“Simulador”, the first song on XYX's new LP Teatro Negro, starts out with a shaker and a drum fading in slowly. This Monterrey, Mexico two-piece doesn't shy away from leaving simplicity to fill in their sound. When singer/bassist Anhelo Escalante starts to shout (in Spanish, natch), the song comes alive with a burst of punk energy, but the simple sound of the pure tom never leaves the base of the song. When Monofonus Press, the Austin label releasing the LP, contacted Anhelo to find out if the disbanded group's last LP really did exist, she confirmed that there was in fact a group of audio files left over from a recording blitz from between 2008 and 2010 when she and her bandmate, drummer and visual artist Mou Ortiz, were living in an insecticide warehouse. Anhelo, who moved to Austin from Monterrey after the band broke up, says this on her blog:
Please know that it doesn't sadden me that this band is no longer active. I look at my whole work in XYX as a finished piece of art – one that I am certainly proud of. I know when I am finished with something and we definitely made all we could make with two instruments, a delay pedal, tons of LSD, four arms, four feet, endless cups of coffee, and zero money for two years. This project helps to demonstrate how much you can do with so little. I didn’t know how to play bass, and Mou didn’t know how to drum. This project started from absolute dust, and I am comfortable with seeing it return to its original form.
The group worked with the label to produce the LP, which will be released in on July 10, in a gatefold edition of 300, all with a hand-crafted zine from the band-members. Sometimes, when the project ends, everything works itself out.
