Released 28 April 1997 Hard Normal Daddy
(1997) Big Loada
(1997) Release date 16 April 1997 Label Warp | Length 62:07 Artist Squarepusher Producer Squarepusher Genre Drum and bass | |
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Similar Squarepusher albums, Drum and bass albums, Other albums | ||
Hard Normal Daddy is a 1997 studio album by British electronic musician Tom Jenkinson under his alias of Squarepusher. The album was the first studio album as Squarepusher for Warp Records. A single for the track "Vic Acid" was released in 1997 prior to the album's release.
Contents
The album has received praise since its release including a five star review from Allmusic and being listed as one of the best albums of the year by The Wire and the NME. Stylus Magazine referred to the album in 2003 as Squarepusher's "masterpiece".
Squarepusher coopers world
Production
Tom Jenkinson was offered to sign to Ninja Tune, Rephlex Records, R&S Records and Warp Records. Jenkinson eventually chose Warp as he was more interested in the label's music.
Style
Pitchfork as an album in the Drill n Bass subgenre, described by AllMusic as a version of drum'n'bass that warped "old midtempo beats and breaks into a frenzied, experimental potpourri of low-attention-span electronic music."
The Palm Beach Newspaper described the album as jazz fusion influenced, describing its contents as "Lyrical, complicated keyboard riffs, dense, churning beats, nimble, melodic fretless bass - add in a saxophone, and you'd have the drum 'n' bass equivalent of Weather Report." Tom Jenkinson has stated that his music on Hard Normal Daddy has not been influenced by jazz fusion, but more funk oriented music like Herbie Hancock's Death Wish soundtrack and cop show themes.
Release
Hard Normal Daddy was released by Warp Records on 28 April 1997. It was released on compact disc, double vinyl, cassette and digital download. A single was released for the album for the track "Vic Acid" on 31 March 1997 by Warp on compact disc and 12-inch vinyl.
Reception
The online music database AllMusic gave Hard Normal Daddy five out of five stars, comparing it favourably to similar releases from the music labels Spymania and Rephlex describing the album as "substantially cleaner and more thought out than previous releases" from those labels. The music was also praised for not "simply relying on the shock value of "tripping-over-myself" drum programming and light-speed fretless bass noodling." In 2003, Stylus Magazine referred to the album as Squarepusher's "masterpiece" and that Squarepusher "refrains from such mind numbing repetition and put down his most accomplished work to that point." The Wire placed the album on their list of the best albums of 1998. The NME placed the album at number 34 on their list of best albums of 1997.
In 1999, Jenkinson referred to the music on his albums Feed Me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy as "already beginning to sound a bit... It sort of reminds me of being a bit younger in a way. It's a bit more (of a) naive approach, a bit more fresh. The sound as well. I've gotten better production." and "I still REALLY like it. I like my stuff 'cause I only ever end up with tracks that I really, really like. It always appeals to me. There's only about four tracks that I've done which I don't really like. The rest of them I like." Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half stars out of five.
Track listing
All songs composed by Tom Jenkinson.
Credits
Songs
1Cooper's World5:10
2Beep Street6:37
3Rustic Raver5:08