4 June 2021, Warp released a remastered edition of Feed Me Weird Things for the album's 25th anniversary.[7][8]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [9]
Jazzwise     [10]
Mojo     [11]
Muzik5/5[12]
NME8/10[13]
Pitchfork8.0/10[14]
PopMatters8/10[15]
Record Collector     [16]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide     [17]
Uncut8/10[18]

Muzik's Calvin Bush praised Feed Me Weird Things as "the kind of album Miles Davis might have made if he had been wired into breakbeats, Aphex Twin and Ninja Tune."[12] Ben Willmott of NME deemed it Jenkinson's "most consistently varied, bedazzling and rounded deposit to date."[13] New York Times critic Neil Strauss said that Jenkinson "deftly combines the laid-back cool of fusion jazz with the frenetic intensity of drum-and-bass" and "makes one realize just how wide a window of opportunity for musicians drum-and-bass has opened."[19] At the end of 1996, The Wire named Feed Me Weird Things one of the year's 50 best records.[20]

Writing for Spin, Ken Micallef said that with Feed Me Weird Things and its follow-up Hard Normal Daddy (1997), Jenkinson "did to jungle what Frank Zappa did to rock—satirized its excesses with a maze of neurotic, scurrying notes, while adding a nerdy musicality that practically invented a new genre."[21] AllMusic credited the 1996 releases of Feed Me Weird Things and Plug's Drum 'n' Bass for Papa as catalysts for the popularisation of the drill 'n' bass subgenre.[22] Ben Cardew of Pitchfork called Feed Me Weird Things "a time capsule of the era's drill'n'bass and jazzy jungle" that demonstrated Jenkinson's innovative fusion of "the maximal drum programming of drum'n'bass" with live fretless bass guitar playing.[14] AllMusic's Paul Simpson wrote that the album showed that Jenkinson "was capable of doing things nobody else had dreamt of before, and it still holds some of his all-time best material."[9] San Diego Union-Tribune journalist AnnaMaria Stephens cited Feed Me Weird Things as one of the most important IDM albums.[23] In 2007, The Guardian listed it as one of "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die".[24]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Tom Jenkinson

No.TitleLength
1."Squarepusher Theme"6:20
2."Tundra"7:53
3."The Swifty"5:18
4."Dimotane Co"4:53
5."Smedleys Melody"2:32
6."Windscale 2"6:35
7."North Circular"6:07
8."Goodnight Jade"2:45
9."Theme from Ernest Borgnine"7:55
10."U.F.O.'s over Leytonstone"6:37
11."Kodack"7:13
12."Future Gibbon"2:19
Total length:66:27
Japanese[25] and 25th anniversary[7] edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Theme from Goodbye Renaldo"6:01
14."Deep Fried Pizza"3:49
Total length:76:17

Charts

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Chart (1996) Peak
position
UK Dance Albums (OCC)[6] 10
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Dutch Vinyl Albums (Dutch Charts)[26] 14
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[27] 87
Japanese Top Albums Sales (Billboard Japan)[28] 78
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] 16
UK Albums Sales (OCC)[30] 12
UK Dance Albums (OCC)[31] 2
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[32] 4

References

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  1. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music (1st ed.). Virgin Books. p. 323. ISBN 0-7535-0252-6.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Feed Me Weird Things (liner notes). Squarepusher. Warp. 2021. SQPRCD001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ a b Montesinos-Donaghy, Daniel (24 July 2014). "We Spoke to Johnny Clayton, the Guy Who Made Aphex Twin Creep Us Out". Vice. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. ^ Feed Me Weird Things (liner notes). Squarepusher. Rephlex Records. 1996. CAT037CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ^ "New Releases 3 – 9 June 1996: All". Juno Records. Archived from the original on 27 September 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Dance Albums" (PDF). Music Week. 15 June 1996. p. 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ a b "Feed Me Weird Things – Squarepusher". Warp. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  8. ^ Eede, Christian (30 April 2021). "Squarepusher To Reissue Debut LP, 'Feed Me Weird Things'". The Quietus. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  9. ^ a b Simpson, Paul. "Feed Me Weird Things – Squarepusher". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  10. ^ Flynn, Mike (June 2021). "Squarepusher: Feed Me Weird Things Remastered". Jazzwise. No. 263. Archived from the original on 12 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  11. ^ Cowan, Andy (July 2021). "Squarepusher: Feed Me Weird Things". Mojo. No. 332. p. 97.
  12. ^ a b Bush, Calvin (July 1996). "Squarepusher: Feed Me Weird Things" (PDF). Muzik. No. 14. p. 142. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  13. ^ a b Willmott, Ben (20 April 1996). "Squarepusher – Feed Me Weird Things". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  14. ^ a b Cardew, Ben (3 June 2021). "Squarepusher: Feed Me Weird Things (25th Anniversary Edition)". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  15. ^ Ham, Robert (30 June 2021). "Squarepusher's 'Feed Me Weird Things' Still Sounds Giddy With Possibility 25 Years Later". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  16. ^ Pollock, David (June 2021). "Squarepusher: Feed Me Weird Things". Record Collector. No. 519. pp. 110–111.
  17. ^ Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Squarepusher". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 773. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  18. ^ Martin, Piers (July 2021). "Squarepusher: Feed Me Weird Things". Uncut. No. 290. p. 47.
  19. ^ Strauss, Neil (30 July 1996). "New Sound Takes Root And Grows". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  20. ^ "1996 Rewind". The Wire. No. 155. January 1997. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  21. ^ Micallef, Ken (January 1999). "Squarepusher: Music Is Rotted One Note". Spin. Vol. 15, no. 1. p. 122. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Google Books.
  22. ^ "Drill'n'bass". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  23. ^ Stephens, AnnaMaria (26 June 2003). "In Celebration of Electro-Whatever". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on 5 February 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  24. ^ "1000 albums to hear before you die – Artists beginning with S (part 2)". The Guardian. 22 November 2007. Archived from the original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  25. ^ "Feed Me Weird Things" (in Japanese). Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  26. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Squarepusher – Feed Me Weird Things" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  27. ^ "フィード・ミー・ウィアード・シングス | スクエアプッシャー" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  28. ^ "Billboard Japan Top Albums Sales". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). 14 June 2021. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  29. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  30. ^ "Official Albums Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  31. ^ "Official Dance Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  32. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
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