Album Notes

"More passion than purity, more brash than composed, the sound... explodes out of the speakers... manages to keep an impressive narrative going throughout the disc, one of youthful exuberance, innocence, and vulnerability."
- Grooves Magazine

"Listening to... XYZR_KX, feels like stumbling across an unreleased My Bloody Valentine B-side or a lost Boards Of Canada cassette. There's a timeless simplicity to the heart-tugging indie pop of Falls Off The Curb, Chump Style, which is spiked with flourishes of electronic beats and wistful melodies. Essential lo-fi bliss for anyone sick of cloying emo lyrics and cut-up juxtaposition."
- Illinois Entertainer, 'Best of Around Hear 2004'

"Quietly earnest folk-pop, narcoleptic electronica... jaw-dropping power."
Splendid Magazine, 1/14/05

XYZR_KX (pronounced 'Scissor Kicks') is Jon Monteverde, Chicago-based Chinese-Filipino indie-rock/electro-pop wunderkind. From his start as the drummer for the dissonant rockers What Now My Love, he has shown a remarkably mature musicality inherent in his work. With his XYZR_KX project, Monteverde redefines the boundaries of the traditional pop song by simultaneously incorporating hushed vocals, serrated guitars, and chaotic beats.

Which brings us to Falls Off the Curb, Chump Style, the album that encapsulates his unique vision. The album represents a cross-section of his stylistic range, utilizing traditional rock sounds and his electro-virtuosity to create a fresh, emotionally taut soundscape firmly situated within a classic pop structure.

The album opens with the jagged electro-punk 'Specific Instance', setting in motion the 8-song mini-masterpiece that is Falls Off the Curb, Chump Style. From there, a contagious 12-note hook begins 'LUV', a deceptively seamless juxtaposition of two disparate musical styles: frenetic breakbeats and acoustic melancholia. The hook pervades the effortless production, all the more resolute for its testimonial to the curative nature of true love. The third song, "Waltz (for Angkong)," is a deftly composed meditation on loss that reveals its latent yet inherent optimism through its second half, a distortion laden synth-pop mosaic, perfectly representative its conflicted emotions. The electro-shoegazer single "I've Said This Before" immediately follows suit with its relentless energy buoyed by breathtakingly intricate harmonies and memorable melody. A breather is finally taken with 'Site Observation', a contemplative piece immersed in downtempo abstraction. The album culminates with the trilogy of songs: 'I Can't Wait', 'Road', and 'Symphoniphics,' unequivocally illustrating the scope and ambition of XYZR_KX's work. While 'I Can't Wait' and 'Symphoniphics' perfectly summarize his skills as a minimalist songwriter and composer, the hypnotic tour de force 'Road' points to his future path as a purveyor of innovative sonic explorations.

XYZR_KX amazed audiences with a series of live shows in Chicago, including gigs at the Empty Bottle and Hothouse, and is preparing for an extensive North American tour in 2005.

More information on XYZR_KX can be found at http://www.actuallyrecords.com.