We know Thomas Jenkinson for his Squarepusher project, which, album after album, has charted a visionary path between drill'n'bass and Idm, transforming him into one of the protagonists of the British electronic scene. But few remember that ours ventured into some side-projectincluding Stereotype, composed of a single, homonymous EP from 1994, a riot of acidcore apocalyptic but also of unexpected emotions and suspended harmonies.
They open the sixteen minutes of “Whooshki”, and the impact is immediate: a synthesizer loop repeats an ambient techno mantra wrapped in hyperspeed distortions. The magnetism does not reside in the power, but in the melodic vein of clear Idm derivation which, intertwined with a steelworks rhythmic carpet, generates a glorious short circuit both for the dancefloor as passionate as it is for the contemplative listener.
It is the contrast between the bionic strength of the beat and the light of the harmonious textures to create the perfect friction. “1994” follows, pushing for pounding, claustrophobic tension, sculpting ten atonal minutes of industrial-club fury closer to the abrasive aesthetic of Woody McBride than the nu-jazz textures of “Feed Me Weird Things.”
“O'Brien” opens up scenarios sci-fi and lysergic up breakbeats on fire, as if Global Communication had been lost in a rave on amphetamines. From here you slide from an Aphex Twin in supersonic mode to the fractures lo-fi of the first Idm, in a constant game of friction and trance. In “Stereotype” the distortions of the rhythm section dominate, the modulated synths and the long chords, thin as digital fumes, the latter sublimated in “Greenwidth”, a hypnotic journey for interstellar explorers.
But enough words: the album, remastered and brought to light by Warp Records, is an act of sonic archeology that we didn't know we were waiting for, but which we absolutely needed.
25/10/2025
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
