When we last checked in with Xposed 4Heads in January 2024, the veteran Milwaukee New Wave/art-rock band was in a mood. “It’s messed up beyond belief / We’ve gone too far, we’re in too deep,” cried frontman Mark G.E. in the dystopian video for “Mess Up.” Surely now, more than a year later, Xposed 4Heads are feeling better about the current state of things, right? RIGHT?
Not really! But, well, sort of. On the opening title track of the band’s latest LP, Crack The Sky, G.E. acknowledges that “everybody [is] going down the drain,” but implores us to “use our brains, work together, figure it out.” What do we have to do? “We’ve got to go up a downspout.”
Yep, Xposed 4Heads are in rally mode! Toss in the group’s well-honed herky-jerky sci-fi synth sound, and you have a call to arms that flies in the face of our current devolution.
Not that the seven-track record is devoid of some good old fashioned levity. The sly-n-sexy “Flash Cube” and “Tricked Out Tailspin” lighten the mood, and “Virtual Love” looks to a computer-love future full of modified body parts and “desirable assets.” By album’s end, however, G.E. is back to fretting about that whole “going down the drain” thing. “The wheel’s still turning but the hamster’s dead,” he sings on “Are We Crazy?”
Xposed 4Heads don’t have a Crack The Sky release show on the books, though three of its members will play as Electricity Kills May 24 at Linneman’s. After that, expect a big, “oh, that totally makes sense” show announcement ahead of the summer festival season.
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