Rockbites: ATR’s Nic Endo unleashes atonal assault on 2nd LP

newsarchive

July 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

• back to July 2001 index

ATR’s Nic Endo unleashes atonal assault on 2nd LP
24 July 2001

For her second full length, Atari Teenage Riot keyboardist/noisemaker Nic Endo navigates some seriously obscure corners of the musical landscape on what will no doubt be one of the most sublime discs of the year. Titled Cold Metal Perfection and following on from her debut LP Poison Lips by two years (that one under the pseudonym She-Satellites), the 11 track set hits such genre outposts as jazz-dub, serialist-atonal, and space-float. And that’s just in the first three tracks.
    Endo programmed and recorded her new album in Berlin and in Shizuoka, Japan over the past 12 months or so. Her eclectic influences/points of reference range from the spooky atonalism of Edgar Varèse and Arnold Schoenberg... to the aggressive noise explorations of Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) and of her mentor/partner in crime Alec Empire... to the pure electronics of Isao Tomita, Plaid, and Squarepusher... to the super female energy of Chicks On Speed. Album tracks such as Le Sacrifice (Cercles Mysterieux) and One Night Domination manage to roll back and forth among these worlds like some cold sweat dream that’s far too strange to remember on waking.
    Although she claims to disdain intellectual approaches to music in favor of emotion and spontaneity, Cold Metal Perfection is deliciously satisfying on all levels. You may find it an acquired taste, needing a handful of listens to hook in, but it is more than worth the effort.
    And while Endo despises objectification of women in the commerce of rock music, she uses her own image to striking advantage on the album artwork—a car crash alien dominatrix geisha might be one way to lose something in a translation to words.
    Cold Metal Perfection came out last month for the UK and over the past two weeks across Europe. It hits stores today in the US and Canada. We give it a bemused and awestruck four bites out of five.

Rockbites ratings  5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying.

| Nic Endo on DHR | | interview on Free Radical Sounds | | CD | | top of page |

back to July 2001 index

today’s stories •

click for Rockbites Home
	Copyright © 1998 - 2001 M. Jason. All Rights Reserved. Rockbites is not for profit and supports human rights. “Rockbites” and “Alternative Daily” are service marks of Rockbites. All names are the property of their respective owners. Send your feedback or questions to feedback@rockbites.com Send your press releases to press@rockbites.com Rockbites Alternative Daily contact information