Xex

Xex

Change

Dark Entries

***XEX were an all-synthesizer band from South River, New Jersey in the late 1970s. The band formed when a trio of high school misfits with funny names (WAW PIEROGI, THUMBALINA GUGIELMO and ALEX ZANDER) teamed up with some friends from Rutgers College. They released their debut album group: xex in 1980 which Dark Entries reissued in 2010. We were lucky to discover the master tapes of their unreleased second album xex:change in Waw's basement. xex:change takes a leap from where the band left off at the end of 1980. DAVID ANDERSON left the group making xex a quartet. With the help of producer ZIGGY RODBERG, xex further developed the aesthetic of the first album. The seven songs here are more complex and hypnotic than the synthpunk outbursts of group:xex. Their new synthesizers, a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and a Minimoog, evoke the high-tech utopia of Patrick Cowley and proto-techno of Afrika Bambaataa. Thumbalina's vocals have a detached, icy quality. Lyrics revolve around species-specific adaptations for copulation, robot love and the Jersey shore. They titled the album "xex:change", a multiple entendre that refers to the evolution of the group since its first album, group interaction in the creative process, and underlying sexual ambiguity. The group did not have the funds to release the album and it sat in obscurity for over 30 years. All songs have been remastered from the original reel to reel tapes for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in jacket...

Xex

Group:xex

Dark Entries

***XEX were an all-synthesizer band from South River, New Jersey who recorded their debut album group:xex in 1980. Formed when a trio of high school misfits with funny names (WAW PIEROGI, THUMBALINA GUGIELMO, and ALEX ZANDER) teamed up with some friends from Rutgers College Performed entirely on then-state-of-the-art Arps, synths and electronic drums—no guitars anywhere—group: xex aims for the future, but comes across now like a time capsule from the deepest, darkest Reagan years. Each song burrows its way into your head with repetitive, undeniably catchy synth lines and vocal chants. “SNGA” (“Soviet Nerve Gas Attack”), “Cops” and “Delta Five” are doomy evocations of Cold War tension not far removed from very early Devo. But they were also capable of being quirky and whimsical. On “Fashion Hurts,” “Svetlana” and “St. Vitus Dance,” Waw and Thumbalina come across like a primitive B-52s, replacing the dance/party vibe with resignation and cynical humor. group: xex doesn’t sound like it’s from New Jersey. It barely sounds like it’s from Earth. However, there’s a certain residual murkiness that subliminally evokes the Central Jersey working-class suburbs. group: xex was all but forgotten until 1998, when radio DJ TOM SMITH discovered it in the WFMU music library and tracked down the band members, which lead to a CD reissue in 2004 on Smack Shire Records. Just in time for the 30th anniversary of group:xex Dark Entries tracked down Waw Pierogi and restored the original master tapes with GEORGE HORN who remastered the tracks for vinyl at Fantasy...