The fusion of jazz and drum & bass has become the toast of the chattering classes, throwing up a canon of overlong epics like Goldie's Saturn Returnz. What a relief, then, for Squarepusher; Hard Normal Daddy comes as a gleefully psychotic antidote to such Tubular Bells-esque pomposity. In the spirit of Warp Records' prolific, dazzling, but sometimes difficult output, Hard Normal Daddy is a trailblazing work of half-mad genius. It's also the sort of record that might force your neighbours to buy earplugs. Shrugging off lightweight soundscapes with a pneumatic battery of drum & bass and cut-glass jazz, and forever goading you--the confused and frightened listener--to keep up the pace, the likes of "Vic Acid" are high-tempo blasts of solidified confusion. No, it isn't coffee table music. But whatever you do, don't try and dance to it either.--Louis Pattison