Event: X_X featuring John Morton [Electric Eels] at Empty Bottle, Thu, Aug 21 9:00p

[clubmaster]

The ephemeral run of X__X tore through Cleveland like a Dadaist cyclone for six months in 1978, producing two 7â€s on*Drome Records. Preceding his imminent relocation to NYC, burly, blond brawler John D Morton assembled the project as a tighter, more rocking successor to his storied proto-punk act, the electric eels. Pronounced "ex blank ex," the name also doubles as a mental exercise in which a person could insert random words or phrases between the two letters in the moniker. Hence, Morton's jab at the Rolling Stones' sagging legacy for the title of this hotly-anticipated retrospective:*X Sticky Fingers X*(Ektro Records). Compiling a couple of prized singles with a feast of lo-fi but raging live and rehearsal material, the album boasts radical revisions of several eels classics alongside tunes that would appear drastically altered on a Styrenes LP and on Klimeyk's solo seven-inch. The main lure is Morton's ridiculously potent cocktail of brute force, no-wave squall, and nihilistic art prank. P~~~~d-off vocals, ass-kicking riffs, a hard-charging rhythm section, and the whirr of onstage circular saws split the air. Home And Garden is a coalition of Cleveland avant-garde rock musicians, that have been making interesting noises (on and off) for over 20 years. Stylisitically, their music has been all over the map veering from airy, ambient sound collages to improv jazz grooves to garage-rock ballast to electronic pop - the only constant being a commitment to interesting music. Alumni include Scott Krauss, Tony Maimone, Jim Jones, Robert Wheeler, and Michele Temple - who have at various times played in incarnations of legendary post-punk group Pere Ubu (Krauss and Maimone played on the classic "Modern Dance" and "Dub Housing" LPs). Maimone has played with various alt-rock luminaries through the years including: Frank Black, They Might Be Giants, Bob Mould, and Jon Langford. Joining in on the fun are Chicago's own f~~ked up space-punks Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, lead by the inimitable Steve Krakow. Their loud, spazzy, solid goldness spans from cavern-aged punk to lonely, hollowed out psych/folk - further proof that MR. Krakow and his compatriots sure know how to get weird, and we're all luckier for it.