On the Wires of Our Nerves

Add N To X

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 19, 1998)
• Original Release Date: May 19, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mute U.S.
• ASIN: B000006P32
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #247,098 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. We Are Add N to X

2. Murmur One

3. Sound of Accelerating Concrete

4. Gentle Germans

5. Black Regent

6. Planet Munich

7. King Wasp

8. Orgy of Bubastus

9. Grey Body, Green Gun

10. On the Wires of Our Nerves

11. Hit Me

12. Sir Ape

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Accompanied by a wide assortment of buzzes, clicks, manic beeps, and robotic voices come Add N to X with their debut album On the Wires of Our Nerves, a collection of tracks that promises to intrigue more than just hardened electronic-music fans. Although comparisons to various German electronic outfits are to be expected, they really do seem to have forged their very own style; Add N to X rely on samplers, heavily treated vocals, and real drums much more than their Central European counterparts. Consisting of Barry Smith, Ann Shenton, and Steve Claydon (a recent addition), Add N to X make their electronic musical instruments do their bidding, often to the point of meltdown, and create works that are in no danger of ever going out of style. --Paul Clark

URB

[A] delicate balance of atonal and melodic, grating and poppy. There's an almost physical quality to the sounds they make and the production is so sharp that you can almost feel the oily analogue pulses brush by your cheek. Each of the songs have a multilayered depth that unfolds and evolves, forming a pop hook or a funky organ solo. The keyboards produce a sound so unabashedly alien that it's easy to separate the noise from the instrument itself. Underneath most of the songs is the raw sound of unprocessed drums, tethering the extreme sounds to the rhythm.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eccentric, electric, organic, occasionally orgasmic, January 8, 2000

By	Micah R. Sisk (Frederick, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Maybe it takes someone who's been there to clue you in on this one; in a world where everything that was old is new once more, Add N to (X) has managed to create the freshest sound I've heard in half a decade. How? By filtering the experiments of twenty to thirty years ago through the production methods of today. Yes, I do mean fresh but I also mean derivative. That, however, is not to say boring--none of the music referenced on this CD was ever popular enough in a commercial sense (at least not here in the States) to become overused--but it is a rather telling sign of our times. We generally think of electronic music these days as being chiefly collage, the lifting, looping and rearranging of source material from everywhere and anywhere. But here we have a return to improvisation, originality and live performance. The tone here is upbeat, lighthearted and quirky without abandoning chaos, uncertainty and danger.

But since the musical references in this CD, and there are many of them, have been almost totally ignored by the critics I've read, let me run through those that come to mind: Track one, Barry 7's Contraption is a tune that would very comfortably fit on an album from 1978 by The Residents, Tuxedomoon or Renaldo and the Loaf (all Ralph Records artists). Track two, Robot New York, cuts in with a bass line that sounds transplanted from Pink Floyd circa Ummagumma and set to a sonic arena of analog trills, shrills and spills. Then it's on to Skills, which is bristling with late 60's psychedelia references (see PF again but this time set the controls back to the days of Piper at the Gates of Dawn), at least in the drum and bass section. Overlay that with more Residential detuned synth play . . . Steve's Going to Teach Himself Who's Boss? Can you say Six Things to a Cycle from Fingerprince by The Residents? By far the best cut on the CD, track 5, FYUZ, combines a speed bass line with crash and burn synth attacks that harken back to the unpublished, and therefore coincidental, 1983 Hotball Suite by The Spot Reducers. And what's that female vocal line I hear but a digitally plucked and tucked melody that could have been pulled off of any of a dozen Renaissance albums? The reference pile up and include everything from 70's avant gard to art and prog rock. To the credit of this trio, their musical references are often more ones of sonic than stylistic or structural choices. Add N to (X) are not imitators but artists adding their own unique stamp to the legacy of many forgotten sonic treasures. As a result this CD is at once familiar to my old ears and totally new, a statement that can't be said of most techno, retro, hip-hop punk or alternative rock. To those unfamiliar with the underground and fringe musical happenings of the late 60's to early 80's this CD is bound to sound like nothing you've ever heard (let's just say it's not dance for one). To those who will recognize the musical past dredged up here, you will find a new look at old ways of hearing and thinking. Avant Hard is eclectic, eccentric, electric, organic, occasionally orgasmic and by far more interesting than anything I've found for too long a time.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars orgy of addntoxus, December 28, 2004

By	pete23 "pete23" (pete23.com) - See all my reviews

i'm obviously incapable of giving this above a four, but most people have missed the point. this is a good few minutes of sex on synth.

highlight? orgy of bubastus. i DEFY you to listen to that and not crack a smile, even if you're not going to laugh like a loon and play air synth...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars daleks with moogs, June 27, 2000

By	Patrick Tufts (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Where to start? This album is brilliant and alien. Add N to (X) has a clearly developed style, borrowing from Can, Kraftwerk, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Wall of Voodoo, Holger Czukay, Wendy Carlos, the Residents, and Portishead.

The opening track, "We Are Add N to X", is an absolutely wonderful introduction to the band. Most of the other 12 tracks fit together as a movie score written by Daleks -- at times edgy and slightly menacing, but mostly wonderfully, absurdly weird. "The Black Regent" is one of the few duds; it's confined and doesn't go anywhere interesting. "King Wasp" is infectious.

Highly recommended for Electronica/Ambient fans.

--Pat / zippy at cs.brandeis.edu