XrayOK

It isn’t often you hear a band that doesn’t instantly make you think of another band in today’s overindulged music scene. A band that really doesn’t sound like anyone except themselves. XrayOK is that anomaly, that group that reassures you that innovation in music is still possible. The Los Angeles threesome has, in fact, taken everything you know to be familiar and refreshingly unfamiliarized it into a completely new sound.

The band’s style is nearly six years in the making, a result of persistence and passion in a turbulent music industry by the three musicians. Hill and Smith initially began writing together in 2001, eventually relocating to Phoenix where they connected with Duff thanks to a classifieds advertisement. The group’s debut album, Reflex, was self-released the following year, followed by an EP entitled Like Life. XrayOK began to attract attention in the Arizona scene, and over the next few years opened for the likes of She Wants Revenge, The Lovemakers, Moving Units, Rock Kills Kids and Death From Above 1979. In 2006, the trio again relocated to Los Angeles, focusing on their clarified vision and decisive musical direction.

The trio’s new record, Into the Sun or Into the Sea, reveals XrayOK’s unique musical sensibilities, immediately engaging the listener with its deftly executed combination of rock and electronic sounds. Recorded in Arizona with producer Bob Hoag over the course of two sessions, one in January of 2008 and one in April, the record exemplifies the band’s clear sonic vision, eschewing a live bassist for synth bass and offering melodies that are memorable without being hooky. “Lose Heart,” the disc’s premiere single aptly showcase’s this skillful aspect of XrayOK, layering emotive vocals over New Wave-esque synths and nuanced drums This unusual cocktail of sounds is simple in concept yet successfully complex in execution.

“None of us come from DJ backgrounds,” Duff explains of the band’s sound, which also draws on Duff and Smith’s lengthy classical training. “But I think our approach with this record was to make an electronic record that was dancey but had a lot of substance. Something that had a deeper sense and was not just something you could shake your ass to. Kind of combining two aesthetics- the melodic aspects of rock with the beats and grooves of electronic music.”

XrayOK’s original identity extends beyond their recordings, as well, often infiltrating the group’s dynamic live performances. Recently, the three musicians have begun adorning themselves in body paint for shows, encouraging the sense of raw energy that pervades their music to extend into the audience. “We basically started because it makes us feel more primal,” Smith says. “It’s like war paint, like we're getting ready to go into battle on stage - it really gets the blood flowing.”

While XrayOK borrows snippets of influence from the past, quilting them together in a fresh, new way, their sensibility and aesthetic is something of the future. Into the Sun or Into the Sea is the group’s third self-release, an act of certainty in a collapsing music industry, reminding us that smart, hard-working bands don’t need big corporations to succeed. They also remind us that we don’t really want to hear the same old thing over and over again. “One thing about XrayOK that I’ve always loved is that we truly create our own sound” Hill says. “We always try to stay true to that and push ourselves into new territory with every new song and album.”

www.myspace.com/xrayok
http://xrayok.blogspot.com/

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