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Music

Listen to ENDON's "Tokyodionysis" Remix of SUMAC's "Image Of Control"

"[We] try to release a ghost of improvisation into the basic structure of three individuals."
Photo of SUMAC by Faith Coloccia.

The enigmatic Tokyo-based group ENDON has shared their remix of Canadian-American doom metal trio SUMAC's raucous track "Image Of Control" in anticipation of the latter's forthcoming album Before You I Appear, which also includes remixes of their last record, What One Becomes. ENDON renders a tumultuous ten minutes into placid organ-filled ambient work that is quickly superseded by Aaron Turner of SUMAC's snarling verses and chaotically warped discordant noise.

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SUMAC had some thoughts on the remix that they shared with THUMP via email. "The music we're making with SUMAC is often centered around themes of control and/or loss thereof. This is true of both the lyrical content as well as the music itself. Allowing our music to be used as source material by a group of outside creative entities was an important exercise to further these thematic explorations. And, perhaps most importantly an uncomfortable one. Taking chances is vital to the survival of this group and its music, especially those that invite the possibility of failure—as such, letting other people take something that was very much ours and completely reinterpret (and even destroy it) was a necessary choice, even an inevitable one."

ENDON shared thoughts on the remix as well. "The basic structure of our ritual remix—led by the sound of an organ as if it lights a candle, includes at least one excerpt from each individual member. We picked up one of [Turner's] phrases that is originally not repeated in SUMAC's song, and made a loop with it, and we were so surprised by its strength. In the end ENDON try to release a ghost of improvisation into the basic structure of three individuals, and arrange a ritual uplift with our own Dionysos style."

Sumac's Before You I Appear is out via Thrill Jockey December 9.