Ex Models

Other Mathematics (Ace Fu)
by Lex Marburger

Well, even if you don’t like it, it’s short. Ex-Models write songs on Other Mathematics that sound like they were broken off from old Gang of Four outtakes, leaving the underlying structures mangled & warped & then got the love child of Iggy Pop and Pere Ubu’s Dave Thomas to sing over it (“there is no inspiration/only simulation… we live in televison” from “It’s On Television” and “Get a load of that/He’s got a foot of crank/Tit box butt pipe” from “The Idea of Peter North”). Odd time signatures abound, but you don’t really miss them or notice them, due to the prevailing attitude of skronk and chaos. And the songs are about two minutes long, so once you think you’ve got a hold on the beat, it’s over. Clever. Though I may sound like a broken record here, if the ’80s come back, this is how I’d like it to sound. Further rants on this subject can be found scattered throughout all my reviews of bands that are influenced by ’80s music. Anyway, for NYC no-wave skronk punk you crave and wish had never died it’s messy, sweet-smelling death transforming into modern jazz, this would be the one. Sure, it may not have what some would call “soul,” but it certainly is a ham hock in your cornflakes (those who get the reference get a big hug).
(PO Box 3388 Hoboken, NJ 07030)