It’s all leading towards a total breakdown. Countries are coming apart, the economy is collapsing, hanging on a drip, and we’re not even talking about our environment. Culture, it seems, is nothing but evening itself out. This is the attitude that must have driven Daniel Martin-McCormick a.k.a. Ital when preparing for his third record – not without good reason did he name the album »Endgame«, apocalyptical and somewhat lofty. The house-anarchist, who delivered irritating vocal-samples on his debut »Hive Mind« two years ago, has now drawn his inspiration from psychedelic music and minimalistic composers, as he officially stated. Instead of using samples, it’s all about synthesizers this time, creating an atmosphere from softly floating particles of rhythm. More than ever, his music rotates around echoes, reminding the listener of Chain Reaction-approaches of dub techno producers like Fluxion. »Endgame« doesn’t leave the impression of dealing with a kind of musician who desperately tries to fuel the development from house to techno through using unexpected means, anymore. Instead, Ital is merely refining his methods while counting on reliable strategies. He might followed programmatic intentions, since evening out culture in a performative act seems to work well on this record. However, instead of leading to astonishment, it only leads to casual head-nodding, most of the time.
Endgame