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***With an album of schizophrenic end-of-the-world anthems on Ipecac and a full US tour opening for Fantomas and Melt Banana, End caps a busy year with Percussions, a mini-album where the easy listening fad of yesterday meets contemporary electronics mania. Once again showcasing explosive arrangements and abandoned musical styles, End's new work is a celebratory treat of careful grooves and ambitious drum workouts. Taking its cue from old stereo test records-- when budget albums were released in conjunction with hi-fi systems to showcase then-new technology -- Percussions is filled with a playful and cartoonish sensibility, as much a tip of the hat to Martin Denny and Raymond Scott as commentary on the world of electronic music. Working in a variety of styles and with several session drummers, End's rhythmic odyssey jumps through epic drum solos, breakbeat madness, odd time signatures, mathematical games, and often mesmerizing genre shifts. Patterns is proverbial cartoon music, where fiendish animals running across piano keys cue the wild back-and-forth dialog of drum and xylophone. "Cocktail Hour" is laidback exotica complete with chirping birds and patient Latin rhythms that explode into a swinging horn number. And the EP closer, "Music By Numbers," is a sensational trek through a hundred different rhythm styles, all tied together by a hypnotic and compulsive groove. Resting somehow among the likes of Senor Coconut, Tipsy, and Ursula 1000 but married to the obsessive beat mangling of Kid606 or Aphex Twin, Percussions is party music for the perpetual hipster: the perfect soundtrack to an unending circus of old cartoons, Tiki bars, vintage pinup girls, '80s video games, and that Jetsons future we're all still waiting for. |
