Editing Squarepusher (section)

===2000–2013: ''Go Plastic'' to ''Ufabulum''===
Early 2000 saw Squarepusher consider "radical tactics". He states it became clear that it was high time return to sequencers and leave behind the live-playing approach, which he had adopted since late 1997. Around this time, he started seeing more of [[Chris Cunningham]].

He was also revisiting a lot of the mid-1990s [[drum and bass]] that had so inspired his early releases. He describes the set-up for ''[[Go Plastic]]'' as follows: "It was the next stage in the "liquid effects processing" idea. "To me it was all about trying to make it sound totally liquid and [[psychedelic music|psychedelic]], like liquid [[LSD]]. Not evil though, "evil" music just sounds daft and theatrical to me. I've always had a Frankenstein-thing going on, ever since I was kid when I was playing around with electronics. I love the idea of the set-up having such a complex level of internal activity that it begins to resemble a living being." "My Red Hot Car" is his most well known piece. That and "Boneville Occident" were two of the earliest pieces from these sessions. The piece "Tommib" was so named after Squarepusher recalls that: "Aphex [Twin] was helping me edit a track for Vic Acid and he named the project 'Tommib' and I always remembered that for some reason." Squarepusher claims that "My Fucking Sound" was written specifically with [[Chris Cunningham]] in mind: "We had talked a lot in that period about working together, loads of ideas were flying around. That track was intended for Chris to use, and that project was called "Spectral Musicians." He recalls that "Aphex [Twin] rang up when I was finishing off the track. He asked what I was up to and I said something like "I've got 31 bars left to write on this track I'm doing." He just started laughing and said he never thought of music like that. I suppose it does sound a bit strange and clinical."

After the sessions were completed in December 2000, he rang Steve Beckett to play him the record: "We hadn't talked since he left [[Sheffield]] more than a year before. I told him to come round and it totally blew his head off." Squarepusher started playing live again at this point: "I played all of this new stuff supporting [[Tortoise (band)|Tortoise]] at the [[Shepherd's Bush Empire]]. I did a gig at The 100 Club and I had Chris [Cunningham] supporting me doing a DJ set."

He played his first shows in America at this point, one of which was at the [[Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival|Coachella]] Festival. The plans to collaborate with [[Chris Cunningham]] were duly interrupted as well.

In the Summer of 2001, [[Warp (record label)|Warp]] cut a one-sided promo of the track "Do You Know Squarepusher". After a brief during the latter half of 2001, he set up the studio at his new residence. Around this time, he started to work with computer-based synthesis and [[signal processing]].

The cover version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" has a particular story to it: "It was around this time that Rob Mitchell at Warp died. I was really fond of Rob. The last evening I spent with him was in [[Sheffield]] and he had been playing me some music by [[Joy Division]]. I decided to record that song as a memorial to him, but at the same time I really didn't want to try and divert attention from the tragedy of his death to my record, that would have been repulsive. So I kept the story to myself'. Also included in this set is an edited recording of Tom's appearance at [[Fuji Rock Festival]] in Japan in Summer 2001. He spent the remainder of 2002 working on software patches and recorded many pieces in that period that were to feature in his show at Warp's 20th anniversary party in Sheffield in 2009.

2003 saw two of Squarepusher's pieces being performed by the [[London Sinfonietta]] as part of the South Bank's Ether Festival: "It was an interesting idea. They chose "Port Rhombus" and "The Tide".

He claims the idea that had been initiated with "Mutilation Colony", namely to combine the DSP algorithmic approach with the live instrumentation based approach of ''[[Music Is Rotted One Note]]'' was now at the forefront of his mind. His studio set-up at that time incorporated all of the equipment he had amassed so far.
Parts of certain tracks on ''[[Ultravisitor]]'' and four entire pieces were recorded at shows in the UK and the US in summer of 2003. As such, Squarepusher says "The start of ''[[Ultravisitor]]'' features ambient sound from the very same piece being played at a show in L.A. and the outro features ambient sound from a gig at the [[Leadmill]] in [[Sheffield]]. "Menelec" features an introduction from a show in [[Nottingham]] and the outro comes from [[Toronto]] I think. The start of "Steinbolt" was recorded in L.A. and the lots of Tetra-Sync including the live electric bass was recorded at the [[Bowery Ballroom]] in New York, apart from the intro which comes from [[Montreal]]."

He states that "''[[Ultravisitor]]'' seems like a big argument to me. In fact I've always liked that idea, that the way you structure albums and songs is that one element raises questions about other elements. That feels interesting to me, but Ultravisitor seems to do that to the extent that it risks being completely incoherent. But that is also the fun of it. I am fond of it."

The sleeve artwork, the first to contain a portrait of Squarepusher. He toured with the [[London Sinfonietta]], performing the piece "Tundra 4" live. After the Sinfonietta tour, he toured America and Japan.[[File:Squarepusher.jpg|thumb|Squarepusher performing at [[Glade Festival]] in 2005]]
He states that at this point he had no immediate plans to make a record and that it seemed entirely possible that he would not make another. Nevertheless, some pieces were made in this period. A series of acid tracks were made, some of which were used in Tom's appearance at Warp's 20th anniversary in Sheffield 2009. "Welcome To Europe" and "The Modern Bass Guitar" were also made in this period using the same software system that Squarepusher had designed when he made ''[[Ultravisitor]]''. The synth bassline in "The Modern Bass Guitar" was triggered from an electric bass using the midi bass system.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
January 2005 saw the re-establishment of the studio at Tom's residence in [[Essex]]. The pieces "Theme From Sprite", "Bubble Life", "Vacuum Garden", "Circlewave 2" and "Orient Orange" were all made in early 2005.

All of these tracks are based on live drumming tracks, which Squarepusher had planned out quite meticulously beforehand, in contrast to similarly realised tracks on ''[[Music Is Rotted One Note]]''.
"Hello Meow", "Planetarium", "Rotate Electrolyte" and "Plotinus" were made over the Summer and Autumn of 2005. The track "Hello Meow" was filmed at [[Koko (venue)|Koko]] in November 2005 and was edited into a promotional video for ''[[Hello Everything]]'' in 2006. "Planetarium" samples a particular variant of the Amen breakbeat which came from "a dodgy bootleg 12" from 1991 called ''Rave Masters Volume One''.

Regarding the overall process of making ''[[Hello Everything]]'', he states "There never really were any ''[[Hello Everything]]'' sessions, unlike a lot of the things I'd done before".
Some editions of the album came with an extra CD entitled "Vacuum Tracks".

Squarepusher appeared at [[Glastonbury]] and [[Glade Festival]] in the summer of 2005. Then in November 2005 he toured the UK with [[Luke Vibert]] and [[Cassette Boy]] featuring dates in London, [[Norwich]], [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]], Birmingham, [[Newcastle, Shropshire|Newcastle]], [[Leeds]] and [[Glasgow]] amongst others. This tour marked the first occasion when he had appeared in concert using live visuals.

At the time of the release of ''[[Hello Everything]]'', Squarepusher appeared on the [[BBC]]'s [[Culture Show]] and was interviewed by [[Lauren Laverne]], and also performed a short version of what was to become one of the pieces on ''Solo Electric Bass''. It also became apparent that one of the reasons for him being requested to appear was that [[Andre 3000]], who was also appearing on the show, had expressed such admiration for Tom's work that he would like to work with him. He also appeared at the [[John Peel]] tribute event at the [[Electric Ballroom]] in [[Camden Town|Camden]] around the time of the release of the record. Late 2006 saw him generate the material that was eventually to be issued in 2009 as ''Numbers Lucent''.

After the material that went to comprise ''Numbers Lucent'' was finished at the end of 2006, Tom exhausted his interest in making electronic music: "At that point, I'd been working on electronic music in some shape or form for around fifteen years and without hardly any breaks. As I've said, one of my problems is that once I've established that an idea is in some way valid, that's generally enough for me. I'm just acutely aware of how limited time is and I think I'd rather spend it doing what I do best which is taking risks and making experiments."
"I was interested to see if I could develop a way of making music that was less destructive, because I was aware of how much I had brutalised myself living such an insane life over the last twelve years or so, how little I'd slept and so on. I started thinking again about doing more playing, more bass stuff again. It's always been hard to give my bass playing any kind of priority when all of the mayhem is happening in the studio." So Tom chose to switch all of his attention to bass and to shut down the studio.

"Glenn Max, curator at the [[South Bank]], was really encouraging and offered me a nice gig in the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]] to showcase it." Tom went on to spend every day playing the solo pieces, re-writing them and practising them: "It became a lifestyle in the end and that was what I wanted. Tom also says that "I've never been entirely comfortable with the whole virtuoso thing. They are so many dangers associated with it. It's odd because it's so effortless for me to play that I end up falling into that virtuoso camp by default. But if that's where I am, I'm going to make some trouble in there. So I started to play around with the pieces in a way, playing them too fast. Sort of trying to make it a bit more punk and messy rather than like a spotless article of refinement."

The solo bass recording from [[Cité de la Musique]] is presented unedited as it was played on the night. The recording was released in 2009.
Tom went on to sell out the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]] and the Cité de la Musique in Paris with his Solo Electric Bass shows. Both were recorded and featured the saxophonist Evan Parker.

At the end of 2007, Squarepusher found himself at the close of the solo bass project. "I was still playing all the time every day. So it seemed logical to get recording again, but make it live playing-centred." He claims he was fed up with the unprocessed sound of the bass that was tied up in the concept of the solo bass material, so he started experimenting with new DSP algorithms specifically for the bass. Also he had become a fan of the band [[Lightning Bolt (band)|Lightning Bolt]] over the last few years and was inspired to develop an electric bass sound with "absolutely face-ripping distortion."

When Squarepusher came to tour this album, he decided he would need a drummer: "I called Glenn [Max] at the [[South Bank]] and asked him if he knew any good drummers. He suggested Alex Thomas. I checked him out and he was amazing so we went for it." Squarepusher and Thomas went on to tour in November and December 2008, and then from April 2009 through the summer playing various festivals. This tour also saw Squarepusher develop the [[LED]] aspect to his show to the extent that on stage he had a massive screen behind Alex's drum kit showing visual content triggered by his electric bass.

Regarding this album being an abrupt stylistic departure from earlier releases Toms says that: "On an instinctive level, I just can't resist seeing what happens when you press certain buttons, and especially the ones that the grown-ups tell you not to press. And as I've said, to me it's all about the experiments."
In April 2011, Squarepusher played at a benefit concert for the [[Japanese Red Cross]] in the wake of the tsunami which devastated Japan on 11 March 2011.

Of the general direction, he says: "I've reached guitar overload. I've started thinking about pure electronic music again. Something very melodic, very aggressive." He used a custom [[LED]] mask as part of the live presentation of this material. At the time, he made several appearances in festivals across the world including his first show in Brazil and during the [[Sónar|Sónar Festival]] in Barcelona in June.