Alternate / Endings
It\'s telling that two samples on Lee Bannon\'s sprawling Ninja Tune debut album are from Darren Aronofsky films. Like those bar-setting breakthroughs—psychological thrillers that put mathematicians on the same horror-struck plane as heroin addicts—*Alternate/Endings* crackles with a kinetic energy that\'s full of style *and* substance. On the surface, it falls right in line with the recent jungle revival that\'s made skittish drum breaks vital again. If you crank it through crisp speakers, however, everything suddenly blooms into a bright, multi-channel meditation on what it means to make a mission statement. In Bannon\'s case, that amounts to a deliberate departure from the bold hip-hop beats he\'s cooked up for underground heads like Joey Bada\$$ and Smoke DZA. Rather than deliver a record full of MC-free instrumentals, the Sacramento native has honored his hometown\'s warehouse roots with heavily layered dance loops that are rooted in live bass parts (by The Mars Volta\'s Juan Alderete), cryptic field recordings, and a restless sampler. *Alternate/Endings* is a fresh, welcome chapter in a story that drum\'n\'bass purists closed years ago.
Lee Bannon broke through as one of the most promising producers associated with Joey Bada$$'s Pro Era crew, offering potent updates of beats forged by the likes of RZA and DJ Premier. Since then he's gotten weirder, and his drum and bass-inspired second album, Alternate/Endings, seems more interested in atmosphere than rhythm.
California-based producer Lee Bannon's new release is a relentless attack of drum & bass beats on what's a surprisingly cinematic album. Just don't expect to be taking a breather over the next hour.