X04?s ?Lost Signals? has some severe underlying currents, which, when put together, can only be described as the free jazz of the apocalypse. There are no songs here, only what can be loosely (if at all) defined as instrumental pieces entirely free of pretension and also entirely free of form. Somehow, though, I can?t see Allen Ginsberg snapping his fingers and nodding his head along to this; instead I see myself, post-apocalyptic, attempting to asphyxiate with a plastic shopping bag amidst the rubble of what once was ? form, content, and, most importantly, any hope at all that tomorrow?s sun will rise on the world of the last decade.

That?s just what I hear, and it?s not a bad thing. There is chaos, madness, and anger in our world, and some people confront this by listening to records that sound like the bad dreams that sometimes become reality, which, if embraced, give us clarity and purpose and, if ignored, do nothing but deceive. We are lucky that records like ?Lost Signals? exist; without them, what would we have for solace other than the sounds we hear but can?t possibly articulate?

Just what are those sounds? Drummer, Jake Meginsky, a disciple of Milford Graves, scrapes and crashes his way though the two sides of this LP, as guitarists Bill Nace and John Truscinski somehow turn their guitars inside out, revealing something that would make Alejandro Jodorowsky raise his eyes just high enough out of his graphic novels to consider making another serious movie, one without the unfortunate company he now keeps. I should say here that I know these guys and have admired their work for a number of years, dating all the way back to the late 1990s, when I first met them at a house party in Northampton, Massachusetts. Nace is the only one still living in the immediate area, and his work with the mighty Chris Corsano (Vampire Belt) is legendary in my mind, perhaps more legendary than his work with Thurston Moore in Northampton Wools. Nace?s guitar work has, to this point, been pretty well documented, and we can all expect more in the near future.

?Lost Signals? clearly resides in the nether region of noise, but unlike a lot of noise outfits/misfits, these three guys know exactly what they?re doing and they do it to great success. Limited to 500 copies, this record won?t be around forever, so get it while it?s here. Plus, you get the great Dennis Tyfus artwork and colored vinyl. I just don?t see how you could go wrong. 9/10 -- Neale Gay (3 October, 2007)