Enduser: 1/3
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Lynn Standafer returns from a brief spell away from the recording spotlight (2009 was dedicated to live shows) with 1/3, twenty-three minutes of Grade A Enduser material. There's little that's throwaway about the release, even if half of it's given over to an upgrade of an earlier track and a Cardopusher remix. The EP's best cut comes first. “2/3” finds Enduser in ultra-fine form with a six-minute throwdown that's positively crushing. Tension builds in the opening minutes with a menacing synth theme and female vocal setting the tone before the cyclone hits. The jungle-styled, drum'n'bass groove Standafer drops is lethal in the best sense of the word, the rampaging drum attack so powerful it almost overwhelms everything else. Shattering too is “1/3” where Standafer strafes the burning landscape with shredding beats and cryptic spoken word snippets, with at one point snare hits punctuating the air with deathly, army rifle-like pops. “Death Vest 09” (an update of an earlier “ Death Vest ” version) initially brings the intensity level down to a less frenetic level when controlled beats accompany a breathy, Lush-styled vocal line, but then the skies open and a protoypical Enduser beat storm appears in all its viral glory. At disc's end, Cardopusher adds his signature to the EP with a wobbly, bass-heavy makeover of “Interruption 4.” Don't be repelled by the ‘hard electronics' label that's often affixed to the genre, as there's definitely beauty of a kind in Enduser's tracks. “2/3” in particular is a marvel on conceptual and arranging grounds, with the various episodes judiciously sequenced by Standafer so that they achieve maximum effect.

July 2010