Add N to (X) Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
With the rise of all things fun, sexy, and trashy in electronic music, the time seems right for Add N to (X)'s campy yet challenging aesthetic to gain more appreciation. The group seizes the opportunity on Loud Like Nature by mixing their crazed analog synth experiments with more pop song structures and simpler, more streamlined arrangements. Essentially, it's the same approach they took on the somewhat muddled Add Insult to Injury, but this time the group finds a better balance of the simple and the strange, making Loud Like Nature their most exciting album since Avant Hard. It also manages to be their most focused and yet diverse work, spanning the poppy, dysfunctional lust of "Sheez Mine" and the expansive "Invasion of the Polaroid People," which features vocals by rock legend/old coot Kim Fowley on two tracks. Most of Loud Like Nature falls somewhere in between these extremes: Tracks like "All Night Lazy," "Party Bag," and the first single, "Take Me to Your Leader," revisit and revitalize the stomping glam rock/electronica fusion they pioneered on Add Insult to Injury with a sexier, more menacing edge, while "Electric Village," "- U Baby," and "P.P. Machine" -- which sounds a little like a broken jukebox trying to play several songs at once -- give a cuter surface to the dense swarms of analog noise with which Add N to (X) first made a name for themselves. Loud Like Nature isn't just a refinement of the group's previous statements, however; on this album they have their way with a number of different influences, from the strange but successful mix of hip-hop beats and loungey strings and flutes on "Up the Punks" to "Large Number," which mixes the breathless new wave of the Rezillos and a '50s-inspired chord progression with fuzzy, buzzy synths. "Pink Light," a delicate, creepy-around-the-edges piece of atmosphere, is another departure; with its hazy chords, twinkling melody, and singsong female vocals, it rivals Boards of Canada in its playful eeriness. It's the group's ability to be absurd, experimental, and catchy all at once that makes them so hard to place in the world of electronic-based music -- they're too scattered and quirky to truly belong with the wave of electro-clash artists, but too song- and rock-oriented to belong with more "serious" electronica. Fortunately, their misfit status is precisely what makes them so interesting, and Loud Like Nature reaffirms them as accessible iconoclasts. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Add N to (X)'s Add Insult to Injury should come with the disclaimer "no analog synths were hurt in the making of this album." The trio made an art of abusing their instruments on albums like 1999's brilliant Avant Hard. However, on their fourth full-length album they show a surprising streak of humanity toward their equipment, resulting in a curiously subdued, inhibited-sounding work. The division of labor on Add Insult to Injury is also curious. Ann Shenton, Steven Claydon, and the High Llamas' drummer Rob Allum wrote and performed eight of the album's songs, while Barry 7 wrote the other four. It gives the album a less-than-cohesive feel; most of Shenton and Claydon's songs, such "You Must Create," put textures ahead of melody or structure, making them sound like cuts off of old synth reference albums. However, the fuzzed-out "Brothel Charge," the sleekly menacing "Kingdom of Shades," and "Hit for Cheese" -- an S&M-tinged synth-punk duet between Shenton and a robot -- are standouts. Meanwhile, Barry 7's tracks, which include the excellent "Monster Bobby," a stomping chant sung by soccer hooligan androids or a robotic Gary Glitter, and the streamlined, cute-as-an-iMac "Plug Me In," are more focused and accessible. "Incinerator No. 1" recalls On the Wires of Our Nerves' beautifully ugly noise, and "The Regent Is Dead" is both elegiac and martial, mixing a synth choir with theremins and a snare-driven beat. Add Insult to Injury still feels like a small step backward after Avant Hard's synapse-frying creativity and energy, but it reaffirms that Add N to (X) are still a step ahead of most other vintage synth-based groups. Hopefully, they'll return to what they do best: sacrificing their keyboards in the name of art. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Add N to (X)'s third album, Avant Hard, combines the noisy, analog aesthetic of their previous works with an increasingly sophisticated, structured approach. Though the group's overdriven, menacing synth sound prevails on songs like "Robot New York" and "Buckminster Fuller," unexpected touches like the operatic vocals on "Fyuz" and the go-go guitars on "Skills" provide a welcome contrast and round out the band's sonic palette. Avant Hard finds Add N to (X) expanding their emotional range as well. The album begins with theoretical pieces like the aptly named "Barry 7's Contraption" and segues into a brace of filmic songs like the horror-show creepiness of "Steve's Going to Teach Himself Who's Boss" to the robo-porn soundtrack that is "Metal Fingers in My Body." "Revenge of the Black Regent" and "Ann's Eveready Equestrian" take this trend toward drama and build it to near Wagnerian heights, blending synths, strings, choral voices, and sound effects into symphonies of urban decay. Finally, Avant Hard ends on a relatively gentle note, with a pair of songs -- "Oh Yeah Oh No" and "Machine Is Bored With Love" -- that explore Add N to (X)'s softer, even poignant side. "Machine" is based on samples from the early-'70s experimental band Egg, adding to a long list of musical pioneers -- including Joe Meek, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and Bruce Haack -- that the group borrows from and updates. With analog savvy and rock attitude, Avant Hard reveals itself as one of Add N to (X)'s finest moments. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'On the Wires of Our Nerves'
Release Date 5/19/1998
Tracks 12
Label Mute
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
On the Wires of Our Nerves follows an intriguing tangent of electronica, adding underground noise rock to the mix to achieve a sound dubbed "avant hard"; drawing on influences ranging from Kraftwerk to Throbbing Gristle, Add N to X filters their electronica through a wall of distortion, yielding such innovative sounds as the superb single "King Wasp." ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
