Counterclockwork
by Xaddax
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Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift card
$7.85 USD or more
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumIncludes unlimited streaming of Counterclockwork via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card
$29.85 USD or more
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumIncludes unlimited streaming of Counterclockwork via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card
$19.85 USD or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumIncludes unlimited streaming of Counterclockwork via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card
$12.85 USD or more
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1. |
Lives On Nerves
02:30
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2. |
Sick Sneak
02:25
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3. |
X Train
02:12
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4. |
Busted Circuits
02:19
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5. |
Falls Off The Bone
01:42
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6. |
The High Hat
02:04
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7. |
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8. |
Rickety Surveillance
02:29
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9. |
Hit Cancel
03:52
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10. |
Stark Terms
02:14
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about
Nick Sakes boasts one of those impeccable underground-rock track records. His discography to date encompasses three brilliant, insular projects: prog-minded post-hardcore nightmare merchants Dazzling Killmen, cryptic art-punk psychos Colossamite and the skewed yet surprisingly tuneful Sicbay. Now, more than two decades on from Sakes's recording debut, comes the part where we inform you that the guitarist/shrieker has "matured," and is prepping his first singer-songwriter record or somesuch. Except that's entirely false; Sakes's latest band, Xaddax-- a duo with drummer Chrissy Rossettie -- is as challenging and gloriously cathartic as anything he's done to date.
Sakes and Rossettie met at Chicago's Fireside Bowl back in 2001, when Sicbay shared a bill with Rossettie's former band, the head-spinning neo–No Wave outfit My Name Is Rar-Rar. Flash forward to '09, when Sakes (then living in Minneapolis) and the Brooklyn-based Rossettie reconnected online and struck up a long-distance romance. Soon Sakes headed east, and within a few months, the pair had hatched a new musical entity, named Xaddax in honor of their shared love of "palindromes and pointy letters." A flurry of live shows commenced.
Counterclockwork, the debut Xaddax release is a must-hear for any Nick Sakes fan, but what's most impressive about the 25-minute LP is the way it places his trademark livid howl in an entirely new context. Working with a mad-scientist electroacoustic drum set-up -- huge toms, no cymbals, various sample-triggering pads and a foot-controlled synth pedal -- Rossettie pounds out lurching math-disco rhythms, haloed in scuzzy sci-fi FX. Sakes responds with perversely anthemic riffs and mantra-like shouts, resulting in a kind of hot-wired hardcore -- like Devo gone nastily dystopic. In a sense, Counterclockwork sounds like nothing Nick Sakes has ever done, but the record's spirit -- venemous aggression combined with bold ingenuity -- fulfills every promise of one of the most fiercely uncompromising discographies in contemporary American music.
Sakes and Rossettie met at Chicago's Fireside Bowl back in 2001, when Sicbay shared a bill with Rossettie's former band, the head-spinning neo–No Wave outfit My Name Is Rar-Rar. Flash forward to '09, when Sakes (then living in Minneapolis) and the Brooklyn-based Rossettie reconnected online and struck up a long-distance romance. Soon Sakes headed east, and within a few months, the pair had hatched a new musical entity, named Xaddax in honor of their shared love of "palindromes and pointy letters." A flurry of live shows commenced.
Counterclockwork, the debut Xaddax release is a must-hear for any Nick Sakes fan, but what's most impressive about the 25-minute LP is the way it places his trademark livid howl in an entirely new context. Working with a mad-scientist electroacoustic drum set-up -- huge toms, no cymbals, various sample-triggering pads and a foot-controlled synth pedal -- Rossettie pounds out lurching math-disco rhythms, haloed in scuzzy sci-fi FX. Sakes responds with perversely anthemic riffs and mantra-like shouts, resulting in a kind of hot-wired hardcore -- like Devo gone nastily dystopic. In a sense, Counterclockwork sounds like nothing Nick Sakes has ever done, but the record's spirit -- venemous aggression combined with bold ingenuity -- fulfills every promise of one of the most fiercely uncompromising discographies in contemporary American music.
credits
released May 14, 2012
Nick Sakes: Vocals, Guitar
Chrissy Rossettie: Drums, Electronics & Backing Vocals
Recorded and Engineered by Colin Marston
at Menegroth: The Thousand Caves, Queens, New York
Mastered by Weasel Walter
Nick Sakes: Vocals, Guitar
Chrissy Rossettie: Drums, Electronics & Backing Vocals
Recorded and Engineered by Colin Marston
at Menegroth: The Thousand Caves, Queens, New York
Mastered by Weasel Walter
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
SKiN GRAFT Records St. Louis, Missouri
From genre-defying to genre-defining, over the last three decades, SKiN GRAFT Records has curated a collection of music that would seem at home no place else.
discography
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Feb 2023 -
Oct 2022 -
Apr 2017 -
Oct 2022
contact / help
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