XBXRX: Sixth in Sixes

XBXRX are closer to being performance art than being a band. Yes, they play songs, but those are really just ancillary to their modus operandi. If you’ve ever seen these pseudo-androgynous spazz rockers live, you likely know what I mean.

Sixth in Sixes is a slightly organized collection of discordant, quirky hardcore with shrieks, noisy guitars, and fuzzy keyboards all joining in the fracas, but their live show is a conglomeration of people that are roughly the same height with roughly the same haircut in roughly the same day-glo orange outfits, scurrying around in a frantic jumble of nerdy squeals and spasms. And it’s not like their recorded material is bad, but if you’ve been privy to a live set, it just isn’t the same.

I’m not a huge fan of this genre, but XBXRX have a knack for keeping things interesting. What’s most surprising to me is that these relatively unknown convulsionaries have hit some semblance of the “indie big time” by having their release put out by Polyvinyl. Hopefully, it’s only a matter of time before this shows up at my local Borders.

-Scott Morrow
XBXRX (Polyvinyl Records)