Quix*o*tic
Night For Day
Ixor Stix
To call Quix*o*tic’s Night for Day ghostly would be an accurate assertion; to call it lazily so would be dead-on. Expounding the subdued minimalism hinted at on her last band’s final album, Slant 6’s Inzombia, guitarist/vocalist Christina Billotte carries her new trio, Quix*o*tic, into a realm that’s simultaneously foreign and familiar on their debut album, Night For Day. What can only be rightfully labeled “the Cramps on methadone,” Quix*o*tic run through a warmed-over batch of sparse, rockabilly-derived riffs, all semi-spooky haunted house melodies (maladies?), stumbling n’ fumbling rhythms that are heavy on the tom-toms, and general “what curtain are you hiding behind?” malaise. Matters aren’t helped much, either, when bassist/occasional drummer Brendan Majewski wins a turn at the mic and daydreams he’s Mark E. Smith, the instrumental backing, in kind, becoming exponentially more frantic and frenzied and, hence, confused – like Sebadoh’s nudge-nudge noise-punk tracks, it’s not only distracting, it’s downright uninteresting. Fortunately, Billotte’s eerily sensual, Chrissie Hynde-esque wispy-ness now seems more confident in its ability, yet nonchalant at the same time, perhaps cognizant of the fact that it’s the only factor pushing Night For Day from “semi-ambitious, but mostly mediocre” to “mostly interesting, but semi-mediocre” status. Quite a disappointment, really, considering the short-lived greats (Autoclave, the aforementioned Slant 6) Billotte’s been involved with.
Ixor Stix, P.O. Box 21811, Washington, DC 20009
