Mars Williams has been a presence on the New York and Chicago experimental scenes for decades, working with everyone from European free improv pioneer
Peter Brötzmann, to beloved new wave icons the
Waitresses (those are his sax squeals and honks all over Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful and Bruiseology), and spending quite a bit of time as a member of the
NRG Ensemble,
Liquid Soul, and the
Vandermark 5, among others.
XMARSX is a collaboration between Williams -- in rock-oriented mode this time, with a band starring members of another Williams project,
Slam -- and legendary singer-guitarist
Wayne Kramer. The material, all written by Williams, with the exception of guitarist Greg Suran's quietly tense contribution, "Floaty," reminds the listener that one of
Kramer's avowed missions in his pioneering days with the
MC5 was to bring the free experimentalism and no-rules explorations of
Sun Ra and
Albert Ayler to heavy rock and roll;
XMARSX sounds much closer to that inspired fusion of power and noise than the
MC5 -- a monumental but much more conventional rock band -- ever got. Highly recommended to
Wayne Kramer and Mars Williams fans alike. ~ Stewart Mason