XP8
XP8 was formed by Marco Visconti and Marko Resurreccion.
The band, started in 2001 as a trio including previous singer Paul Toohill and based in Rome, Italy , composes an airy blend of EBM, electronica, techno and trance, bringing their various visions and talents to life with synthetic vibrancy and danceable beats, crossing electronic genres with relative ease.
Aimed at the heart of the dancefloor, the music keeps listeners moving through the night in timeless waves, emitting subtle hints of the 1980s while slipping easily into sounds of the new millennium: glitchy patterns, sharp simulated strings, and clear vocals travel through bright sequences and brooding atmospheres.
After having released their first demo, Forgive, on the now defunct mp3.com website, and receiving good feedbacks, they signed a deal with the Polish label Black Flames Records, who would reissue the demo on May 2004 as Forgive[n], quickly followed by the RE_Productions EP in October 2004.
In several interviews though, the band seemed to consider their real debut the 2005 album Hrs:Min:Sec, released on the acclaimed German label Infacted Recordings.
Over the years, XP8 made a name for themselves due to their energetic live performances: the band played all over Europe, from their native Italy to Russia, and attended prestigious festivals like Wave Gotik Treffen, Blackfield and NCN Festival in Germany, VP Live in Belgium, K.O.M.A. in Norway and Kinetik and Terminus in Canada. Also their remix work is much sought-after, and bands as different as Attrition, Mortiis, Icon Of Coil, Dope Stars Inc., Steve Aoki, Wayne G, Soman (among the others) has been remixed by XP8.
The band's third studio album, The Art Of Revenge, was released on January 18th 2008 once again on Infacted Recordings, immediately receiving good reviews and top ten placements in the most famous alternative charts.
Summer 2008 saw XP8 undertaking their first US tour with System Syn where they were enthusiastically greeted by rabid fans from New York to Los Angeles and everywhere between. The accompanying promo video for The Art of Revenge has also seen heavy rotation in several Italian music TV channels and even reached the 1 position in Music Box's top 20 in October 2008.
Pushing forward even harder in 2009, XP8 worked extensively on the eagerly anticipated new album, titled Drop The Mask: demos of the new album found their way to Metropolis Records who signed them for North America.
Drop The Mask is a further evolution of the band’s sound by showing the duo of Marco Visconti and Marko Resurreccion taking their collective music prowess to new heights.
The album was introduced by the single Want It, a groovy and sexy electro-industrial tune who also features the guest vocals of Daniel Graves of Aesthetic Perfection fame, who lends XP8 his mighty screaming which turns the song into a pure dancefloor smasher, and was released also as a deluxe digipack limited edtion in Japan by Deathwatch Asia, featuring exclusive remixes and new songs.
2011: now ten years old, the Italian duo sign off their first decade by delivering what both fans and DJs have long demanded: a no-frills return to the classic XP8-style futurepop epitomised by the 2008 album The Art Of Revenge.
Yet this was no step back: rather, but a very deliberate and superbly-crafted return to familiar musical territory.
Where Drop The Mask pulled in different directions, X: A Decade Of Decadence exhibits a singularity of purpose: to drive the listener onto the dancefloor.
This is futurepop at its finest, surely the catchiest and most accessible work XP8 has produced to date. And as if to underline these new-found commercial credentials, X also finds XP8 reunited with Stewart Who?, the instantly-recognisable voice of Wayne G s platinum-selling club-classic Twisted, for the killer cut Trip, following on from his live collaboration on XP8’s Twisted cover which was one of the highlights of the Resistanz Festival, earlier the sane year.
A decade of Decadence just ended, another is about to start: and it did with the release of Burning Down, a remix EP focused on the same-titled song, which was also chosen by the band for their third official video, and which became already a true classic of the whole genre.
With hits like The Art Of Revenge, Muv Your Dolly, Cuttin'n'Drinkin and Burning Down under their belts, XP8 entered the 2010s by re-affirming once again their constant search to evolve their own sound, incorporating elements from every electronic dance styles, culminating in Adrenochrome, the best and most mature band's effort to date.
Making the bold move of getting rid of every label support and going fully independent, the band was able to set up a crowd funding event which was successful a mere 18th hours after its start. Defying the current trends that see bands and musicians releasing singles, XP8 went once again back to their own roots and planned Adrenochrome as a real concept album, with a full story behind it, where the music becomes soundtrack to the tales told.
Everything came to a grinding halt in 2014 when the band decided to disband, quoting various reasons for this decision, among them the dwindling interest in alternative/industrial dance music, a trend that had a long run for almost two decades but that eventually ran dry. In an interview, Visconti also stated that “[...] no one wants to be the old guy in a room full of kids looking at you like a dinosaur: I remember vividly making fun of those old goths that simply didn’t want to get the fuck out of MY clubs a decade ago, and the last thing I wanted to become was one of them.” [8] - clearly pointing out the necessity to make space for a younger generation to make things vital and vibrant once again.
Before disbanding, XP8 released a series of 3 EPs over a period of 9 months, each released tied to one of the phases of the Alchemical process: the three releases went on to be praised as the band's best material by critics and fans alike, proving how the Italian duo left a mark on the industrial scene for years and years to come. Steven Gullotta at Brutal Resonance stated that "XP8 may be dead, but their music will forever hold a place within my soul" [9], giving the band a good send off. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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