ADD N TO (X)
Add Insult To Injury (Mute)
Rating: 4 out of 7
By Ken Micallef

    Like the Ventures fueled on steroids and old Kraftwerk and Gary Numan records, Add N To (X) rampages through Farfisa-freaked anthems full of distorted, block-rocking beats and Vocoder-treated vocals. Riding waves of circular drums and growling synths, Add N To (X) can't seem to get up and get on with it on Add Insult To Injury, with some songs slowly spinning in place like a sleeping top.
   Tick-tocking toy beats infuse the robotic "B.P. Perino" and garbled washing machines and roly-poly bass and drums mire the Muzak of "Incinerator No. 1," while the Devo-inspired "Adding N to (X)" is the band's treatise to man-machine monotony. Critically hailed for earlier albums such as Avant Hard and On The Wires Of Our Nerves, Add N To (X)'s latest simply recalls a soundtrack to some cheesy 1950s horror movie in which somebody forgot the monsters.

All recordings courtesy of Mute Records. “Brothel Charge” and “Kingdom Of Shades (Exorcist)” written by Claydon, Shenton, Allum; courtesy of Universal PolyGram International Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP)/Copyright Control. “Plug Me In” written by Smith, Honer; courtesy of Universal PolyGram International Publishing, Inc./Chrysalis Music (ASCAP).