play yer tunes

pyt Presents:

Artist: End
Title: Percussions
Record Label: Tigerbeat6

Ripped Date: 11/07/2004
Street Date: 00/00/2004
Genre: Electronic
Ripper: str
Source: CDDA
Grabber: EAC
Encoder: Lame 3.90.3 --alt-preset standard

Release Information

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.  -tigerbeat6.com

It's surprising how little attention has been drawn to
the parallels that exist between electronic music and
lounge/exotica music. Musicians working in both genres
often focus on creating a mood rather than on writing
songs. Much electronic music also shares the bouncy,
cartoonish quality of lounge music. While many modern
electronic albums could be called "percussion" albums,
it is rare that an artist actually makes a direct
reference to the percussion albums that were so popular
in the late 1950's and 1960's that they actually
comprised a genre of their own. Rather than sounding as
if he has raided dollar bins at thrift stores to find
cool records to sample from, Percussions shows that
Charles Peirce (End) is a true enthusiast of exotica and
lounge music. These 12 short tracks (each of the six
titles refers to two consecutive tracks) fuse samples of
all kinds of percussion instruments (and some brass
instruments and voices) with digital manipulation. The
effects are usually used subtly and enhance the
percussion, bringing the lounge music genre up to date.
This is especially effective during "Go", in which bongo
rolls have only a slight digital edge to their sound.
Rather than manipulating the source sounds beyond
recognition, Peirce has made familiar sounds seem
slightly askew. Percussions features the intricate beat
programming that is integral to Peirce's sound, but
juxtaposes it with xylophone, harp, and various drums.
Although mock-1960's cover art has truly been overused,
this is one case in which that style of artwork actually
complements the music. It's a lot more appropriate here
than when The Smithereens used a "Living Stereo" logo on
a CD from 1994. Percussions sounds more like a tribute
to an era than an exploitation of it. One of its main
strengths is that it reminds us that electronic music
can be fun. While many electronic producers take
themselves too seriously, Peirce is not afraid to make
fun of the genre and of himself, as evidenced by the
vocal sample "Well, let's all get together and steal
each others songs" heard in "Music By Numbers."
Percussions highlights the similarities between lounge
music and modern electronic music, while not sounding
like a stylish genre exercise. While lounge music
samples were one aspect of his 2004 Ipecac CD The Sounds
of Disaster, it's nice to hear Peirce fully realize a
project focusing on this aspect of his sound.
-brainwashed.com

Note: Most tracks mixed so done as one track with cue...
and as you can see, 12 tracks on the cd, but only 6
track names; each title refers to two consectutive tracks.

Enjoy!

Track Listing:

No.  Time   Track Title

Percussions

01.         End - Patterns
02.         End - Patterns
03.         End - Bengal Spice Mix
04.         End - Bengal Spice Mix
05.         End - Cocktail Hour
06.         End - Cocktail Hour
07.         End - Go
08.         End - Go
09.         End - Ulam's Spiral
10.         End - Ulam's Spiral
11.         End - Music By Numbers
12.         End - Music By Numbers

Total time: 27:14 .. Total Size:  43,3MB