Livesexact!: Press

...At a recent performance-art festival in Allston, a mostly sedate affair featuring poetry, interpretive dance, and two painted women writhing inside glass boxes, Livesexact was the hypercharged hit of the night. Westner (in a short yellow dress, heavy eyeliner, and pigtails), Baird (who wore green rubber boots and a Camp Nurse T-shirt), Schmitt (decked out in a Sgt. Pepper-style jacket), and keyboardist Amy Dattilo (in a brassy pink wig) got the artsy crowd jumping in the span of just three songs. They invited dancers up to groove to their fierce, hip-hopping, synth-pop sound (the band describes it as a combination of Marilyn Manson, Moby, and Pink), which was punctuated by Baird's authoritative rapping and Schmitt's merciless whapping of the stuffed animals...

Segmented Purity : Buy the ticket, take the trip

Somewhere around track two, in the second minute of "New Version of You", the drugs began to take hold. At least that's what it felt like. This is a collection of ultra-sonic, sub-atomic mixes of some of Livesexact's previously released material, and it's harder to tie down than a mescaline-crazed Samoan attorney. There will be no sense made of these tracks. They are not to be understood, but absorbed. Putting on headphones while listening to this record astrally projects the listener to some weird techno-world, full of industrial beats and sampled voice. It's wiser to listen and groove than listen and think. The original music of Livesexact, when allowed to show through does sound intriguing, but it's hard to tell what is from the band and what comes from Remix World. Livesexact started out in that Cambridge hotbed of music and culture; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original members of LSA met in the Media Lab, and finally somehow convinced someone to give them a $6,000 grant to devise new instruments. So, like any good MIT students would, they set hard at work finding the strangest way possible to accomplish their goals. This included stuffed animal drum-sets and some bizarre MIDI trigger involving Astroturf. This album is compromised of the work of others, invited by the band to remix old LSA songs from previous albums. Some are both fun and funktastic trips to the world of LSA, while some are turbulent journeys through a more abstract, troubling place. The fifteen tracks on this album are all different experiences, with the one common denominator being the original source music for the mixes. Listening too close to some of these tracks will probably make you legally insane, and it is best to not listen in closed spaces. By all means, however, turn down the lights, break out the glowsticks and invite some raver chicks over, because it's definitely an interesting enough trip to take once. Buy the ticket, take the trip.

Livesexact, All the Queen's Men, Freezepop - Live at the Middle East

...Livesexact hauls an assortment of objects onto the stage, all draped in black cloth. Once revealed, they prove to be a set of electronic drums covered in what looks like Astroturf and topped with models of human faces, synth guitar and bass, and a large white stuffed bunny. Because of difficulties getting the bass through the PA, the set gets off to an awkward start, but Freedom Baird gets on the microphone and entertains us with an impromptu LL Cool J rap while the others fiddle around with the technology. Unable to resolve the issue, the band gamely decides to perform sans bass, a heroic decision for a dance band that relies on the low end for its funk quotient, and what a performance it is. Even without bass, Livesexact delivers a groove to which no one is immune. They command us to "get down," and we do...

Outside the Box

...These artists live and perform with an honesty that has no bounds; they make their own rules; they create their own niches. However far out their art may seem, at least one simple lesson is to be learned from them; Life is too short to place yourself in a box that somebody else has constructed...

Livesexact, Scissorkiss, Chainsaws and Children - Live at the Middle East

...After a good deal of applause, Salem Fires made way for the next band, an Electro punk band called Livesexact. I had no idea who they were or what they sounded like, but their booth guy told me they were "fun." Right...
Now I fancy myself as a fairly bizarre individual. I take pride in my ability to weird out old familiar friends and creep out blind dates whenever I choose to flip my zany switch. Its a great way of getting rid of people on command. I feel uneasy as I type this, but I think that for the first time in my life, Im the one who was weirded out. It could have been the fact that I was still reeling from Salem Fires (a gothic metal band playing a show with an Electro punk outfit is a bit like Cannibal Corpse touring with Boyz2Men), and it could have been the fact that all the musicians of Livesexact held serious, focused expressions throughout their setlist, but its safe to say that Ive encountered something crazier than silly putty.
They had an electronic drum set, and each piece of it had a giant, obnoxious stuffed animal fitted onto it; some were big bunnies, others were gorillas and some were completely unidentifiable. Marsupials maybe? Demented, turquoise and pink marsupials filled with cotton? The first "Guitar/synth" player was a half-naked man wearing nothing but a skirt that seemed tight on him and football shoulder pads. Next to him was a glammed out -female- fellow guitar/synth player who had a glittery purple hat and an equally glittery purple outfit. There was a tall girl in all white who wore a George Bush [sic (sick), it was Jimmy Carter] sweatshirt with slashed sleeves lurking about in the back. Behind the drumset of stuffed animals was a somewhat good-looking chap in a nice suit banging away at the assorted mammals and wildebeests littered around him. They looked like a Devo from mars.
When the music started, I dont think I stopped laughing once. The synth playing front folks moved around in jerky, robotic fashion while the singer(s) belted out lyrics ranging from wanting to eat more pie to republican manipulation on commerce and the sociological effects of consumerism. I kid you not. The band was formed in M.I.T by some wide-eyed kids who were interested in giving the Electro scene the live show its been craving since the early 90s. In a scene dominated by backing tapes and miniscule knob turning, Livesexact are very much a notable entry: they play their synths on the spot, the vocalist rants and raps like the best of them and you see the drummer whacking away (poor bunnies) in real time. There is no question that this is a real band.
This band was more than fun, this band... was certifiable. And so was most of the crowd, seeing that most of us were grinning like loonies in straightjackets, bouncing about in our sonic padded cell of delusions. There were so many memorable moments throughout their short set list, and my favorite happened during one of the synth players solos. He jumped to the back of the stage, grabbed the paw of what was either a leopard or a cow, and banged away at his keys with it. I laughed so hard I almost fainted. Another number of theirs involved this gospel-like accapella chorus, which was equally hilarious. These musicians delivered all of this with the most serious of faces (especially the guy in the suit, who could have out cyborg-ed Al Gore) and all of them threw themselves into the insanity with full on conviction. It was a sight to behold and I urge all of you to see these guys once. They seemed geared specifically for live shows...

Segmented Purity : Introduces the Sublime to the Funky

Gorgeously produced and atmospheric, Livesexact's latest disc elegantly introduces the sublime to the funky, and sends them off to the dance floor together. A posse of mixmasters have taken the rap/electronic stylings of Livesexact, explored the subtext of the music, and wrapped it in new perspectives. Ethan Eves' Wet444 Mix of "Need (I Love This Feeling)" lays trance rhythms beneath Alex Westner's blistering vocals to produce a mesmerizing dance track. Eves' Quadruple Espresso Mix of the same song strips out the synth melodies and plays the vocals against the beat, transforming it into an alarm call. Flavio Lemelle turns up the funk so high on "Livesexactivate" that it could be mistaken for a lost track from Parliament's Mothership Connection. Tom Peak/illj's U-Turn Mix of "New Version of You" speeds up the beat and adds a metal edge that throws Freedom Baird's silky vocals into exotic relief. And Pneumatic Dispatch's mix of "Wreckage Inside" ends the disc with an ethereal sonic journey. There are a couple of "Revolution #9" type tracks on the record that are less accessible than the dance-oriented tracks, but for the most part, it's a joyfully booty-oriented experience that invites your mind to dance along.

Segmented Purity : Dance Music should be fun!  :)

Considering that Livesexact comprises a bunch of M.I.T. techies who have only one album and that Segmented Purity is a lengthy disc of remixes by unknowns, it's pretty damn surprising that it outshines much of the nu-electro flooding the indie scene these days. Avoiding pretension in favor of fun and eschewing the long, pondersome passages that weigh down even the best electro albums (Ladytron's Light & Magic being a perfect example). Livesexact do a pretty good job of walking the line between the electro revival's distinct indie-isms and the fact that dance music should be, y'know, fun. Every track is wedded to a big, distinct pop hook -- even including the instrumentals -- and most of the remixers do a fantastic job of either making sense or making noise out of their chosen cut. The choicest track is the most coherent: "Livesexactive", a big, dumb, horn-spiked funk-electro anthem that repeats its dopey "The Roof is on Fire"-esque choruses for almost seven gleeful minutes. And even the more standard electro numbers, like the opening Livesexwerk Mix of "You Must Get Down" kick just as much butt.

Segmented Purity : Innovative & Compelling

...At once innovative and compelling, the album hypnotizes you with throbbing beats while the vocals leave you deliciously uneasy. Warning: this CD is not for the fainthearted! It includes collaborations with artists such as Nau-Zee-auN (of Zero Times Infinity, who has also remixed Merzbow and ZipperSpy), Interference, Codec, and David Talento among others. I was pleased to find that the album incorporates several unique, dynamic scratch segments: a rare find in today's supersaturated DJ culture...

Segmented Purity : Self-Standing & Eclectic

...Despite never having heard the Livesexact originals, I didn't feel behind the curve because Segmented Purity:The Remixes certainly seems to be a self-standing collection of schizophrenic variety. With so many very-different things to choose from, eclectic listeners will find something to love...

Segmented Purity : ***1/2

LiveSexAct is like the current era of porn in that nothing truly arousing is occurring but it's tough not to watch the damn thing anyway. This isn't great stuff but in this over-saturated era of electro sound, credit LiveSexAct for not being irritating at all. The group's Segmented Purity: The Remixes is interesting enough for a listen or two and this remix collection deftly manages a flattering surprise or two.
Admittedly, I have not heard the original work of LiveSexAct but judging from the finer moments of this compilation, I'm guessing they're good enough at creating electro to justify fifteen separate reworking of their tracks by other like-minded producers. In its finer moments, the nu-electro shines as do the remixes that dabble in the laid-back art of drum'n'bass. Though, then, the Goth and industrial leanings of several of these tracks are too much on the dreary side to compliment the more voluptuous and catchy party moments. Where the remixes dare to be unique the results range from tedious mind-fucks to emotionally arresting accomplishments.
The one worth remembering when all is said and done belongs to the gorgeous and intoxicating "New Version Of You" as interpreted by hEADaCHE of CEOXiME that demonstrates the rare beauties of Segmented Purity: The Remixes make LiveSexAct much better as a seduction than a straight-out live fuck-fest.