After years of waiting and expectations, Enduser finally comes back with a new album. This towering artist of the drum'n'bass and breakcore scene comes up here with an extremely important and soulful album in which his hard breaks and beats share the stage with much gentler melodies and atmospheres. A highly emotional album whose palette ranges from melancholy to rage, it is a new awe-inspiring album by a musician which proves again that his talent is multidimensional, humane and essential.
"Long awaited" is an understatement to describe fans' expectations regarding Enduser's new full length album. For somebody who used to be very prolific, the four years which have passed since his last album feel like eternity. Enduser had given us a hint of sort last year with the remarkable 1/3 EP, but here is finally the album people have been asking for and this musician has been sweating over: Even Weight.
Enduser's albums for Ad Noiseam are always very multidimensional and ambitious, as demonstrated with 2006's Pushing Back, Enduser's yardstick so far. In this sense, the best way to understand Even Weight is to read Enduser's own opinion and intent about it.
"This is not a dance album, it's more of a listening thing" says Lynn Standafer about this album. Though obviously harder than most and driven by Enduser's infectious breakcore beats, Even Weight is something which needs to be listened to, and not only danced to. His sound has gained a lot in width and his melodies are more encompassing than ever before. Starting with "Retribution", on which Sol Thomas (known for his involvement in Standafer's Calling The Vultures) lends his voice to Enduser again, the album reveals itself as a one that aims at the heart more than at the feet. The choice of guest vocalists (Jarboe of Swans closing the record and Belgium's O For Odetta) are another demonstration of the scorched nature of Enduser's message here, as is the fact that the various friends than he invited on this album (Hecq, Karsten Pflum, Architect and Bonk) appeared to have played mostly with drums, while Enduser kept his hands free for harmonies, melodies and arrangements.
This couldn't be an Enduser album without some heavy, fast, hard moments though, and tracks such as "Void", "Reciprocal" and "Distance" make sure that Enduser keeps his throne in the heart and set list of breakcore DJs worldwide. And still, it is each track which is even balanced in itself (the bass, the voices, the breaks forming a cohesive whole in every song), not the album as a whole.
Even Weight is an important album. For Enduser first, as it shows that this artist, an essential and towering figure of the breakcore and drum'n'bass scene, was able to take another leap forward and reinvent himself. For the fans, who will finally quench their thirst for new material and discover tunes they could only wish for. And finally for Ad Noiseam, who is proud to bring this album to the world.
Painting by Byroglyphics.
Mastering by Angelos Liaros.
Enduser
Ad Noiseam
