MX-80 Sound in Signal To Noise
Word!
Bay Area Writer Dennis Cook profiles MX-80 in STN #40
Here's a snippet. "After
a 10-year absence from recording, MX-80 returned this Fall with what may
well be their finest hour, the glittering We’re An American Band. Hypnotic,
subconsciously inflammatory and packed with top-end musicianship. it coalesces
all their experience into a potent mind bomb encased in candy apple sweetness.MX-80
album."
"Out of the Tunnel may well be MX-80's high-tide-mark, featuring convoluted breakneck
melodies, cross-fed musical genres and Anderson's white hot soloing." Ira Robbins, Trouser Press Guide
"Out of the Tunnel is hard,
thunderous guitars working away on strange, dischorded riffs and wedged in
between a snarling vocal." Outlet Magazine.
"MX-80's Crowd Control is experimental / avantgarde guitar art-core, sometimes weird, sometimes
rock influenced. Some tracks sound a lot like the straighter Sonic Youth or
Dinosaur tracks - in 1981! Great experimental record with 3 or 4 real hits.
An obscure classic.." Flex Magazine
"MX-80
continued their winning streak with Crowd Control, an album which found the
quartet simplifying some of the arrangements without losing the sense of crackling
intensity and playful-while-being-serious performing of earlier efforts. Stim
at points sounds a bit more wistfully lost in the mix, though he's still an
intriguingly off-the-beaten-path vocalist, reciting and pronouncing as much
as singing and exchanging truths and eternal verities for odd, sly observations.
The wry take on a wannabe Hollywood (and other things) tastemaker via "City
of Fools" is Stim at his prime, somehow sounding sleazy without changing
his general approach. His sax playing is still a good part of what's happening;
the brawling title track, about the closest this era of the band ever got
to straight-up good time rock & roll, relies just as much on his horn
blowing as the other instrumentalists. Similarly, the other three members
again demonstrate the perfectly in-tune playing and inventiveness that earned
them their reputation. Anderson has an ear for both clipped, focused riffs
and thrilling solos that go quickly enough to never wear out their welcome,
as in "Night Rider" and "Pharoah's Sneakers." More than
once, he sounds like he's found a way to connect with the post-punk world
(check out the watery guitar additions on "Why Are We Here") without
seeming to chase any particular early-'80s trend. Perhaps the most surprising
turn is a newfound sense of entrancing and even uplifting songs -- there's
about no other way to describe the downright beautiful "Obsessive Devotion,"
with its calmer pace and really beautiful feedback, Stim's vocals conveying
both unsureness and acceptance of the titular state of mind. Then there's
the kissing cousin of "Sweet Jane," "More Than Good,"
its descending chords in the chorus just sweetly sad enough, and the concluding,
minimal rock noir (down the lonely sax) of "Promise of Love." Ned
Raggett, All Music Guide.
"MX-80's Hard Attack is a distorted free for all that set some eternal noisecore standard." Chuck Eddy, Stairway to Hell
"MX-80's
debut LP, Hard Attack, should establish MX-80 as either the most Heavy Metal Art Band or
the most Arty Heavy Metal Band." Glenn O'Brien, Interview Magazine.
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