Artist

Squarepusher

Chelmsford, United Kingdom • b. 1975

Squarepusher is a musician from Chelmsford, United Kingdom, active since 1975. Their discography on Gatefold includes 24 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1975

Since

Biography

Squarepusher is a pseudonym of Chelmsford, Essex, England, electronic musician Tom Jenkinson (b. 1975), best known for his experimental drum and bass, with a heavy jazz fusion influence. A skilled bassist and multi-instrumentalist, Jenkinson's virtuoso playing is a staple of his music and one of the more obvious affiliations with jazz (although his formal arrangements are often as jazz-derived as his playing). His bass style includes melodic fretless playing, high-speed slap bass and intricate chordal work.

The Arc of Squarepusher

The pivots — what forced Squarepusher to reinvent.

The Chelmsford Jungle
Signed to Rephlex and Warp in a blur, Jenkinson used the BOSS DR-660 and a cheap Akai sampler to dismantle the breakbeats of the London rave scene. Feed Me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy were the result of a jazz-trained bassist realizing he could manipulate MIDI faster than any human could drum. It sounded like the future because it was the first time the technicality of Jaco Pastorius met the raw velocity of the underground pirate radio circuit.
The Teo Macero Phase
By 1998, Jenkinson ditched the high-speed drum programming for a vintage studio setup to record Music Is Rotted One Note. He played the drums, keys, and bass live to tape, obsessed with the tape-hiss and spontaneous arrangements of early 70s electric jazz. This was a hard pivot away from the 'drill-and-bass' tag that critics tried to pin on him, resulting in a claustrophobic, analog-heavy sound that confused the club kids but won over the fusion nerds.
DSP Violence
The release of Go Plastic in 2001 marked a total abandonment of live instruments for a brutal, digital-only approach. He traded the bass guitar for the Eventide Orville and custom-built software patches to create rhythms that were mathematically impossible to perform. This era was defined by a cold, surgical precision where the melodies were buried under layers of digital distortion and rapid-fire glitching.
Hardware Renaissance
After years of software-heavy experiments and the Shobaleader One band project, Be Up a Hello saw Jenkinson returning to the exact same vintage hardware he used in the 90s. The move was triggered by the death of his close friend and collaborator Chris Duckenfield, leading him back to the hardware sequencers and FM synths of their youth. You hear it in the grit—it’s the sound of a guy reclaiming his own history without the glossy sheen of modern production.

Influences

Jaco Pastorius — Jenkinson has frequently cited Jaco as his primary reason for picking up the bass, particularly the solo work on 'Portrait of Tracy.' You hear it in the frantic harmonic work and the lead-bass melodic style on 'Squarepusher Plays.' It is the foundation of his entire physical technique.
Miles Davis — The early 70s 'electric period' of Miles is the blueprint for 'Music Is Rotted One Note.' Jenkinson explicitly aimed for the grit of 'On the Corner,' mimicking the aggressive, dark Rhodes piano and the chaotic percussion. It’s the sound of jazz being treated like a studio construction project.
Art Blakey — Jenkinson has called Blakey his favorite drummer, specifically praising the 'hard bop' drive. He translates those complex polyrhythms into his drum programming, treating a snare rush like a jazz fill. The aggression in the 'Big Loada' breaks is basically Blakey at 200 BPM.
LFO — Being on Warp Records meant living in the shadow of Mark Bell’s sub-bass experiments. Jenkinson took the minimalist Sheffield bleep sound and used it as a skeletal frame for his more melodic bass lines. It's the reason his low-end stays heavy even when the top-end is pure chaos.
Augustus Pablo — The dub influence on tracks like 'Theme from Ernest Borgnine' comes straight from Pablo’s melodica and space-heavy production. Jenkinson uses the echoes and drop-outs of King Tubby and Pablo to create breathing room between his manic drum edits. It’s the secret weapon in his slower compositions.