XEROX BIOPUNK – Sex, Death, and Puppets

Xerox Biopunk returns with a sleuth of cyberpunk-inspired singles on “Sex, Death, and Puppets”, the five-track digital EP. We’re granted access to this ride via the introductory single ‘Pinocchio’. Inspired by the Japanese cyberpunk horror-film Pinocchio 964, this track is a corrupted and hard-hitting industrial segment featuring splintering noise and experimental electronics. At fifty-six seconds, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and easily gives me a taste of what’s to come on the EP. Following this I was thrust into ‘Chatsubo Punk Overdose’, which takes its name from the infamous bar in William Gibson’s classic novel Neuromancer. This track takes us into a midtempo, bass driven cyberpunk single filled with glitches, darksynth inspired synthetics, and a meticulously crafted beat that suits a dystopian future…Or the world at large today. 

The name of ‘Hardcore Pleasure Model’ pulls its title from Pris, the infamous femme fatale in Blade Runner. This is a fairly quiet, rumbling noise piece that I wasn’t quite into; it serves as a short one-minute and four-second interlude in the already short EP. But, it does not really add much to the overall mood of the album. Luckily, I am served up a healthy slice of cyberpunk dancefloor goodness with ‘Geisha Atomic Overdrive’. Moody cinematic synths sway throughout the three-minute and fifty-one second track, lending it further overtones. Altogether, however, it is most suited for your next future club night. The final track on the album is an ambient piece, presented as being about an artificial being’s self-awareness, and the depression that comes with it. It’s a moving piece to say the very least, and very well reminisces some of the pressing moment in Blade Runner. I could easily see a replicant standing in the rain, staring into the abyss, as they reflect on their short lifespan or the fact that someone will be hunting them soon. 

If not stated already in my previous review for “Hydra”, then I will state it here: I love projects that wear their influences on their sleeves. Xerox Biopunk isn’t hiding anything and maintains a respect for the genres he pulls from by crafting wondrous pieces. “Sex, Death, and Puppets” is an excellent addition to his already phenomenal discography. I hope to see more of what he sees in this dark cyberpunk, dystopian future soon. Eight out of ten!