Experiment Zero

Description

There is an undeniable connection between the South and extraterrestrial phenomena. From Sun Ra to rocket engineer Wernher von Braun, Alabama has always had a special relationship with space. It is in this context that Man or Astro-Man? landed, or rather crashed, in a small college town in Alabama a few years ago. By rediscovering forgotten record collections in attics and dilapidated thrift stores, the entities of Man or Astro-Man? fell under the spell of Link Wray, The Ventures, Dick Dale, The Shadows, and Duane Eddy. At the same time, the stage performances of Kraftwerk, Sun Ra, Devo, Frank Zappa, and the Residents left their mark. But it is paradoxically the forced existence in a conservative environment that shaped the group the most: Man or Astro-Man? was more influenced by what it hated than by what it liked. Experiment Zero (1996), their first album for Touch and Go, was recorded in three days in their own studio Zero Return in Alabama with Steve Albini. One of the great surf instrumental guitar records of the modern era. Wanting to make it the masterpiece of the long evolution of surf, the group then evolved at an increased velocity, expanding the use of their samples, computer programming, keyboards, and analog tape cut-and-paste. Where most bands would have stagnated, Man or Astro-Man? never stopped reinventing itself.