After the widely acclaimed The Sounds Of Disaster End gives us this tiny mini-LP, 6 tracks split into 12 for reasons beyond my comprehension. If The Sounds Of Disaster was inspired by surf rock, funk and western soundtracks, Percussions shifts to the lounge side. It’s not cocktail music though, at least it could be, but I won’t recommend you to play it while sipping margaritas at the golf club. Many sounds are inspired by 60’s movies –I just spotted a sample of Umiliani’s music in “Bengal Spice Mix,” and then you’ll find some vintage keyboards, lo-fi vocals, all that relaxing stuff, blended with the crisp popping beats that are a sort of End’s trademark since Science/Fiction. All the ingredients are flawlessly mixed together, Percussions sounds fresh and uplifting, but here and there are some snare rushes, some DSP-fucked-up bongos, and even some hardcore beats. The last track “Music By Numbers” is more aggressive than the rest of the lot, it has an attitude similar to the Disaster tunes, maybe because it was conceived and produced five years before the other tracks on the album, who knows –nonetheless it’s an exciting ending, that leaves you begging for more. As I always do every time I get a new End record.
Percussions is out now on Tigerbeat6.
