Planet Carrion: Quix*O*tic - Mortal Mirror (2002)

Monday, August 9, 2010

QuixOtic - Mortal Mirror (2002)

Here's a really singular album that owes as much to Motown as it does to post punk and experimental music. I found out about this band after researching guitar virtuoso Mick Barr, whom I'll post more on eventually. All the members of the band brought unique styling to the fold, and it seems this was just an on-and-off project for all involved. I dig the eclectic mish-mash and the haunting vocals, particularly on the track "The Breeze." Here's a review from Aquarius Records that I don't agree with completely (the Sabbath cover is interesting), but it does summarize the music well. I also read the dismissive article about this album posted on Pitchfork in 2002, which reiterated how little I should pay attention to sharply negative, opinionated reviews.

"This is ex-Slant 6 / Autoclave star Christina Billotte's new band. Joining her is her sister Mira and, as a suprise to us, Mick Barr of Orthrelm and Octis (who keeps his lightspeed squiggly metallic guitar style in check here). Quix*o*tic has the edgy danciness of Slant 6, but that's where the similarities end. Stylistically it's really all over the place but in a good way. There are songs that sound like slightly twisted and odd British psych and folk. There's some '60s soul/funk influenced numbers with creative backing vocals that reminded me of the old Motown girl groups. There are a few unfortunate moments on this record however, namely those few cheesy and embarrassing covers that made us cringe. The worst is without a doubt "Lord Of This World" by Black Sabbath. Yikes, that's really bad! A good song, but we don't care for their somewhat careless cover version. I can't tell if they're trying to be funny or not, but I didn't approve. So, if you just skip the covers this record is pretty darn cool, creative and eclectic. With the covers, it's still eclectic, even more so. Bravo, kind of."

Quix*O*tic - Mortal Mirror (2002)