Flux Information Sciences

Private/Public (Young God)
by Lex Marburger

OK, this is what I like about the possibility of a return to the ’80s. Straight from good ol’ NYC comes a band like it was the dripping offspring of the no wave scene. By the way, that’s a good thing. Like a mixture of DNA, Mars, Swans (Filth-era), Pere Ubu and Soul Coughing (OK those last two weren’t no wave bands, but you need a little forward progression, right?), Flux Information Sciences tastefully blow your head off while making you gibber like a fool.

The drums are some kind of build-yer-own number made of trash cans and other steel waste. The bass is heavily distorted, grinding out lines like a malfunctioning backhoe, and there’s some sort of real-time sampler/keyboard freaking out my head with its high-pitched chattering. Over this is a guy moaning, grunting, shrieking, and blabbering, sometimes coherent, sometimes not. In between the colossal (and heavily grooving) noise bursts, there are short quiet pieces, usually some small keyboard sounds burbling happily (?) before the next concussion bomb. I guess that’s the in-joke with the title Public/Private. The funny thing about Flux Information Sciences is that they actually make music. The rhythms are funky, the songs actually go somewhere, and you can sing them to yerself after the song’s over. Now that’s talent.
(PO Box 150-031 Van Brunt Sta. Brooklyn, NY 11215)