Brooklyn based guitar-drum duo Xaddax is yet another great band in the list of stuff distributed by Mandaï (like, I daresay, most of their stuff), bringing us the band's debut full-length 10-track album which was released on the Skin Graft label back in May 2012.
One part of Xaddax is composed of singer/ guitarist Nick Sakes, whom already made a name for himself in the Underground Rock scene with three previous projects : Prog-minded Post-Hardcore band Dazzling Killmen, Psychedelic Art Punk act Collosomite, and the wacky yet very tuneful Sikbay. His latest project is a collaboration with singer/ drummer Chrissy Rossettie, whom he first met at Chicago's Fireside Bowl in 2001, when Chrissy's former band My Name Is Rar-Rar shared the bill with Sicbay. In 2009 Nick (then living in Minneapoplis) reconnected with Chrissy over the Internet, and the two started a long-distance romance, which culminated in Nick relocating to Brooklyn, and the two hatching a new musical entity within a few months.
Not a very ordinary one. If you're familiar with Sakes' typical vocal antics...well, you can expect to find that here again, but this time occasionally supported with same-like howls by Chrissy. Stylistically speaking though, the music is apparently a break from what Sakes has done in the past and, as not to attempt to take credit for words written in the info sheet I got along with the promo copy of the album (by letting you think I actually know the bands Sakes played in by music, and not, as is the case, just by name), I hope the following description will give you an idea of what to expect : “...Working with a mad-scientist electroacoustic drum set-up – huge toms, no cymbals, various sample-triggering pads and a foot-controlled synth pedal – Rossetie pounds out lurching Math-Dosco rhythms, haloed in scuzzy sci-fi FX. Sakes responds with perversely anthemic riffs and mantra-like shouts, resulting in a kind of hot-wired Hardcore – Like Devo gone nastily dystopic.”
Now that, to me, is a very good description, but then I have already heard the music (10 tracks for a total of 21 ½ minutes worth of sheer enjoyment to this here dude!). You can do the same by checking out the couple of tracks posted at (www.) soundcloud.com/xaddax. The band also has pages on facebook (suffix is “xaddaxmusic) and MySpace suffix “xaddaxband”). Check it out, by all means, then try to get ahold of either the CD or LP form of the album (both are available).