Fennesz – Endless Summer

A minimalist, clicks-and-cuts masterpiece by experimental guitarist Christian Fennesz, Endless Summer is a wild, breathtaking guitar record unlike anything released before or since. Multiplying six strings to infinity through a combination of effects pedals and plug-ins, the guitarist adds washes of weird, reverberant noise to strummed acoustic guitar chords on the title track, mixes curious electronic dots with looped, staticky electronic guitar on the utterly sublime “Caecilia,” and stutters with glitchy CD-skipping melodies on “Before I Leave.” At more than 10 minutes, “Happy Audio” opens with a Terry Riley-esque organ loop and scratched-up vinyl that stacks and repeats until it’s rolling like a boulder down a cliff. – Randall