XIXXO

Down the World
by Joshua Brown

This is virtual music. It makes me think of the last time I was on a virtual reality machine, staring into an abyss of cyberspace. The musical category of XIXXO is mainly New Age (though there is some rock ‘n’ roll in there too), and they play it well with highly textured Kate Bush-esque vocals.

One can imagine a hyped-up computer junkie salesman playing the Down the World CD to a crowd as a demonstration of the type of musical technology his new product line is capable of. The crowd “oohs” and “ahhhs” on cue. Yes, this is great stuff worthy of occupying space in your CD collection. It’s limited by its inherent “neatness” which makes it less personal and expressive. That’s not to say that Down the World is not recommended, though, because it is.