Max Ax
Sculpture
[LTROPES610] double 10” zoetrope LP + DL | Now available for Pre-order. Release date 2 August 2024. A Psyché Tropes x LTR Records joint release.
01. Max Ax (03:38)
02. Blood Sharpie (03:19)
03. REPO (02:48)
04. Your Security Code (03:52)
05. Cross Processor (03:40)
06. Vent (02:41)
07. I Entered Into a Phase (04:30)
08. Calafonia (02:25)
09. Chromophoria (03:24)
10. Wave Scroll (06:13)
11. End of Enquiry (03:31)
Sculpture’s new album Max Ax is the product of constant recombination of wildcard sonic and visual
elements into new forms in performance. Catching a live AV set by the duo is to enter a maximal portal
into their visionary aesthetic, as Sutherland's kaleidoscopic visual turntablism and Hayhurst's
analogue/digital hybrid of electronic pop and experimental splatter combine in free associations and
unstable reactions.
Max Ax is the capture of one possible frame in this ongoing sequence, but it is also Sculpture’s most
direct and focused transmission yet.
Sculpture’s music may be compulsively metamorphic but a consistent intent and stylistic confidence
connects these eleven compositions. Hayhurst’s signature junk pop gnarl is present, a chewed tape
melodic sensibility holding the assembly together while surfing chaos. Tape loop psychedelia,
overdriven techno, cassette deck melancholia and disintegrating chamber pop combine with a moire
of varispeed electronics and percussion.
The resulting first thought best thought dynamism is sometimes ferocious, sometimes joyous, trashy
ecstatic or strange, but always singular.
Sutherland's artwork playfully references recurrent motifs in the duo's work. The opaque corporate/
scientific department with its maze of abandoned zones visualises environment as pattern, threatening
containment while inviting exploration. The visual language of product design and commercial
exploitation is subverted in absurdist combinations of the organic and synthetic, banal and fantastic,
geometric and cartoonish. Cryptic devices for calculation, summoning or nonsense are simultaneously
futuristic and medieval. The facility has been compromised in some unknown event and strange code
has broken through.
Max Ax marks a first collaboration between LTR Records and Psyché Tropes. Available on deluxe double gatefold 10” zoetrope disc and download. The album is available direct from LTR Records and Psyché Tropes, as well as from select record stores, online and via all streaming services.
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