Ital – Endgame

People were only just about getting to grips with Ital’s matrix-weaving series of EPs when he dropped his debut full-length for Planet Mu in 2012, a manically-warped take on house that stretched the genre’s conventions and structures beyond simple subversion, into a dark realm full of half-transmissions and intermingling sound nuggets. We should now know what to expect from the New York producer, but Endgame is a delicious listen of catacombs and unforeseen exit points nonetheless.

Rooted around more rigid techno structures, there’s a dusty feel to Endgame, the relentlessly discomforting tremor of Whispers In The Dark and the asphyxiating atmosphere of Beacon billow with mushroom particle clouds on the impact of each beat, illuminated only by half-light. The record emerges into the shimmering light of day on a couple of occasions – on the chiming hi-end of the title-track, and the panorama of Dancing – but quickly returns to its quietly discordant rattle and hum. [Simon Jay Catling]