Endgame CD

Ital has always confounded expectations, releasing electronic music that flits between styles and defies easy categorization. The American producer's at it again on Endgame, an album supposedly inspired by minimalist composers and his recent experiments with psychedelic drugs. Certainly, Endgame boasts the hypnotic, off-kilter pulse of, say, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and the dreamy, hard-to-focus musical wizardry most associated with psychedelia. Despite these influences - and occasional nods to both jazz and dub - it's primarily a techno album, with ghostly electronics, skittish rhythms and drowsy chords underpinning crystalline melodies. It's certainly his most considered album to date, and arguably his best.