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Artist: XEX Title: Group: Xex Format: LP Label: Dark Entries Country: USA Price: $20.00 |
| "xex were an all-synthesizer band from South River, New Jersey who recorded their debut album group:xex in 1980. Formed when a trio of high school misfits with funny names (Waw Pierogi, Thumbalina Gugielmo and Alex Zander) teamed up with some friends from Rutgers College Performed entirely on then-state-of-the-art Arps, synths and electronic drums - no guitars anywhere - group: xex aims for the future, but comes across now like a time capsule from the deepest, darkest Reagan years. Each song burrows its way into your head with repetitive, undeniably catchy synth lines and vocal chants. "SNGA" ("Soviet Nerve Gas Attack"), "Cops" and "Delta Five" are doomy evocations of Cold War tension not far removed from very early Devo. But they were also capable of being quirky and whimsical. On "Fashion Hurts," "Svetlana" and "St. Vitus Dance," Waw and Thumbalina come across like a primitive B-52s, replacing the dance/party vibe with resignation and cynical humor. group: xex doesnt sound like its from New Jersey. It barely sounds like its from Earth. However, theres a certain residual murkiness that subliminally evokes the Central Jersey working-class suburbs. group: xex was all but forgotten until 1998, when radio DJ Tom Smith discovered it in the WFMU music library and tracked down the band members, which lead to a CD reissue in 2004 on Smack Shire Records. Just in time for the 30th anniversary of group:xex Dark Entries tracked down Waw Pierogi and restored the original master tapes with George Horn who remastered the tracks for vinyl at Fantasy Studios. All copies include a 16 page zine with never before seen photos, lyrics, bios, press releases as well as an original concert invitation from 1980!" - Dark Entries. |
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Artist: XEX Title: group: xex Format: CD Label: Smack Shire Country: USA Price: $11.00 |
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"For all the moaning Ive done over the years about growing up in a
culturally detached small town in Pennsylvania though my formative years of
discovering weird-ass punk and new/no wave music, the truth is simply that
the most mind-boggling ideas and warped musical aesthetics sprung from these
places. Amidst the sea of coked-up Cinderella wannabes who played my high
school anti-drug rallies, the Kevin Cronin-of REO-produced
big-fish-in-a-small-pond rock gods that walked down our streets, and the
sheer overload of crapola, there were mutants who had it up to here with all
of that silliness. For example: HB was a one man Magic Band who would tell
stories for hours while whacking away on drums in a pierogi parlor like a
cosmic Sam Ulano, The Delusions were what the Velvets coulda been in a coal
mining town, and Psychatrone Rhonedakk made hobbit-like basement synth
gurgle for years and years and never stepped on a stage. 100 miles from New
York but not quite there, they never quite got recognized, and they sure
confused a lot of locals. I sure appreciated em for merely existing in an
oppressive musical locale where the towns one promoter was too busy hosting
dance shows on TV where he got out of a Rolls flanked by hos and booking
wheezy hair-metal reunions.
xex must have been in a similar boat down in South River, New Jersey.
Sporting black garb, blurting arps, and bizarro names like "Thumbalina
Guglielmo" and "Waw Pierogi" (holy hell, more pierogis!) these guys
represented a totally bonkers aesthetic that seems like it was taking its
cues from what was being hyped in the NYC underground scene about that time:
Eno, Talking Heads, etc., but in fact this music is choking under something
more black, toxic, and totally Jersey. While they sang about mall rat
zombies who ran around trying to catch up with fashion, they also addressed
nuns and nerve gas. Musically, it sounds like it has more to do with German
nuts like Grauzone and Californias zonked synth-gothers Factrix or Nervous
Gender than anything else remotely in xexs radius. What gives?
Tom Smith did radio shows for a while on WFMU, and was entrenched in the LP
library listening to odd finds in backwards order starting at Z when he
came across this lost gem. It totally blew our brains. Theres zilch about
them on the web, as well (apparently not even the hip New York papers gave
em a mention), and he has been threatening to reissue this baby for some
time. Here tis at last. Turn up the minimal synth NJ underground!" -Brian Turner, Music/Program Director, Jersey City, WFMU.
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