5XOD - MAP - PAUL SHORTHOUSE - ROB LAWRENCE - SUISSE - MALCOLM BROWN - THE PITFALL TERRIERS - FRASCH - SPACE BABIES - ATROCITY EXHIBITION - JAPANESE 80s RADIO/TV RECORDINGS

Five Times 0f Dust [5X0D] is a British electronic band whose personnel is MAP and Rob Lawrence (and Suisse for a while).
In 1981, MAP answered an advert that Rob had placed in a record shop in Bristol UK.

We both had a cassette label - Maptapes (MAP) and Quick Stab Music Products (Rob).
Our cassette releases were posted around the world and many strange and wonderful cassette tapes were received back from other like-minded music creators!
The Maptapes catalogue has now been uploaded onto this site.
Rob's cassette label output can currently be sampled on the Quick Stab Music Products myspace - linked to above.
Quick Stab's co-founder, Paul Shorthouse, has also produced much solo and group material and a set containing some of his released and previously unreleased solo work is available on this site. Following the soundcloud links above will take you to some of the many other great bands that Paul instigated.
Tragically, Paul died in the autumn of 2011.
As the 80s kicked off, Rob returned to Cardiff, carried on releasing tapes for a couple of years and then in 1983 finished Quick Stab Music Products whilst MAP remained in Bristol and did similar with Maptapes.
We travelled to visit each other and continued working together and continued to use the postal system to continue creating our 5X0D music.
Our main cassette releases were:
THE DADACOMPUTER [1981] (C60 - Maptapes / Quick Stab Music Products)
5IVE XIMES OF DUST [1982] (C60 - Unreleased)
DOGCHILD [1982] (C30 - Quick Stab Music Products)
THE BLACK TAPE [1983] (C60 - Quick Stab Music Products)
YUM YUM MUSIC [1984] (C60 - Unreleased in UK. Released by StichtingStopcontact in Netherlands).
We continued to develop a strong love for the music of the Japanese techno-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra (Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi) and also Sandii and the Sunsetz, Akiko Yano, Yello, Telex, Logic System, Kraftwerk, Can, Holger Czukay, Neu, Der Plan, The Residents etc and many other experimental musicians and bands from all around the world.
We embraced the advent of affordable home computing - the Sinclair ZX 81, Jupiter Ace, Atari 600 and 800XL, Yamaha CX5M MSX computers all being used in the creation of music (and the programming and playing of games). We also embraced the beginnings of affordable sampling - the Casio SK1 and 5 ( http://www.vintagesynth.com/casio/sk1.php ) allowing us to digitally manipulate sounds in a lo-fi fashion.
In the 1990s MAP continued his prolific music creation in solo and group form (eg. Atrocity Exhibition and Space Babies).
At this point, after 15 years, Rob stopped making music and in 1992 took up a career as a keyboard and piano teacher!
MAP and Rob lost touch with each other at the beginning of the new Century. But happily, in 2007, MAP sent a postcard to Rob and we got back in touch through the internet, creating our 5X0D myspaces and going on to create and release the CD INCENSE IN THE MIDDLE FRIDGE OF BIRTH [2009]. This time the music was sent via internet rather than post and this recording is available to listen to on this very site. The tracks use samples of our sounds from the 80s, but rebuilt into new computer age compositions by MAP. The Vocaloid 2 program Hatsune Miku sings on many of these tracks to add a cool 21st Century Japanese vibe!
In 2011 a track of ours called COMPUTER BANK, from The Dadacomputer cassette [1981], was released on THE HIDDEN TAPES, a compilation LP and CD release on Veronica Vasicka's MINIMALWAVE label.
A CD of THE DADACOMPUTER has now been released on the ICEAGE RECORDINGS label based in Melbourne Australia. The myspace Dadacomputer information link above will explain more on this exciting development for 5X0D. You can also get it on download from here: http://iceageproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-birth-of-5xod .
So we still do try to make original electronic music - with an emotional resonance -, using both analogue and digital technology, hopefully seeking a way to reach people's hearts and minds.

‎May 2013 - The Dadacomputer has been re-released as a cassette on Minimal Wave Records. Also a double Vinyl LP called Smile With The Eyes, featuring 16 of 5X0Ds songs, is due out on Minimal Wave in July! They, along with The Iceage CD, represent a new level of exposure for 5X0D! Also, solo recordings by MAP and Rob are due for release as part of a box set of 80s synth recordings on the Vinyl-on-Demand Label. And in 2014, a 10inch single of three 5X0D tracks is due to be released on the Domestica record label.

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This SoundCloud site is curated by Datacurata Rob
- the keeper of the cassettes.