Style: experimental, noise
Label: Seeland Records
Year: 2003
Home: n/a
Members: n/a
What's the definition of metal? That it's heavy? Obviously that's figurative as the weight of the instrument isn't important, though Les Paul guitars are heavy on the shoulder. That it's metal? Obviously more figurative speech, albeit, guitar strings are made of metal & their sound is the sound of vibrating plucked metal. The Xerophonics take the definition of heavy metal literally. As in ... literally this is heavy & metal ... in the sense that it's the music made from the recordings of very large, heavy & metallic Xerox machines ... 12 different machines to be exact, including Panasonic, Xerox, Matrix, Canon, Konica, Minolta & even Toshiba. Yes, I know, it doesn't give off the same thrill as if we were talking about Taylor, Fender, Martin, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Ibanez, Epiphone & even Gretsch (all guitar companies if you don't know). & yes, I already see the deja vu of John Cale where he recorded himself moving his living room furniture around. But, this is a little more complicated as the sounds have been looped & layered to form poly-rhythmic beats that actually make good on the idea. There's no other instrument - just copying machines. It's actually pretty good & there's some semblance of rhythm & harmony on the album that makes this more listenable & interesting than a lot of rock albums. Further, some of the sounds I didn't even know could be made by a machine, they've been so processed, so it's not as bland as you might expect. Though, I'll confess that I worked for 6 months in a copying shop so I have a bias. But, once you get this heavy everything else pales in comparison. It brings new meaning to Lou Reed's idea of Metal Machine Music. He's got nothing on this!
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