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LP
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FTR 761LP
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"MX-80 Sound are one of the foundational underground rock bands of the last half century. Formed in the university town of Bloomington IN in 1974, the original version came about when Bruce Anderson and Dale Sophiea (from Screaming Gypsy Bandits) teamed up with Rich Stim and Dave Mahoney (from Chinaboise), adding another couple of drummers for extra confusion. Things fluxxed and mutated for a while. MX-80 played the Bloomington Public Library and rehearsed a lot. They opened for Patti Smith, one drummer left and they recorded the great Big Hits EP in '76 for local label BRBQ. Reviewed in Sounds by Carline Coons, the EP got the band a deal by which UK Island licensed and released their equally great first album, Hard Attack, in '77. Another drummer left and MX-80 Sound moved to San Francisco, where they made a couple of amazing albums for the Residents' label, Ralph. Drummers changed, but Anderson, Stim and Sophiea remained fairly constant, and together they created a signature sound featuring massive repeating guitar riffs, biting angular rhythms and casually surreal vocals. Over the years they all did their own things, but regularly rehearsed together as MX-80, at which point things generally coalesced into an easily identifiable (impossibly to categorize) style. As great as their live sets were, they didn't tour often, but every time I saw them they were superb. And the recordings that came from their regular meet-ups are as brilliant as they are idiosyncratic. Better Than Life was recorded shortly before the death of Bruce Anderson, which assures it will be the final MX-80 studio album, and it's a wonderful testament to how long you can keep creating fresh and vital avant rock music without ever making any goddamn money doing it. Better Than Life sounds great. Anderson's guitar is a huge as ever, Stim's movie-oriented lyric inventions and wry delivery are as weirdly dead pan as could be, Dael Sophiea's bass defines the urgent edges of the songs, and the other players -- guitarists John Moreman and Jim Hrabetin, bassist Chris Xefos, and drummer Nico Sophiea (son of Dale) -- are spot-on. Together, they create a lovely, complex and intelligent mix of the wildest avant-prog/punk-rock hybrid you'll never hear again. As much as we'll miss MX-80 Sound, their legacy will live forever, and the crazy blend of elements they created with such unforced power should stand as a challenge to every new band that comes along. This album demonstrates it's indeed possible to create a unique sound for yourself with enough interior space you can explore its mysterious sonic corridors for almost 50 years. This should be enough to give us all hope, and we should offer thanks to MX-80 for creating such a fine and freaky aesthetic model. If more artists followed their path, we'd all live a much better world." --Byron Coley, 2024
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CD
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GG 445CD
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"MX-80 Sound is an eclectic American art-rock band founded in 1974 in Bloomington, USA, by guitarist Bruce Anderson. Considered one of the most out-of-step but prescient bands of its time, MX-80's signature sound consists of breakneck metallic guitar combined with atonal chord structure, cross-rhythmic percussion and dispassionate vocals. Notoriously difficult to categorize -- the band has been labeled noise rock, post-punk, acid punk, and heavy-metal -- MX-80's sonic mélange set the stage for bands such as Swans, Sonic Youth, Codeine, and Shellac. After a musical journey spanning five decades, MX-80 Sound announces the release of their final opus, Better Than Life, featuring MX-80's dense, extra-beefy sound, emotional guitar work, and free-associative vocals. For the album Bruce Anderson merged his rock trio, Rattletrap, with the talents of MX-80 Sound resulting in big bang sonics including two drummers (Nico Sophiea and John Morman), two bassists (Dale Sophiea and Chris Xefos), and two guitars (Bruce Anderson and Jim Hrabetin), along with vocals and horn by Rich Stim. In a remarkable feat, Better Than Life was recorded amidst the COVID-19 lockdown at 25th Street Recording in Oakland with Matt Boudreau engineering. The album was mixed by Steve Albini, in collaboration with MX-80 Sound, at Electrical Studios in Chicago. Sadly, Bruce Anderson, MX-80 Sound's founder, died in 2022."
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LP
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FTR 250LP
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"Depending on how you count, So Funny is either the ninth or tenth album, MX-80 Sound has released. Regardless, it's their first LP since the classic Crowd Control back in 1981, and it's a pretty goddamn amazing spin. The core of the band -- Bruce Anderson, Dale Sophiea and Rich Stim -- has been more or less stable for the better part of the last four decades, despite the fact they've never had any real commercial success. They've all pursued various different paths during that time, but they've also continued the bizarre communal creation process that began back in Bloomington Indiana in 1974, and was codified once they relocated to the Bay Area in the late '70s. Bruce's guitar lines may have 'matured' a bit, drawing back a tad from the savage blunderbuss angularity that drove MX's early work. Similarly, Rich's vocals and lyrics may have tamped down some of the relentless wise-ass pith of their first few records. But Dale's bass still pushes its persistent prog program, with melodic and rhythmic highlighting that recalls Oréjon's work on Clear Spot (1972). Meanwhile, new drummer, Nico Sophiea has a lovely way of playing straight rock fills, and guitarist Jim Hrabetin (who'd already played on some MX related sessions) adds nice density and edge. Old drummer Mark Weinstein even turns up to do vocals on 'No Nukes,' which is one of the songs on here so immediately identifiable as MX-80 Sound that it's wild. The way the band balances riff progression, vocal miniaturization and avant rock textural sound remains as unique and beautiful as ever. Meaning, So Funny is yet another excellent MX-80 Sound album. In 2016, how fucking cool is that?" -- Byron Coley, 2016.
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2CD
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SV 013CD
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2013 release. "MX-80 Sound is one of the real oddities in American music. Their debut album, Hard Attack (released in the UK on Island Records), found little-to-no audience in the States upon its release in 1977, yet remains a key document of the mid-'70s proto-punk zeitgeist. Hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, MX-80 Sound is lead by guitarist Bruce Anderson and defies simple classification with relentless riffs, dual drummers and vocalist Rich Stim's absurdist prose and dizzying sax. Assimilating the avant-rock of Captain Beefheart and conjuring the ghosts of Albert Ayler, MX-80 Sound evokes what free jazz would sound like if born in Bloomington. Superior Viaduct is honored to reissue Hard Attack, mastered from the original analog tapes for the first time since 1977 and remixed by the band. The definitive version for longtime fans and newcomers alike, this deluxe 2xCD set includes 19 previously unreleased tracks, documenting the band from their early days to the moment they relocated to San Francisco and signed to the Residents' Ralph Records label. The singular and staggering innovation of MX-80 Sound still harkens to rock's future potential."
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LP
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SV 013LP
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"MX-80 Sound is one of the real oddities in American music. Their debut album, Hard Attack (released in the UK on Island Records), found little-to-no audience in the States upon its release in 1977, yet remains a key document of the mid-'70s proto-punk zeitgeist. Hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, MX-80 Sound was lead by guitarist Bruce Anderson and defies simple classification with relentless riffs, dual drummers and vocalist Rich Stim's absurdist prose and dizzying sax. Assimilating the avant-rock of Captain Beefheart and conjuring the ghosts of Albert Ayler, MX-80 Sound evokes what free jazz would sound like if born in Bloomington. Mastered from the original analog tapes for the first time since 1977 and remixed by the band, this deluxe reissue will soon become the definitive version for longtime fans and newcomers alike. The singular and staggering innovation of MX-80 Sound still harkens to rock's future potential."
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