Extended Organ - XOXO CD

Extended Organ is a “supergroup” of experimental sound artists whose members are culled from the ranks of the. The four members of Extended Organ have been improvising with sound for over three decades and although they have played together in various configurations in the past, this CD marks the first time the quartet ever played together as a total entity. The foursome all have active and well established careers on their own: Paul McCarthy is a world-renowned art superstar. His work in Extended Organ consists of free form vocal/lyrical improvisations that play off the instrumental improvisations of the other three members while at the simultaneously setting a mood, telling a story and responding to the general ambiance of the performance situation. Fredrik Nilsen is a founder of the LAFMS and a noted photographer. Nilsen conceptually founded Extended Organ in which he plays prepared acoustic guitar and both an antique analog organ and a modern digital keyboard, all in an especially unorthodox style. Fredrik’s approach spins equally from gothic horror movie soundtracks. Joe Potts is a founder of the LAFMS and mastermind of Airway, which has been called “the gnarliest noise band of all time”. Potts is omnipresent on his chopped optigans--instruments he crafts from dismantled 70s optical samplers. With up to 64 simultaneous samples per instrument, the chopped optigan is the ultimate drone machine. Tom Recchion is a founder of the LAFMS, a Grammy winner art director, and member of the Doo-Dooettes, The Rodney Forest, and Bpeople. Recchion uses Kurzweil, guitar, radio, CDs, etc. to accent the other instruments as well add the occasional lush crescendo. Tom also acted as producer on the record and mixed and processed the sound of the entire ensemble live during the recording. Three years in the making, XOXO is creepy and wonderful.

"Extended Organ, appropriately enough, have their roots in the LAFMS, the foursome having performed over many years in many different combinations, but never in this incarnation. Who are they all then? Well, there's artist Paul McCarthy, whose FXed vocals give Mike Patton (in Fantomas mode) a run for his money in the scary, splatter movie stakes; and Fredrik Nilsen, an LAFMS founder, specialist in prepared guitar and dildo, apparently. Then there's Joe Potts, inventor of the chopped optigan, instruments cannibalised from 70s optical samplers. And last but not least, another LAFMS founder, and Nilsen's compadre in the Doo-Dooettes, Tom Recchion. Recchion was most recently heard as one of the contributors to David Toop's spoken word collection Hot Pants Idol (his was the best piece on the album, imho), and previously on the extraordinary Chaotica (also on Birdman), an album of exotica cut-ups whose end results way outstrip its methodology. So there's about a century's worth of radical music history between these guys, and, boy, does it show. XOXO's press release describes it as three years in the making, and at once it sounds like that and an afternoon's work. For this is radically Free music, which has its roots in improv but eschews any music-making dogma. EO will grab a cornball pop riff as soon as they'll turn in a psych-organ solo. Or scream a lot. Or drone eerily for an hour or so (subjective time). Actually, this music genuinely comes closer than any I've heard to the sounds of my recurring infant nightmare (it involved swimming pools and hands, I seem to recall, but let's not go there... ), but don't let that put you off. This is masterful stuff, a sound world rendered as physical as any can be. Great start to the year, I reckon."--Simon Hopkins, sonomu.net