Woo‘s albums Robot X (2016) and Xylophonics (2017) have been reshaped and newly conceived with updated artwork for release as, for the first time ever, a two-for-one album release via Independent Project Records on two-compact disc and double vinyl set, as well as digital formats. IPR and Woo first worked together in 1988 with the release of Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong and then the acclaimed 1989 cult favorite It’s Cosy Inside. Almost forty years later, the men behind Woo, brothers Mark and Clive Ives, have been remarkably prolific and Independent Project Records is in the fourth year of its relaunch. Time to join forces again.
According to Independent Project Records founder Bruce Licher,” Robot X and Xylophonics are wonderfully weird albums cut from the same cloth as the electronic uniqueness they created years ago. There is nothing else quite like the sound that the Brothers’ Ives make — a sound that is quintessentially Woo.” The unpredictable instrumentals invite listeners to attach their own fantasies to what they hear, whether those fantasies belong to the past, the present or, more likely, a robotic future.
“While Robot X is a disquieting collection of 1980s synth instrumentals, Xylophonics is a gentler 1990s showcase for the Ives brothers’ earliest digital recordings.” – Electronic Sound
“Robot X is… cyclical, glistening, retro-futuristic, mechanical, locomotive, mysterious, even eerie; … there are a few jazzy motions. But mostly, Robot X stems from the fertile soil of the later 1960s, and psychedelia in particular, even as the atmosphere consistently points forward… Xylophonics is even more cyclical in nature, indeed loop-based, with the titular mallet percussion (plus marimba and kalimba) lending a Reich-like hint to certain stretches of the album, but overall, the pieces are less rigid and process-based and more flowing… Combined, these two instrumentally focused albums by Woo are rewarding over repeated listens and fit into the Independent Project Records scheme exceptionally well.” – The Vinyl District
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Label: Independent Project Records
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