Starters Alternators

When the Ex first started in an Amsterdam squat back in '79, their brand of dissonant, energetic, politically charged music was refreshing, indeed. They were early peers of Sonic Youth, and their serrated guitar sound was just as innovative and inspirational to a whole generation of English and Continental no-wave noise exponents. Since then the Dutch anarchists have collaborated with improvisationists (Han Bennink, Tom Cora), hipsters (Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo), Belgian comics, and dance groups and lost none of the biting edge or cutting satire that is their trademark. On Starters Alternators, their debut, Steve Albini-produced album for Chicago's renowned Touch & Go imprint, they tell dialectic jokes about Karl Marx ("Frenzy") and sing "The art of losing isn't hard to master" ("Art of Losing"). Giddy, near-chaotic, and very fine, indeed. --Everett True