ENDGAME
Established in July 1999, Endgame comprised the brothers
Alan and Steve Freeman (sound explorers since the early 1980s, mostly as Alto
Stratus) joined by Jim Tetlow, a local friend who also had the desire to
explore new sonic possibilities in free improvisation. Alan and Jim had been
working together in Maureen Anderson's Shapeshifter (a Leicester poetry and
space-rock type band) and already had a rapport. But, apart from that, Endgame
started as a blank slate: no rules, no bounds, no concept, except the idea -
just play, lead, follow, react or influence, and let the music take on a life
of its own.
It started as an evening session once a week, all of which
was recorded, and of which over half was deemed worthy of release. Such a
productivity rate had to slow up eventually, especially as Endgame started to
play live, and there were other sideline projects like Eruption (with Nick Mott
from Volcano The Bear), Polymorph (with Maureen Anderson) and Extremities (with
Dave Powell on hurdy-gurdy).
As Endgame music is instantaneous invention, it's hard to
say where its roots and inspiration are. Initially it was a music that stepped
on from German cosmic music in the manner of Lightwave, but with the serious
avant-garde feel of Morphogenesis. Early Tangerine Dream and Kluster/Cluster
are also obvious references, and the ghost of Karlheinz Stockhausen can also be
heard, along with Taj Mahal Travellers or the "sound pools" of
Agitation Free.
As of last count there were 95 Endgame releases in all
(several of which are double albums), each with its own individual character,
and all can be auditioned by Bandcamp or via special YouTube promotional
videos.
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| Endgame live at The Victory, Leicester circa 2001 |
Here are some choice reviews...
ENDGAME: CATALYST
The Freeman brothers, (authors of CRACK IN THE COSMIC EGG,
and editors of AUDION Magazine), have also made music for many years. Their
newest release, which also features a third member Jim Tetlow, is the answer
for all those who long for the days of yore when TD was still tuned into the
cosmos. Their “music” is derived from the improvisational mode of early TD and
ZEIT, along with the more modern vibe of Lightwave, a splash of Kluster and
hints of Holger Czukay’s experimentalism. The albums four extended tracks, on 2
CDs, combine for a total running time of 140:40, and the sonic constructs
explored will have your mind reeling as the journey through the musical cosmos
progresses. ENDGAME is a very impressive album, experimental in concept, yet
listenable, with a great avant art presentation.
[by Archie Patterson in Eurock]
ENDGAME: AVATAR
From the increasingly prolific trio Endgame comes this
latest double CD. Recorded over 4 sessions during October & November 1999
the 7 tracks here represent just a snapshot really of their work in progress.
(Improvisation seems to me to always be ever developing, to be work in
progress). In assembling the pieces for this album Endgame have labelled each
disc with a separate subtitle. So let's start with disc 1. "The really
deep cosmic one" - (by which I take it they mean deep as in distance
rather than claiming to have found the meaning of life!) is made up of 3 tracks
ranging from 12 minutes to a meagre 42 minutes! An obvious influence/similarity
here is the dark semi abstract soundworlds of Lightwave. Endgame have that same
sense of space & movement. But I also kept thinking of a much earlier
sound, that of the improvisations of Amon Duul 2! Just in small sections, but
it's there. Whatever, there is that same style of exploration going on. With a
touch of danger. "The psychedelic twisted one" - is made up of 4
pieces going from 9 to 35 minutes. (I'm less sure that the subtitle works here
- but never mind). The music while still having much in common with the first
disc does tend to the more avant-garde, more like Morphogenesis - another
acknowledged influence. But I can spot bits that remind me of Les Vampyrettes
or the Moebius & Plank track Solar Plexus say. I could go on - but I think
you get the idea really. This is improvised music that is well aware of where
it's coming from. It's improvised music with an agenda & game plan. No it's
not random noise or sound, it has a structure even if each piece didn't set out
to have one. Endgame are going into it all with their eyes open - one on the past,
one on the future & one on the present!
[Gary Scott - from Audion 45]
ENDGAME: TUNDRA
Once again in the cosmic courier service are the Freeman
Bros. Alan & Steve along with Jim Tetlow and as always with synthesizers
and guitars, tapes, loops and samplers best equipped for up to 47-minute
spacewalks and for the frostiest ('The big freeze') and most glowing
environments ('Atomsmasher / Cyclotron' ) on their 'Forbidden planet'
explorations. Always following their curiosity and longing for desires, always
on the lookout for Terra Incognita, lost time, the ultimate kick, the cosmic
Phoenix egg and I'm sure (otherwise they would not be English), they know
pretty well that 'cosmic' distinguished from 'weird' only a little s - the
little snake ', with which all space and fun begins.
[Google translated from Bad Alchemy]
ENDGAME: C
A very happy customer...
As regards "C" one very amazed "wow!" It
was bound to be something special what with being Session 100 and everything
but it really goes out there somewhere. The good thing about an Endgame release
is that I can hear certain trademarks developing, Yet here they have completely
vanished... This has to be the most unique release so far. Hints of Cluster 71
somewhere, but by the time we reach Brain Stalking Quotient we are in totally
unknown territory. Admission price is worth it for this track alone. [Peter
Smith]
ENDGAME: ALLES UBER SCHIZOPHRENE?
(Auricle AMCDR 072/73) 2CDR 132m
Close your eyes and imagine a journey and I guarantee that
however surreal you can make it the results will be nothing compared to the
contents of this 2CD set (Disc One 58.55, Disc Two 73.09, and hours of fun)…
We begin our adventures in Leicester with a seemingly
innocent toy instrument, and end up, well, we end up at the beginning again…are
you ready? This is Endgame at their most surreal and abstract, much as I like
every aspect of the groups output this facet is for myself, their most unique.
Second track in and reality is already loosing grip, Leaking
Cerebral Matrix claws away inside your head with steel strings and nightmare
drones, everything is implied rather than spoken, most unsettling. By the time
we reach Redrum Si Gnimoc there’s no way back (or is that forwards?) A total
claustrophobic nightmare indeed, no let up with Celestial Collision either,
these two tracks were part of the epic sessions recorded December 01, only
weeks away from the equally surreal “C” sessions, what on earth is running
through the water pipes in Leicester?
None of this however can prepare you for The Inevitable Fake
Ligeti (which I guess is a homage now). Found sound juxtaposed with that famous
Endgame eternal loop system combine to create what for me is the landmark of
the disc (at least on this playing) need I say more than tell you that there is
no-one around at the moment who is producing anything close to this? All The
Latest Gadgets.. starts off like pure NWW but then suddenly pulls you through
into another sound dimension stretching and reversing images until your head
turns inside out. Back to reality to change discs.
Are you still with us? Take a break if you wish, or perhaps
you’d rather take a trip inside the cosmic oceans of Spray ? Amid the creaking
bones and metal tones something sinister lurks. Later we find ourselves in The
Church which starts off something like a twisted out-take from ATEM but soon
ventures to even deeper and darker pathways, forget your guidebooks as this one
is totally unique. Further on the sound of breaking glass pulls you back inside
your body, Erupting Glass Lullaby is just that, but be warned, fall asleep to
this one and your dreams will be full of toasted marshmallows, it starts off
calmly enough but there’s something there in the corner of the room.
There’s so much more to this recording, so many more twists
and turns, and I haven’t even mentioned the humour in the speech-links or the
superb editing which really holds the whole thing together.
Furthermore as if this wasn’t enough of an Endgame epic, the
first disc also contains a wealth of CD-ROM material. Marvel at the images of
Tachyon Studio, loose yourself in the selection of mind warping graphics or
simply get terrified by the sound montage and surreal journey around the UT
store itself…either way a splendid time is guaranteed for all…
To sum up, the day that I received my copy of this epic
collection I also received the new NWW disc, and I know which of the two
releases is the most adventurous, Steve Stapleton and co. no longer need my
voice of support, but the good spaceship Endgame and all who sail in her certainly
do, and what’s more its deservedly so.
Put simply, if you are reading this review then you owe it
to all concerned to purchase a copy of this release. Have a pleasant trip.
[Peter Smith in Audion 52]
ENDGAME: HEXED
(Auricle AMCDR 058) CD 61m
On the cover we see in brownish-dark yellow a blurry image
that may be a militant centaur. Six tracks on this one. Catamount Minor Tremble
is an intriguing title of a piece where a turbid Morse code rhythm effect locks
in the listener, but on the same time lets him distinguish all sorts of surging
sounds till it’s a all blown away by a blast of filtered white noise. Blasts
that keep coming, bringing washes of vibrating sounds. Then the clouds of lo-fi
distortion break a bit and some partials manage to escape and slither through.
From behind the rumblings and blazings shimmers of ZEIT evolve, but only
briefly. Unshaped vibrating sounds reaching for heights which culminates in a
pinnacle of radio signals. Snehcteit Sumsa, could have been a title from a
Bernard Szajner album, builds on echoing clouded metal-noise rhythms, which
become louder and louder, shooting like angry rockets round your ears,
countered by the occasional tender blows of toy trumpet. The piece dies out in
the same manner after a rumble of machine-like noises and stormy blazes. Shards
Of Glass is an excursion into spooky ambient shimmers, well anyway till
distortion brings it back into noise territory. On Waste Disposal winds of
detuned and synced oscillators start a vendetta. Audio cutlery is flying all
round like in the film Carrie where the mother is nailed to the wall by knives
and forks. Intriguing heavily treated sounds deliver a hypnotic quality. On
Synthetic Fly Ceremony I feel myself transported to the nightly beach of
nightmares in the ghostly movie The Fog. There’s No One There starts as a
classic cosmic pie, but turns quickly into a much weirder, complex deepened
soundscape highlighted by a muffled women’s voice who questions the fact that’s
no one there. HEXED will grow on you in time.
[Roel Steverink in Audion 54]
After this Jim 's priorities became focussed elsewhere for a
while and Endgame became a more sporadic happening, and with new technology the
music changed, again becoming much serious and deep. Endgame also resumed
playing live, which also led to the Improv Electronic concerts and
Quadelectronic (now in its eleventh year), and many other related groups.
In all, there's too much Endgame to discover than can be
covered in an introductory article like this. So, how about summing up with the
latest Endgame release?...
ELECTROACOUSTICS (Auricle AMCDR 287/288) was an almost
lost album, that chronologically fits in between INTRIGUE and PHOENIX from late
2006, rediscovered only recently. This is Endgame in deep sonic contortion
mode, with a wealth of sounds undergoing live manipulation via a range of
devices, and less of the usual recognisable synths and instruments. Largely
intact, as it was performed, here are five very different tracks, each the
soundtrack to its own imaginary mind movie. And, as listening yourself can say
more than words, here's a taster for you...
A complete index of Endgame releases can be found on the Ultima Thule web site.
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