MX-80 Sound is one of the real oddities in American music. Their debut album, Hard Attack (released in the UK on Island Records), found little-to-no audience in the States upon its release in 1977, yet remains a key document of the mid-’70s proto-punk zeitgeist. Hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, MX-80 Sound was lead by guitarist Bruce Anderson and defies simple classification with relentless riffs, dual drummers and vocalist Rich Stim’s absurdist prose and dizzying sax. Assimilating the avant-rock of Captain Beefheart and conjuring the ghosts of Albert Ayler, MX-80 Sound evokes what free jazz would sound like if born in Bloomington.
As archivist Byron Coley writes, “Hard Attack has long been considered one of the great squirts of the Midwest underground’s prog-punk tradition. Fellow travellers include Debris’ Static Disposal, Pere Ubu’s Modern Dance and Destroy All Monsters’ 1974-1976, and what makes each of these fine gushers unique is that they were all created in virtual isolation. No one else in the neighborhood was creating anything akin to them.”
Superior Viaduct is honoured to present Hard Attack’s first-ever vinyl edition in the US. Mastered from the original analog tapes for the first time since 1977 and remixed by the band, this deluxe reissue will soon become the definitive version for longtime fans and newcomers alike. The singular and staggering innovation of MX-80 Sound still harkens to rock’s future potential.