(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Bruce Anderson’s MX-80 Sound had been one of the most radical noise bands of ’77, at a time when Pere Ubu and the Residents were setting the standard. Originally from Indiana (Bloomington), they relocated to San Francisco in 1978, where their extremely degraded rock—centered around the leader’s ferocious distortions—found fertile ground under the protection of the Residents themselves. MX-80 Sound already had behind them the EP Big Hits (BRBQ, 1976), featuring Myonga Von Bontee, and a rather unremarkable art-punk album, Hard Attack (Island, 1977).
The quartet, also featuring Dale Sophiea (bass) and Rich Stim (vocals), came to underground prominence with Out Of The Tunnel (Ralph, 1980), one of the era’s minor classics, full of effervescent napalm songs (Someday You'll Be King, I Walk Among Them), and Crowd Control (1981), which channeled the previous album’s terrible energy into more structured songs (Face Of The Earth), simultaneously adapting their sonic maelstroms to a heavy metal format (Obsession Devotion) and expanding their sound potential with a saxophone.
The group disappeared from view for a few years. In 1985, Anderson and bassist Dale Sophiea recorded a cassette (for Quadruped) under the pseudonym O-Type, followed two years later by Darling. Their style had grown very similar to Suicide’s trance, combined with hardcore violence. Anderson and Sophiea also recorded under the pseudonyms Half Life (Quadruped, 1985), a more conventional hard rock record, and Gizzards (two albums of rock parodies).
Anderson seemed destined for a life of low-level underground obscurity. Yet, unexpectedly, in 1987 he returned with two releases: the cassettes Brutality I & II (Quadruped, 1987 & 1988) under his own name (reissued as a single album in 1996 by Atavistic with two previously unreleased tracks) and Existential Lover (Quadruped, 1987) as MX-80, marking the return of singer Rich Stim and featuring intricate compositions such as Pink Carnations and Rock Rock Rock.
The former recording inaugurates a style not too far from Fripp’s “frippertronics,” but with delirious Creed-like improvisations. The latter is one of Anderson’s most successful works—less violent than average, but more introspective and contemplative.
Das Love Boat (A&R, 1990) (Atavistic, 1995) is an instrumental album that attempts to sell the noise of MX-80 to the ambient music generation. At least Clown Sex and Halloween Theme are gems of that wild pop-art concept.
In spirit and in practice, Anderson is a disciple of the German rock school, particularly of guitar experimenters like Manuel Gottsching. In his bold and meticulous work, the gothic and futuristic thrills, the grand psychedelic fugues, and the Wagnerian atmospheres of Amon Düül and Neu are revived.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Suddenly, MX-80 mutated into some kind of avant-pop entity on
I've Seen Enough (Atavistic, 1996).
Have Another Drink, Last Man On Earth and
Who Is The Man are equally melodic and noisy in the best new wave
tradition.
The album was followed by the live anthology
Always Leave 'Em Wanting Less (Atavistic, 1997).
In the meantime, Anderson and Dale Sophiea worked on a number of side projects,
each characterized by its own style:
O-Type's Mommy (Electro Motive, 1994) is grindcore,
Siamese Stepbrothers (Cuneiform, 1995) is progressive-rock with
Henry Kaiser, Grateful Dead's keyboardist Tom Constanten and Kombinat M's drummer Lukas Ligeti,
and Strict (Quadruped, 1998 - Family Vineyard, 1999), the most ambitious, is a concept album
of avantgarde music with a religious underpinning (peaking with the
15-minute piece Father Damien).
The "Brutality" series continued with
Balkana (Family Vineyard, 1999), four extended tracks that feature
Bruce Anderson, Dale Sophiea, Dave Mahoney, Marc Weinstein, and Jim Hrabetin.
MX-80 drummer Marc Weinstein is the main genius behind Pluto,
an improvisational group that originally counted on
Ralph Carney (tenor
saxophone, clarinet, trumpet), Steve Clarke (trumpet, guitar),
Splatter Trio's Len Paterson (guitar, tapes), Ellen Schoenwetter (bass),
John Zorn-associate David Slusser
(soprano and baritone saxophone, piccolo, electronics),
and Myles Boisen (guitar).
Shoehorse Emerging (Rastacan, 1995) is a supreme achievement in a
genre that borders Henry Cow, Ornette Coleman and Captain Beefheart.
Anderson and Weinstein also appear on Pluto's
The Field Recordings (Ecstatic Yod, 1998)
Joined by drummer Russ Schoenwetter and bassist Ken Kearney,
the MX-80 duo improvises wildly dissonant tunes.
O-Type's Medication (Family Vineyard, 2000),
Lugubrious (2002) and
Western Classics (2004), a collection of pieces inspired by classic
films, repeat the formula with less and less intensity,
contenting themselves with self-indulgent improvisations that recycle ideas
from noise, ambient and psychedelia. The basic formula is to juxtapose
Bruce Anderson's guitar distortions and Dale Sophiea's samples, trying to
achieve soothing atmospheres accompanied by
Dave Mahoney and Marc Weinstein's discrete rhythms.
Bruce Anderson's The Inherent Beauty Of Hopelessness (self-released, 2011) documents a 2008 composition for multi-tracked acoustic guitar.
Bruce Anderson (treated guitar), Jim Kaiser (bicycle wheel)
and Andrew Way (turntable) formed the improvising project
French Radio, documented on the wildly adventurous
Elements (2006) and
the double-disc Abandoned Children (Petit Mal, 2011).
Another project by Bruce Anderson and Dale Sophiea
was Grale, that debuted with
Eternity (Alethiometer Records, 2013).
Anderson died in 2022.
