Music review: Squarepusher - Just A Souvenir

44 and a half minutes is not enough for an album to become a sprawling epic like a number of Tom Jenkinson's previous efforts, such as Ultravisitor and more recently Hello Everything, however Go Plastic remains my clear favourite despite clocking in at a similar length to Just A Souvenir.

Now that Squarepusher seems to be moving further and further towards instrumentation and away from electronic wizardry, very much in unison with his label Warp Records, the playtime caused me to expect an album akin to Music Is Rotted One Note (my least favourite) rather than a burst of intense, tight drill 'n' bass.

Upon seeing the track lengths, I was further disappointed to see a majority of the tracks playing out in under two minutes, assuming they would consist purely of impressive but ultimately shallow bass-noodling. Imagine my initial relief then when I listened to the opener Star Time 2. An instant Squarepusher classic. Nostalgic yet original, playful yet incredibly intelligent, it is, for me, the best track of the year. As for the short tracks, it speaks for itself that I am struggling to find anything much to say about them.

The Coathanger and Delta-V are both strong tracks that reward repeated listens, but nonetheless fail to keep up the momentum gathered by the glorious starter. There is unfortunately one track which stands out a turd - I listened in disbelief as I came to terms with the fact that the horrifyingly cringe-worthy A Real Woman was produced by the same man who made Go! Spastic.

It is the centerpiece trio of Planet Gear, Tensor In Green and Glass Road that save this album from seeming like an A-side with numerous B-side fillers. These tracks each serve up similarly awesome doses of music which are better than anything you'll have heard this year.

Squarepusher has always been unpredictable and he has not failed to shock and split opinions again this time around. For me, it is another boundary-pushing experimentation with 4 standout tracks to cherish forever (each of which mix well with fast-paced online shooter action, I should add). Just A Souvenir is out now on Warp Records and the follow-up EP Numbers Lucent is out in January.

UPDATE: Numbers Lucent is a glorious return to the Squarepusher style I am most in love with - melodic drill 'n' bass. Five of the six tracks are absolutely brilliant, however sadly the closer is a poor attempt at gabba.

8/10

Game review: Crysis Warhead

When moments in a game have you shouting "that was amazing!" you know it's special. This is something that the half-priced standalone expansion to Crysis achieved, which is more than can be said for its predecessor. Crysis was good, but its open-ended nature meant that moments of mind-blowing action movie linearity were hard to come by. Warhead manages this by being a tighter and more free-flowing experience, but without losing the feeling of freedom that is so important to the game. Good job Crytek.

The moments I am referring to range from effectively using the über-cool performance-enhancing Nanosuit to waste a group of the frankly pathetic Korean enemy to driving past a heavily guarded fuel station and blowing the place to hell.

The secret to the significant improvement over Crysis seems to be largely in the level design, which for the most part is rather brilliant and free of the disorientating arrangements that plagued the original.

Set on a lush paradise island of greens and blues, the scope for graphical triumph reaches far above the greys of many shooters, and although Warhead's promise of less unforgiving system specs is barely apparent, it does look better than Crysis on medium settings, which is still all I was able to use despite running the game on a PC that runs other new games with ease.

You play as Psycho, the cockney stereotype who would have been everyone's last choice based on his appearances in Crysis. Miraculously, he's actually nowhere near as offensively irritating in Warhead. The over-zealous yelling is gone, replaced by measured dialogue and more suitably placed expletives.

Continuing with the modern trend in shooters, Warhead is a short game, even for an expansion, taking around four hours to complete. However, the multiplayer side has been beefed up considerably, highlighted by the fact that it has been distanced from the single-player by having a separate disc and its own name, Crysis Wars. It's good, with the Nanosuit, vehicles and weaponry adding up to a technically impressive affair, but the immersive and addictive qualities of the heavyweight online shooters are sadly absent here.

Musically, Warhead is as much of a sandbox of choice as the game itself. I'd say choose based on how you intend to play. Cloaking deviously before switching to maximum strength and pummelling Koreans in the jaw? You might opt for some atmospheric techno. Steaming in with all guns blazing? Your favourite brand of fast-paced music should combine well to deeply satisfy the anarchist in you.

I came away from Warhead feeling almost completely positive about the experience having raced through it one glorious sitting. You should do the same.

9/10