Man or Astro-man?: Experiment Zero Orange Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This orange pressing is limited to 1,000 copies and keeps the vinyl-exclusive closer "The Space Alphabet." Steve Albini recorded the album in three days at the band's own Zero Return studio in Alabama.

This edition

Orange vinyl
Limited to 1,000 copies
Vinyl-exclusive bonus track
Stereo mix

About the album

Most surf bands are happy with a wave. Man or Astro-man? wanted the whole solar system. The Auburn, Alabama outfit started out blending early 60s surf guitar with punk and new wave, wrapped it in sci-fi sound bites, theremins and Tesla coils, and on Experiment Zero pushed hardest yet into the machines. The name is said to come from a poster for the Japanese film The Human Vapor, whose tagline wondered if its hero was man or astro-man.

Star Crunch, Birdstuff and Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard lean into samples, keyboards, computer programming and cut-and-paste tape tricks here without losing the twang. "Television Fission" and "Planet Collision" race along, "Test Driver" covers Japanese guitar great Takeshi Terauchi, and "Television Man" turns a Talking Heads song into a transmission from orbit. Albini keeps it raw, loud and live in the room.

It's a key chapter in a band that kept reinventing itself, and a thrill on a good pair of speakers. The tracks are even numbered in sequence on the sleeve, which is a level of order our back room has never known.

Also at Kops: more Man or Astro-man? on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Side A
1. Stereo Phase Test
2. Television Fission
3. DNI
4. Planet Collision
5. Big Trak Attack
6. 9 Volt
7. Evil Plans of Planet Spectra
8. Anoxia

Side B
1. Maximum Radiation Level
2. King of the Monsters
3. Cyborg Control
4. Test Driver
5. Television Man
6. Z-X3
7. Principles Unknown
8. The Space Alphabet