Drill n’ bass’ idiot savant? The heir to Jaco Pastorius’ high throne? A megalomaniacal bedroom-music genius? Call him what you wish, but there’s little denying that Tom Jenkinson, pka Squarepusher, is a phenomenally talented man. Anyone who has seen Jenkinson shred 16th-note runs (at 165 bpm, no less) on a six-string fretless can attest to his bass playing skills, but he’s actually a better-than-average guitarist and drummer as well. I also hold anyone in high regard who can chop up an “Amen” break and still manage to hold my attention, which is a credit to his sequencing abilities. Since the turn of the century, however, as the novelty of bedroom glitch-core wore off and IDM shifted from the home stereo to Volkswagen commercials, the Squarepusher Club has condensed into something resembling a rabid cult following. Hello Everything (2006), released next week on reliable mainstay Warp, will likely quench their collective thirsts.

There was a time at the end of the last decade when one could never know what to expect from a Squarepusher release. After exhausting the possibilities of hyperactive drill ‘n bass on Feed Me Weird Things (1996) and Hard Normal Daddy (1997), Jenkinson took a sharp detour into dark, atmospheric avant-jazz on Music Is Rotted One Note (1998), combined it with pulsing acid explorations on Selection Sixteen (1999), and nearly lost his mind on the wildly erratic Go Plastic (2001). I had almost given up on him with Do You Know Squarepusher? (2002), an agonizing waste of a half-hour that contained exactly one worthwhile song (the title track), five vapid electronic noodlings, and one of the worst Joy Division covers I’ve ever been exposed to. The bonus live disc of a show in Japan never made it to a second listen.

Jenkinson returned to somewhat solid ground with the highly-acclaimed Ultravisitor (2004), an overlong, hit-or-miss affair that, if nothing else, demonstrated that he had reached the stage where could do whatever the hell he wanted. Hello Everything continues in this vein, jump cutting from sinister, squelchy techno (”Plotinus”) to six-minute atonal dronescapes (”Vacuum Garden”) to bizarre flamenco-ish pieces (”Circlewave 2″). Unfortunately, for anyone who happened to hear the streaming audio of “The Modern Bass Guitar” on Warp’s website this past summer, there’s nothing here that matches that track in intensity or sheer amazement. However, there’s plenty of variety, flat-out weirdness, and jaw-dropping bass shredding here to satisfy old and new fans alike. As an additional bonus, there is a surprising absence of album filler and no goofy vocoder tracks (”My Red Hot Car”) anywhere in sight.

Two thoughts struck me upon first listen to Hello Everything: the agreeable warmth of the album, despite occasional moments of digital drum meltdown, and the embracement of the natural dynamics inherent in recorded acoustic instruments. Virtually nothing is overcompressed, resulting in an incredibly wide dynamic range for the record; it can be a tad frustrating on the car stereo, but immensely rewarding on headphones. After the jumpy octave bass plucks and jittery goodness of opener “Hello Meow,” Jenkinson sits in on a bubbly little jam session with himself on “Theme from Sprite,” which features some fine guitar/bass interplay, a curious harmonic palette, and a pleasantly sunny vibe usually delivered with a heavy dose of cheekiness on previous outings.

“Theme from Sprite” – Squarepusher 2:59 (Hello Everything, Warp 2006)

“Planetarium” is an album highlight, spewing diced “Amen” breaks in rapid-fire succession atop a bed of spacious pads and Jenkinson’s signature sporadically pitch-shifted bass. My first impression of this song was that it sounded like someone had isolated the black metal keyboards from an early Emperor track and used it as a foundation for some sick futuristic remix. It connotes streamlined speed, a menacing shadow gliding at a hypersonic clip under cover of moonlit heavens. Or, to be a little less poetic, it just sounds cool as shit.

“Planetarium” – Squarepusher 6:12 (Hello Everything, Warp 2006)

In short, I wasn’t expecting to be this impressed by Hello Everything; Jenkinson isn’t revolutionizing electronic music like he was ten years ago, but he’s found a comfortable niche in his own sound-world, and it’s still an exciting place to visit.

Big ups to fellow pusher enjinear for the advance copy.