Words and Endings＜限定盤＞

Danish producer Uffe Christensens early releases blended abstract samples and live instrumentation to produce wobbly, off-center house and seductive downtempo tracks equally reminiscent of Theo Parrish, Nicolas Jaar, and former labelmate Max Graef. Words and Endings, his first full-length in five years, is something else entirely. Born out of a series of highly productive recording sessions which helped the bipolar disorder-diagnosed artist avoid lapsing into destructive behavior, the album delves deeply into dub, post-punk, and avant-jazz influences, constantly defying expectations with every turn. Kill a Sound is an unhinged dub monster pairing booming bass and fractured samples with dusky yet mellow keyboards. The guest vocalist on Immortal plays hide-and-seek with the winding rhythms and pulsating bass of Immortal, Maybe I draw my face again, maybe I dont, maybe I do. The Moon loops twitchy kick drums and hand percussion, gradually gaining oddly calming pianos and getting knocked into space with bugged-out dub effects. The drowsy, hungry Handgrenade recalls Adrian Sherwood and Mark Stewart as well as the Bristol trip-hop scene they directly influenced. Moenten builds hallucinatory patterns out of skipping records and crusty old beatboxes, then adds the cryptic lyrics Walk with us, gas with us. Old Balance is a mixture of dubby house and tunneling minimal techno, which becomes totally displaced (in a remarkable way) when the producer unexpectedly inserts galloping Afrobeat drums halfway through the track. The Ender is the biggest left turn, however, beginning with explosive free jazz drums splattering over analog synth freak-outs, then segueing into a more meditative passage with simmering percussion, sparkling chimes, and reflective keyboards. Uffes music never felt like it was boxed into a single category in the first place, but here he sounds truly unrestricted, tapping into some sort of unnamed nocturnal spirit and instinctively creating visceral work which couldnt come from anyone elses mind. ~ Paul Simpson