TOTAL SHUTDOWN / XBXRX

Split

2x5” vinyl, Rock is Hell

Complete and utter craziness, and yes, that’s the way, a-ha a-ha, we like it. The second offering[1] from Viennese label extraordinaire Rock is Hell is another beauty to behold, to hold and to listen to. Okay, so some people will argue the sound-factor – not me, mind you – but everyone even my aunt and nieces will have to admit the great production factor (and collector value) of this double 5inch vinyl single and packaging. This one folds out to about fifty centimeters and will place itself nicely in the backshield area of your car or around your neck. The drawings are by Dennis Tyfus. If you want to see more, check out www.denniytyfus.tk Now, the music.

The tracks on here are all from 2001, which I find a little strange, but as far as I am able to tell the bands haven’t changed that much. Total Shutdown act as if US Maple took some serious drugs (uups, that’s not so far a stretch to imagine) and travelled back in time and from there set off thinking they were actually Minor Threat. Including a saxophone for broken down, destructed hardcore-noise seems only obvious as a next step. The kiddie’s-piano is just another cherry on the topping. XBXRX are also on the same pure unadulterated free form noise goes hardcore trip – think about Sonic Youth covering Nic Fit only a lot more derranged, a lot more – but with a deftly infusion of juvenile energy. Though there is a lot of energy on both bands. I guess, if you have to compress your outing into such a small format, you might try to give it a little extra boost.

The liner notes show a lot of interesting bitparts for you collectors out there (as if the cover and format wouldn’t do, sheesh…) Don Zientera and Ian MacKaye sitting in as engineers in the legendary Inner Ear Studios only seems like another one of those balls that fate or bad coincidences play you. The last name to be mentioned creeping up on the liner notes is Weasel Walter, who did the mastering for XBXRX and reminds me of the fact, that I wanted to find the “Revenge”-album by the Flying Luttenbachers in my record collection but couldn’t find it.

Yeah, it is a short stint of audio bliss and it is over soon. The fitness factor shouldn’t be underestimated as well, with four times getting up and changing or re-arranging the record to be listened to in all its glory of a little over, well, maybe six to seven minutes. The true reason d’etre for this little double-record to exist is a riddle nevertheless, but one to be left unsolved and marvelled at rather than fed into a computer and digitized, analyzed, scrutinized and then filed and forgotten. If you are thinking now, that all of this seems completely useless and senseless, you are completely right, but also completely besides the point. Try to relax a little. The most important things on earth have no use or sense, but a lot more value for that. There is ugly and evil craziness abounding around us, so we need some beautiful and positive craziness to fend of the dark side. That is what rockishell is for. Can you sense the philosophical paradoxon within the labelname?