Endless Summer

Endless Summer is an album by Austrian electronic music producer and guitarist Fennesz, released on 3 July 2001 by Mego. The title was derived from the 1960s surf documentary by Bruce Brown, and is also shared with a 1974 compilation album by the Beach Boys. The album features Fennesz's melodic guitar run through digital processing and glitch textures. The album brought Fennesz critical recognition and became "a hit in left-field electronica." It was reissued in 2006 in a new mix with two bonus tracks and new cover art. It was named among the best albums of the decade by publications such as Pitchfork, Fact, and Resident Advisor. Background Fennesz recorded the album on a limited equipment setup consisting of a laptop, one Shure SM57 microphone, a few guitars, and a few pedals. Speaking to RBMA in 2008, he recalled that "I think I was inspired at that time, it was a good period of my life and ideas came so easily." The album employs melody and guitar chords, with Fennesz explaining that "many of my colleagues, the people around me, were doing really abstract electronic music – melody was forbidden. I didn’t agree with that at all, I wanted to bring back things I’d been fascinated with in the past, [...] I wanted to combine that with new digital technology, Max/MSP." The album title was intended to be in reference to the 1960s surf documentary The Endless Summer; Fennesz was not aware that it shared a title with a 1970s compilation by The Beach Boys, adding that "I was influenced by their music, but it wasn’t as intentional as it seemed."