Fennesz: Endless Summer Fennesz: Endless Summer (MEGO - 2001) Yeah, the Beach Boys already did one called Endless Summer a long time ago, but trust me... this one's different. Through unknown processes, Fennesz cranks out some scuffed up (though still sweet) electronic oddities, with hints of summertime fun lingering beneath their roughened exteriors. Warmly squarbling grit meets with ripply tonal wisps in the crunchy-yet-somehow-catchy opening number, Made in Hong Kong (and yes, I just made up "squarbling" but it's a very apt new word; feel free to pencil it into your dictionary). Scuzzy (though mellow) acoustic guitar strands strum and mutate amongst microscopic flecks of static as Endless Summer fades in and out of rougher interludes. The gently rising/falling semi-symphonic drones of A Year in a Minute are topped with squiggly electronic granules. Sputtering drifts waft through Caecilia. Similarly unpredictable convolutions occur to the sweet tones of Got to move On which are buried under several layers of faintly simmering grunge. Something like tropicana elevator music gets the Fennesz treatment in Shisheido (2:56), the disfigurations not quite covering up the wandering core tunefulness. The staccato chords of Before I Leave are so abrupt I thought my CD player was stuck/skipping... instead the progressions form a meandering set of starkly sputtering patterns. Faint organ-like residues loop beneath a crackling haze as Happy Audio (10:56) ends this season of esoteric listening; the repetitious effervescence gradually acquires an additional layer and everything convolves into a caustic-though-muted spattering of sound which trails away. The intriguingly defaced versions of unknowable sound sources make Endless Summer seem like a vacation spot that's way, way off the "normal" map of everyday tourist-types. So if you're into that kind of adventure, then let Fennesz be your guide into 8.5 transmutations. The Dutch East website is the place to start, and finsh, your eclectic-listening shopping. This review posted August 31, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).