Sunday, April 29, 2012

Ender Belongs to Me – Memory (Crash Symbols, 2012)


Ender Belongs to Me – Memory
Crash Symbols 2012

Ender Belongs to Me is a New York based duo, both going by the pseudo-name Peter Wiggin, the violent older brother from the sci-fi novel Ender’s Game. “Kick/Scream” features melancholic, flange-y synth melodies with an experimental pop structure. The melodic hooks are gentle and catchy, supported by drum set and minimalist drum machine patter. “You, Sir” quickly brought to mind Gang Gang Dance, in large part due to the groovy drum machine rhythms and their echo-y textures. It could also be their pairing with the female vocals, which we hear for the first time. The synths keep the flange tinge, and this time they are really in a locked rhythmic groove with the drum machine throughout the song, which sounds great. “Animate” begins with hypnotic, polyrhythmic, metallic bell clatter soon joined by found sound spoken word distortion. The synths enter the mix, sounding slightly more dissonant and more like a piano (no flange). Initially the percussion seems very organic, like a human was actually hitting things (though perhaps not), yet as the song progresses it subtly mutates into a quantized drum machine, which sounds good too. “All Working” is composed of repetitive, minimalist synth layers that are beautifully gentle and rhythmic. When the soft 4/4 bass and digital patter kick in amongst the synths the piece becomes quite cheerful and danc-y. In “Teddymuffin”, the female vocals become more long-form and chant-like towards the end of the piece, joined by churning drum samples and pulsating synths, acting more as a rhythmic bass.

Cassette for purchase:

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