MX-80 Sound - 'Big Hits and Hard Attack'

Ok, really, this is the real reason I started doing this blog again. I wanted to post this record, realizing I never did a few years back when I was heavy into these fellas.

Coming out of the oasis of Bloomington, IN (basically the ONLY good thing in Indiana, and a pretty strange place), this band is a combination of influences that I really don't like. I hear a lot of Captain Beefheart, whom I despise, and also maybe some Frank Zappa, who is ok but not my favorite, Velvet Underground, who I also hate, and an assortment of 70's radio rock. Somehow, all this ends up being awesome, and completely unlike anything else, no matter how many people say they 'sound just like Sonic Youth.'

This kind of music just doesn't happen anymore. Here you have some college dudes in the middle of nowhere, just making music and playing for their friends, without ANY real musical worldview. So out of touch with everything going on in '76 that they sound current in 2016. It's fitting that they were discovered by The Residents, who also put out the bulk of their material on their Ralph Records, after Island dropped the band.

Since I can't really relate their sound to anything else other than their influences (which really doesn't cut it), this might get a little detailed.

So, you've got scratchy, 'angular' guitar work that sounds half-improvised, but always inspired. It's also really unpretentious...it never feels like the band is 'trying' to be weird, or experimental, they're just weirdos. You can tell there's a lot of early heavy metal influence in the guitar work as well. And yes, some parts sound strikingly similar to Sonic Youth drones, but more interesting, I would argue.

The bass player is ALWAYS busy, and actually has some of the 'lead' riffs while the guitar fucks around. Best, however, are the drums, which are SO FUCKING HEAVY. It sounds like an old jazz kit being played as hard and fast as possible. Like, I don't even really know, I was just smiling at this guy's playing the whole album, it's way funkier than you'd think for this type of music, and also REALLY idiosyncratic, maybe a little like Primus.

Primus is actually a good comparison, come to think of it. Except the vocals aren't super fucking annoying, and the songs don't feel as laborious.

Speaking of the vocalist, who sounds a little like Jesse Michaels from Operation Ivy, except crazy, he is VERY good at his limited style. He's not the best singer, but he doesn't just get the fuck out of the way like most noise-rock vocalists. If he's not conversationally joking about PCB's and kidnapping girls, he's honking on his out-of-tune saxophone.

I could just go on. I don't even know how many times I laughed at the bizarre jokes in the lyrics. Rich Stim has perfect comedic timing in the way that only the Dead Milkmen or The Frogs perfected.  When he does get serious, it's more creepy than anything, and makes the band seem sort of menacing, like their live shows must have been totally out of control.

Aaaaanyways, their second album, 'Out of the Tunnel,' and the third, 'Crowd Control,' are also very good. Their later stuff is spotty, but I'm glad they're still slightly active. Definitely my favorite band on Ralph Records, which is pretty insane considering their roster includes Tuxedomoon, Snakefinger, and of course The Residents.

NOTE: My version also includes their first EP, as 2 long tracks at the beginning of the album. It's good, but 'Hard Attack' is where it's at.

MX-80 Sound - 'Big Hits and Hard Attack'

Tracklist:

1. Train to Loveland / You Turn Me On / SCP / Til Death Do Us Part
2. Myonga Von Bontee / Boy Trouble - Girl Trouble / Tidal Wave
3. Man on the Move
4. Kid Stuff
5. Fascination
6. Summer '77
7. PCB's
8. Crushed Ice
9. Tidal Wave
10. Theme from 'Checkmate'
11. Facts-Facts
12. You're Not Alone
13. Civilized / Demeyes
14. Afterbirth / Aftermath
15. Sad Girls (Bonus Track)

DOWNLOAD

The Chewers

Here's a reader submission for ya...don't usually get these, but I'm always open to them...hit me up at whimperwarrior@gmail.com

This duo, out of West Virginia, is called The Chewers, and from what I've heard reminds me of stuff like Caroliner, but more structured and easier on the ears (to an extent).

They've got a video out that's kinda like some Residents shit. Just as weird, too.




Here's a little bio they sent along:

"The Chewers are Travis Caffrey and Michael Sadler, two

freaks from the woods of West Virginia (by way of Nashville), USA.
We each play various instruments, in order to create layered arrangements

in the vein of avant-roots-rock (or something like that).

The songs feature characters immersed in psychological hells, grappling

with deep disconnect from the society around them. These subjects are

generally presented with a deadpan and crooked sense of humor."

The album they're currently pushing, 'Chuckle Change and Also' is their second, and can be found here.

They've also got a Soundcloud page with some more tunes.

Dig it, yall.

Playlist for 9-24-10, with a healthy dose of Residents

Odds are, if you've heard my radio program once, you've probably heard The Residents. They're pretty much the only group I've played consistently for the year-and-a-half I've been on the air. That doesn't mean I find all their music listenable (something like 50 fucking albums) and that definitely doesn't mean that I don't think some of their stuff is just plain stupid, but during their heyday (probably 75-89) they produced some really sick and twisted music. Just for an example, here's what their album "Not Available" is all about:

"In 1978, the "official" word was that The Residents had stated that Not Available could never be released. The group claimed that they had recorded the album in secrecy as a way of exercising their "theory of obscurity" to its fullest, and, in strict accordance with the theory, the work could never be released until its creators no longer recalled its existence. However, the reissued album's liner notes state that the album was an exercise in group therapy, and the Residents didn't want to release it because they felt it was too personally revealing." - Wikipedia

But, that aside...there was also quite a bit of new stuff on last night's program, so check the podcast.

...and the playlist:

Jerry Rooth - But You'll Try...Again
Striborg - Embittered Darkness
Wild Man Fischer - Do the Wildman
Gary Wilson - Your Dream is not My Scene
Colonel Trip and Captain Future - Old School Zig Zag Wizard
Peter Grudzien - New York Town
Terminal Cheesecake - Herbal Space Flight

Residents:
'Seasoned Greetings' from 'Meet the Residents' (1973)
'The Shoe Salesman' from 'Not Available' (recorded 1974, released 1978), featuring Renaldo and the Loaf
'Godsong' from 'Fingerprince' (1976)
'Krafty Cheese' from 'Duck Stab' (1978)
'Arctic Hysteria' from 'Eskimo' (1979)
'Give it to Someone Else' from 'The Commercial Album' (1980)

The Parasites of the Western World - Funeral for a Mouse
Jan Dukes de Grey - Sun Symphonica
Jake Vegas - Naked Kiss
Red Krayola - Stink Program
High Rise - Monster a Go Go
Zoogz Rift - Santa's on a Diet
Oblachnyj Kraj - Vozvrashenie Kazakov iz Dalnego Pohodo
Abner Jay - My Mule

There's a pretty good chance I'll put up some more Voivod this week...or something equally as hard-rockin'.