Endgame – Tundra
Out of all the myriad musical outfits operated by British brothers Alan Freeman and Steve Freeman–authors of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg krautrock book and Audion experimental music mag–Endgame is by far my favorite. For nearly two-and-a-half hours, the appropriately titled Tundra floats a seemingly endless barren soundscape across the listener’s frontal lobe. It’s a very cinematic affair, offering the mind’s eye a heady stew of distant ambience and heavily reverberated atmosphere. Droning synths, fuzz guitar, barking dogs, disembodied voices, orchestral smears and plenty of other highly processed, layered and looped sound effects ebb and flow and occasionally coalesce into a swelling mass of extremely pleasant dream state electricity.
Compared to Alan and Steve’s irreverent and dada-inspired band, The Newt Hounds, Endgame is much more, dare I say it, “mature.” But that doesn’t mean you have to be a washed-up elderly porn star confined to a wheelchair to appreciate it. In fact, you can be young and fully clothed–or proceeding along quite nicely at any stage of life–and still enjoy Tundra’s many-splendored elegance. The front cover artwork and design are equally pleasing, as well. Highly recommended.
Label: Ultimate Transmissions Catalog Number: UTCD 009/10 Format: 2-CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: Disc 1: 2, Disc 2: 3 Total Time: Disc 1: 75:00, Disc 2: 76:32 Country: England Released: 2001 Related Artists: Alto Stratus, The Newt Hounds, Zircon and the Burning Brains
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