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Why hasn’t this album gotten more shoutouts yet in 2026? We did see someone compare it to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, which doesn’t quite sit right, but we understand the reference. One of our favorite new releases of the year, Kammerkonzert is essentially chamber music with Tom Jenkinson playing all of the parts!
Like so many of the releases that came out after Jenkinson’s breakbeat period and the iconic Feed Me Weird Things (1996), Kammerkonzert positions electronic and acoustic instruments in dialogue. Jenkinson prefers to frame the electronic versus the acoustic as an “argument,” however, though this 2LP flows quite smoothly.
There are Venetian Snares-like moments where breakcore and classical music come together with with future-leaning beauty, but most of these tracks evoke Prog at its most orchestral, ECM, fusion, funk and, to our ears and the best side of all, mid-century classical music. See the final side of this double record, which as a self-contained unit offers a perfect arc across many classical periods and instrumentation. Ending with organ music in 2026, feels almost like parady coming from Squarepusher. That said, the album closes with real beauty, reverb and quiet.
Where many of Squarepusher’s contemporaries benefit from the CD format, the purest of uninterrupted long players, this double LP uses its four discrete sides wisely. As is often the case with Squarepusher, his music and ideas require much of the listener. Having a short break to flip the record offers space/time to digest and appreciate an artist working at a frenetic pace, even if this chamber concert is mostly quite mellow. In those places when the bass and percussion point back to his frenetic turn-of-the-century Drum&Bass, everything sounds smooth in presentation and tone, smartly integrated and well considered.
Why hasn’t this album gotten more shoutouts yet in 2026? We did see someone compare it to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, which doesn’t quite sit right, but we understand the reference. One of our favorite new releases of the year, Kammerkonzert is essentially chamber music with Tom Jenkinson playing all of the parts!
Like so many of the releases that came out after Jenkinson’s breakbeat period and the iconic Feed Me Weird Things (1996), Kammerkonzert positions electronic and acoustic instruments in dialogue. Jenkinson prefers to frame the electronic versus the acoustic as an “argument,” however, though this 2LP flows quite smoothly.
There are Venetian Snares-like moments where breakcore and classical music come together with with future-leaning beauty, but most of these tracks evoke Prog at its most orchestral, ECM, fusion, funk and, to our ears and the best side of all, mid-century classical music. See the final side of this double record, which as a self-contained unit offers a perfect arc across many classical periods and instrumentation. Ending with organ music in 2026, feels almost like parady coming from Squarepusher. That said, the album closes with real beauty, reverb and quiet.
Where many of Squarepusher’s contemporaries benefit from the CD format, the purest of uninterrupted long players, this double LP uses its four discrete sides wisely. As is often the case with Squarepusher, his music and ideas require much of the listener. Having a short break to flip the record offers space/time to digest and appreciate an artist working at a frenetic pace, even if this chamber concert is mostly quite mellow. In those places when the bass and percussion point back to his frenetic turn-of-the-century Drum&Bass, everything sounds smooth in presentation and tone, smartly integrated and well considered.