Dazed Mix: Endgame

London producer Endgame makes brutal, cutting-edge music that sounds like it’s been to hell and back. The Precious Metals host and Bala Club co-founder is a staple of London’s underground community, and whose demonic, atmospheric beats are synonymous with longtime collaborators such as Felix Lee, Kamixlo, Yayoyanoh, and Organ Tapes.

On his debut album, Surrender (released last month), the musician grappled with feelings of loss and temporality surrounding the loss of his father. Imagining a world where angels and devils collide, he created a decaying sonic landscape built on dismembered rhythms and shadowy club sounds.

For his Dazed Mix, Endgame draws on an equally severe sonic palette. “It’s about finding beauty and chaos, and finding hope in darkness,” he explains. There’s a decomposing edit of Manchester producer Croww’s nu-metal track “Prosthetic 3” (which itself is made entirely from Slipknot samples) and the techno orchestral rhythms of Orbital’s “Event Horizon”; the drill-grime sounds of rising star Backroad Gee and Danish producer Why Be’s hypnotic melodies. Tune in and drop out.

How have you been adjusting to creating music in the pandemic? How have you been coping generally?

Endgame: Creatively, it’s allowed me the space to take a step back and think about what I’m doing with a bit more clarity. Music has helped me cope in a lot of ways, I’m really grateful for this. I'm pretty good at being on my own, but that’s not always a good thing, it’s easy to get lost.

Have you picked up any new hobbies during lockdown?

Endgame: Calisthenics and Fl studio are the main things that I’ve been trying to learn over lockdown, both are really difficult but rewarding in different ways.

Your debut album, Surrender, came out last month. What is your personal favourite track from the EP, and why?

Endgame: My favourite track to listen to is faithless, I feel like it marks the biggest step for me technically. But tunnels is the most important to me on a personal level, in terms of the subject matter. It’s also the most vulnerable I’ve ever allowed myself to be musically.

How would you describe the experience of making the album?

Endgame: It’s been emotional, had to go through a lot to get to this point, I left a part of me in this one.

Can you speak about your experience collabing on tracks with Yayayonoh and Organ Tapes?

Endgame: They’re both really special, we’ve been working on music together since we first met way back. I always value these type of collaborations that are based on real world experiences and relationships, more than just online interactions, it’s a way deeper connection, and it brings more to the music.

Obviously Bala Club disbanded a few years back now. What’s the biggest difference you’ve felt in your artistry since then?

Endgame: I wouldn’t say there is too much difference in my own artistry, as thats always been pretty solitary, but I definitely miss the solidarity of the squad, and the ‘us vs the world’ mentality, it’s a special feeling to know you’ve got a team of people that back you musically. I’ve been trying to cultivate that same energy my own label/ radio show Precious Metals.

Has your relationship with the Bala crew changed at all? How would you describe your relationship with them now?

Endgame: We are still super close, and we will always be kindred spirits. Me an Kami have a collaboration EP we’ve been working on. I feel super blessed that our worlds collided, and what we did will live on and have its legacy in London.

What’s going on in this Dazed Mix? What sort of vibe were you going for?

Endgame: It’s about finding beauty and chaos, and finding hope in darkness.

Are you working on any new projects now? What are you looking forward to in the future?

Endgame: I have a few separate collaborative projects I’ve been working on with Kamixlo, Dj Narciso, and Felix Lee, and working on my own new release, also some super exciting releases on the label Precious Metals. I’m always excited about the future, even if it seems bleak we have each other.

TRACKLIST:

1. Croww, “Prosthetic 3” (Endgame decomposed edit)
2. Araabmusik, “Hammer Dance”
3. Daemon x Endgame, “Let Me Breathe” 
4. Endgame x Kamixlo, “???”
5. Endgame, “Poison” (edit)
6. Endgame, “Shadow of Death”
7. Endgame, “Shadow of Death”
8. Wulffluw xciv, “Polyurethene“
9. Estoc, “Hadzesocial” (edit)
10. First Circle, “Push”
11. Quest_onmarc, “sun O))) bootleg”
12. Imaabs, “Simulacro”
13. Orbital, “Event Horizon”
14. Tayhana, “Petrolera”
15. Rapid antics, “Radar”
16. Endgame x Kamixlo, “???”
17. Omaar, “Mystery Man”
18. Estoc, “Isolate Dawn”
19. Backroad G, “Enough is enough”
20. Lao, “Break Tool”
21. First Circle, “Charged up”
22. Felix Lee, “Deadli Flex”
23. Endgame x Narciso, “???”
24. Ninja, “Blade”
25. Kat Nzingha, “Antinomianism”
26. Gaika, “Race with the Devil” (Endgame remix)
27. Oliver Twist, “Level 1”
28. Dnza, “tribu”
29. Why Be, “Impossible Drops”
30. sk1nsss, “Bop it”
31. Akash, “Wicked Drum Bells”
32. Endgame x Felix Lee, “????”
33. Endgame, “Faithless”
34. x/o, “promise armour”

Endgame’s Surrender is out now