Published by Alessandro Violante on December 12, 2016
The story of the breakcore project of Lynn Standafer End.user (or known as Enduser) began approximately in the early 2000s, when he started publishing his music through Sonicterror Recordings. Then, further albums released by labels like Ad Noiseam and Hymen Records followed, and after several years his first release for Hands Productions, titled Enter to exit, will see the light on 16th December.
Although his new album is another natural step in his career and it doesn’t change the peculiar trademarks of his formula, these eleven songs sound more introspective, wrapped up in a more melodic and softer atmosphere. This perception is also the result of the production chosen, even when syncopated broken beats dominate the song (Resist) and when they’re strongly distorted and slowed down (Ab Minus). It also emphasizes the cinematographic atmosphere permeating the whole album and its melodic ideas, more than the heavy rhythmic section, which is anyway very solid.
As can be perceived in the opener In Any Event, Enter to exit sounds very old school, strongly influenced by jungle music, but with a darker mood. Projection suits perfectly with this description, with its dystopic mood, its mid tempo, its classic “amen breaks” and its “vocals”. The titletrack detaches itself from the rest of the album as it takes a break from the unstoppable sequences of breakbeats, built around a beautiful melody with a melancholy mood perfect for this season. The mid tempo beats here used are only necessary to give a certain structure to the song.
The cinematographic mood is emphasized in songs such as Emerge, which has gloomy ambient moments, Desolation with its articulated dark melody and Beneath, with its more free-form structure. End.user shows to be fully capable of creating songs without dominant elements over others, be them the melodic motifs, distortions or beats, giving us a perfect mixture of the ingredients. This is the result of years of music creation and study. Tension and distension are constantly alternated, as in the aforementioned Ab Minus, and this can be said for every song of the album.
This doesn’t mean the listener won’t be able to dance to these songs. Although End.user’s live performaces focus on more straight to the point songs, as showed by his recent performance at MUK.E, you’ll be overwhelmed by tons of strong rhythms perfect to make you move. Resist, When Faith Wasn’t Enough (Awake Version) and Emerge are perfect examples of this.
Breakcore music can be challenging also for industrial music followers, but if you take your time, put on your headphones, abstract yourself from the world sourrounding you and only focus on music, spasmodically spinning the album until it becomes yours, you’ll find a perfect geometry in the storm of beats you’ll be subjected to and you’ll be able to fully enjoy the experience of Enter to exit, a title inviting you to exit from the world, to experience something new and very personal. Beyond the alternation of fast, slow and mid tempo rhythms you’ll understand the harmony of this album and you’ll be able to catch those particular sounds, details and atmospheres differentiating each song from the other and making this record above the standards.
End.user’s Enter to exit is a mature album and can be considered one of the best examples of intelligent, wisely blended breakcore. Hands Productions confirms its will to offer a wide range of music styles, not only linked to rhythmic industrial.
Label: Hands Productions
Score: 9