View source for MX-80

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Short description|Eclectic American art-rock band}}
{{about|the band|the printer|Epson MX-80}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = MX-80
| image           = MXOOTT.jpeg
| caption         = Back cover ''Out of the Tunnel'' (1980)<br />
Photo by Kim Torgerson
| image_size      =
| landscape       = yes
| alias           = MX-80 Sound
| origin          = [[Bloomington, Indiana]], U.S.
| genre           = [[Experimental rock]], [[noise rock]], [[acid punk]], [[post-punk]]
| years_active    = 1974–present
| label           = Bar-B-Q Records, [[Island Records|Island]], [[Ralph Records|Ralph]], [[Gulcher Records]], [[Atavistic Records|Atavistic]], Family Vineyard, a&r/ENT, Quadruped
| associated_acts = [[Shellac (band)|Shellac]], [[Pere Ubu]], [[O-Type (band)|O-Type]], [[The Gizzards]], [[Negativland]], [[The Mutants (band)|The Mutants]]
| website         = {{URL|http://www.mx-80.com/}}
| current_members = Dale Sophiea<br />Rich Stim<br />Jim Hrabetin<br />Marc Weinstein
| past_members    = Dave Mahoney<br />Jeff Armour<br />Kevin Teare<br />Bruce Anderson
}}
'''MX-80''', also known as '''MX-80 Sound''', is an eclectic American art-rock band founded in 1974 in [[Bloomington, Indiana]], United States, by guitarist Bruce Anderson. Considered “one of the most out of step but prescient bands of its time",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-attack--big-hits-r271306 |title=Record Reviews, Streaming Songs, Genres & Bands |website=[[AllMusic]] |date= |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> MX-80's signature sound consisted 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]],<ref name="trouserpress">{{cite web|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=mx-80_sound |title=MX-80 Sound |website=TrouserPress.com |date= |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> [[post-punk]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.last.fm/music/MX-80+Sound |title=MX-80 Sound music, videos, stats, and photos |website=Last.fm |date= |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> [[acid punk]],<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://reign-in-sound.blogspot.com/2010/08/mx-80-sound-big-hits-hard-attack.html |title=Reign in Sound: MX-80 Sound – Big Hits / Hard Attack (1976/1977) |website=Reign-in-sound.blogspot.com |date=August 13, 2010 |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> and [[Heavy metal music|heavy-metal]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.listsofbests.com/list/33406-stairway-to-hell-the-500-best-heavy-metal-albums|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130127214115/http://www.listsofbests.com/list/33406-stairway-to-hell-the-500-best-heavy-metal-albums|url-status=dead|title=Chuck Eddy's "Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums" on Lists of Bests|archivedate=January 27, 2013|access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref>Three MX-80 albums are included in Chuck Eddy’s 1990 book, ''Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums'', [[Da Capo Press]]; April 1998, 2nd edition, {{ISBN|978-0306808173}}</ref>—MX-80's sonic melange set the stage for bands such as [[Swans (band)|Swans]], [[Sonic Youth]],<ref name="headheritage1">{{cite web|url=http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1308 |title=Julian Cope presents Head Heritage &#124; Unsung &#124; Reviews &#124; MX-80 Sound - Out Of Control |website=Headheritage.co.uk |date= |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref>  [[Codeine (band)|Codeine]], and [[Shellac (band)|Shellac]].
==Early years==
Originally named MX-80 Sound, MX-80 was formed in 1974 by Bruce Anderson (guitar) and Dale Sophiea (bass). Sophiea and Anderson, former members of Bloomington's Screaming Gypsy Bandits, shared an interest in modern classical composers as well as in avant rockers like [[Captain Beefheart]] and the [[Hampton Grease Band]]. They soon added two drummers, Jeff Armour, and [[Kevin Teare]] in 1975, and the quartet contributed the instrumental composition, ''Spoonfight'', to ''Bloomington I'' (Bar-B-Q records 1976).  Rich Stim (vocals, guitar, and sax) and Dave Mahoney (drums), both formerly of Chinaboise, joined MX-80 in 1976 and Teare left the band to pursue a full-time art career.  Anderson and Stim emerged as the band's primary songwriters, with occasional lyric writing by Andrea Ross (''aka'' [[Angel Corpus Christi]]).
Unable to obtain gigs in most local music venues, MX-80 performed a regular series of Sunday concerts at the Monroe County public library, tracks of which were later compiled on CD.  The band's first studio release was the EP, ''Big Hits: Hard Pop From The Hoosiers'' (Bar-B-Q Records 1976), recorded at Gilfoy Studios, produced by [[Mark Bingham (musician)|Mark Bingham]] and engineered by Mark Hood. A review of ''Big Hits'' in the British music magazine ''Sounds'' by [[Caroline Coon]], spurred [[Island Records]]  A&R man Howard Thompson to license the band's second recording,<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://northforksound.blogspot.com/2008/12/mx-80-sound.html |title=North Fork Sound: MX-80 Sound|website=Northforksound.blogspot.com |date=December 19, 2008|accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> their debut LP, ''Hard Attack'' (1977).
==''Hard Attack''==
''Hard Attack,'' also produced by Mark Bingham at Gilfoy Studios in Bloomington, was released only in Europe. Like their late-1970s midwestern compatriots [[Pere Ubu]] and Debris,<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://agonyshorthand.blogspot.com/2006/05/debris-static-disposal-cd.html |title=Agony Shorthand|website=Agonyshorthand.blogspot.com |date=May 5, 2006 |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> MX-80's initial recording had little commercial success and critics were unsure what to make of them. [[Glenn O’Brien]] writing in ''[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]]'' said of MX-80's debut, “[It] should establish MX-80 as either the most Heavy Metal Art Band or the most Arty Heavy Metal Band.” [[Chuck Eddy]] called ''Hard Attack'' "a distorted free for all that set some eternal noisecore standard."<ref>Eddy, Chuck, ''Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums'' (1998)</ref>
==San Francisco and Ralph Records==
MX-80 relocated to [[San Francisco]] in 1978, a tumultuous year when the city reverberated from the [[Dan White]] shootings and subsequent riots (reflected in the track "White Night"'')'' and the [[Jonestown|Peoples Temple mass suicide]] (the band performed at the nearby Temple Beautiful soon after the tragedy, overlooking a parking lot filled with the victim's cars). MX-80 also performed at prominent punk venues such as the  [[Mabuhay Gardens]], [[Deaf Club]], and Savoy Tivoli but the local reception was not enthusiastic and the band was considered out of sync with the punk and new-wave sensibility of groups such as [[Germs (band)|Germs]], [[Dils]], and [[Avengers (band)|Avengers]]. Disheartened by the reaction, drummer Jeff Armour soon departed, reducing the band to a quartet.
In 1979, [[The Residents]] signed MX-80 to their label, [[Ralph Records]], and two releases followed.  The first Ralph recording, ''[[Out of the Tunnel]]'' (1980), was recorded at Mobius Music Studios, again with Mark Bingham producing. The album's back cover art was photographed by Kim Torgerson at San Francisco's now-buried [[Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California|Ocean Beach]] tunnels. Ira Robbins, writing in ''[[Trouser Press]]'', said "''Out of the Tunnel'' may well be MX-80's high-tide-mark, featuring convoluted breakneck melodies, cross-fed musical genres and Anderson's white hot soloing."
Their second Ralph release, ''Crowd Control''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wnur.org/mx-80-sound-obsessive-devotion/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426101549/http://www.wnur.org/mx-80-sound-obsessive-devotion/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 26, 2012 |title=WNUR 89.3 FM » Blog Archive » MX-80 Sound – "Obsessive Devotion" |date=April 26, 2012 |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> (1981),  was recorded at New York's Celebration Studios and was their final collaboration with producer Mark Bingham. Though ''Crowd Control'' contained two love songs – "Obsessive Devotion" and "Promise of Love" – compared to ''Out of the Tunnel,'' it was considered “a darker album, from a much darker year, <ref name="headheritage1"/>” and in general, “found the quartet simplifying some of the arrangements without losing the sense of crackling intensity and playful-while-being-serious performing of earlier efforts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/crowd-control-r45283 |title=Record Reviews, Streaming Songs, Genres & Bands |website=[[AllMusic]] |date= |accessdate=2020-04-06}}</ref>”
==After Ralph==
After their relationship with Ralph Records ended, MX-80 dropped the "Sound" from its moniker and was allegedly plagued by legal problems (the details of which were never made clear).<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://mx80sound.com/2015/09/24/59/ |title=MX-80 Reclaims "SOUND" – MX-80 SOUND |website=Mx80sound.com |date=September 24, 2015 |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref> In 1984, the band returned with a two-drummer format with the addition of Marc Weinstein (ex-[[The Mutants (band)|Mutants]]). The following year guitarist Jim Hrabetin (also ex-Mutants) joined. In 1986, the band released a cassette recording, ''Existential Lover'' (Quadruped). In 1990, the band combined previously released TV and movie themes with "furiously thrashed original material,"<ref>Short Circuit, ''[[NME]]'', October 6, 1990</ref> for the album, ''Das Love Boat'' (a&r/ENT), perhaps the only instrumental recording to get a [[Parental Advisory]]).<ref name="trouserpress" />
In 1994, the band performed at [[Steve Albini|Steve Albini's]] baseball-themed ’PineTar .406’ concert in Chicago<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=article&IssueID=10&ID=73|title=Chunklet|date=October 26, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061026020556/http://chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=article&IssueID=10&ID=73|accessdate=September 22, 2020|archive-date=October 26, 2006}}</ref> and the following year, MX-80 released their gloomiest recording, ''I’ve Seen Enough'' (Atavistic). Produced by and featuring [[David Immerglück]] ([[Camper Van Beethoven]]/[[Monks of Doom]]/[[Counting Crows]]), the album was dismissed by critics as “dull, slow shit … like some bland off-brand ginger ale."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yourfleshmag.com/music/mx-80-i%E2%80%99ve-seen-enough-cd/|title=MX-80 I've Seen Enough CD &#124; Your FLESH mag|date=May 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506043809/http://yourfleshmag.com/music/mx-80-i%E2%80%99ve-seen-enough-cd/|accessdate=September 22, 2020|archive-date=May 6, 2012}}</ref> It was followed by a live recording of a Chicago concert, ''Always Leave ‘Em Wanting Less'' (Atavistic, 1997).  In 2002, the band unearthed some live tapes from the 1970s resulting in the [[Gulcher Records|Gulcher]] release, ''Live at the Library''.
In 2005, the band recorded and released ''We’re an American Band'' (Family Vineyard), featuring an oblique take on the [[We're an American Band (song)|Grand Funk Railroad]] title track. [[Forced Exposure]] called the album “both hilariously depressing and morosely upbeat … a masterwork that mixes [[Satan]], [[Howard Hughes]] and current theories on brain transplants."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/mx.80.html |title=Forced Exposure |website=Forcedexposure.com |date= |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref>  In 2006, long-time drummer Dave Mahoney died.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quadrupedmedia.com/mx80/mx80davemahoney.html |title=MX-80 Sound - Dave Mahoney |website=Quadrupedmedia.com |date= |accessdate=April 6, 2020}}</ref>
In 2019, [[Steve Albini]] and long-time collaborator Peter Conheim each contributed essays to a major career overview of MX-80 Sound and its offshoots on the online "culture zine", by NWR.<ref>{{cite web |title=Long Distance Information |url=https://www.bynwr.com/articles/long-distance-information |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112234944/https://www.bynwr.com/articles/long-distance-information |archive-date=2019-11-12 |access-date=June 22, 2022 |website=byNWR |language=en}}</ref> Their short film for Ralph Records, ''Why Are We Here?'' received a full digital restoration, and newly-unearthed video footage of the group close to its formation in the mid-1970s was debuted.
Bruce Anderson died in January 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=MX-80's Bruce Anderson has died; Steve Albini, Yo La Tengo & more pay tribute |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/mx-80s-bruce-anderson-has-died-steve-albini-yo-la-tengo-more-pay-tribute/ |website=BrooklynVegan |access-date=January 12, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> In 2023, the band released ''Better Than Life'', an album mixed by Steve Albini and Taylor Hales that was billed as their final studio album.<ref>https://mx-80sound.bandcamp.com/album/better-than-life</ref>
== Discography ==
*''Big Hits'' EP (1976)
*''[[Hard Attack (MX-80 album)|Hard Attack]]''  (1977)
*''[[Out of the Tunnel]]'' (1980)
*''Crowd Control'' (1981)
*''Existential Lover'' (1987)
*''Das Love Boat'' (1990)
*''I've Seen Enough'' (1995)
*''Always Leave 'Em Wanting Less'' (1997)
*''Live at the Library'' (2002)
*''We're an American Band'' (2005)
*''So Funny'' (2015)
*''Hougher House'' (2021)
*''Better Than Life'' (2023)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.mx-80.com/ Official MX-80 Sound Site]
* {{Discogs artist|142967-MX-80 Sound}}
*[https://www.bynwr.com/articles/long-distance-information/ 2019 career overview at byNWR]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1974]]
[[Category:1974 establishments in Indiana]]
[[Category:American art rock groups]]
[[Category:American protopunk groups]]
[[Category:American post-punk music groups]]
[[Category:Island Records artists]]
[[Category:Punk rock groups from Indiana]]
[[Category:Atavistic Records artists]]