Xper.Xr

Experimental composer and performer

One of a handful of experimental musicians to emerge in musically conservative Hong Kong in the 1980s, the cryptically named Xper.Xr gained a measure of notoriety as arguably the first Chinese ‘industrial noise’ musician. His confrontational, electronically generated sound works, described by one reviewer as ‘techno-disco-karaoke-noise’, are characterized by harsh timbres, extremes of volume and dynamics, and satirical deconstructions of familiar pop music. Although his work is known only to a small specialized audience, it nevertheless marks a significant departure from Chinese musical precedent in its disregard for established musical forms and preoccupation with themes of alienation and sexuality.

Xper.Xr made his self-financed debut recording, Murmur, in 1989, and went on to give infrequent performances at Hong Kong arts festivals and galleries.

In 1992 he released his first full-length CD, Voluptuous Musick, on the city’s adventurous but short-lived Sound Factory label. During this period he also published the Hong Kong experimental arts magazine Cacophon.

Disappointed with hostile public response to his sound experiments in Hong Kong, in the early 1990s Xper.Xr moved to the more musically receptive environment of London, where he continues to test the boundaries between noise and music as both a solo artist and collaborator with a wide range of international avant-garde musicians. In 1997 he formed his own Vaseline label and released the more conventionally structured Lun Hsiao Shuai. Subsequent recordings have included Golden Wonder, Look Left/Right, Because I’m Worth It, and contributions to numerous international compilations.

DENNIS REA