5X0D has always been Mark Phillips and Rob Lawrence since it began in 1981 in Bristol UK. Early influences were many going back to pop, prog and krautrock bands of the early 70s, through punk and new wave to industrial, then later Japanese technopop like YMO.
Minimal Wave present Smile With The Eyes: a double LP of selections of unreleased material from the prolific outsider duo Five Times Of Dust. Formed in 1980 in Bristol, Mark Phillips (MAP) and Robert Lawrence came together with a shared passion for Krautrock, Industrial Electronics and the burgeoning DIY tape scene, as well as being influence by the Dadaist movement and the works of Burroughs and Ballard. Unconventional, quirky and at times melancholic and romantic, their music acted as the perfect escape from the urban decay of early 80s Bristol and Cardiff, the two cities they travelled between on weekends to record. Although unashamedly electronic, the sound of Five Time Of Dust is far harder to pin down, perhaps in part due to their location. Both Phillips and Lawrence produced music that owed little to any scene happening in London, Manchester or Sheffield at the time. As a result, the majority of their output are perfectly formed electronic curiosities. The material on Smile With The Eyes spans recordings Lawrence and Phillips made between 1982-1986. As a follow up to The Dadacomputer, their debut cassette release as a duo which we reissued earlier this year, Smile With The Eyes remains lo-fi but is musically more complex. The recordings are catchy, curious and emotionally rich. Whereas The Dadacomputer could be compared with the early output of Robert Rental, Smile With The Eyes is a collection of works that stands all on its own.
The NY Minimal Wave label present a limited edition reissue of The Dadacomputer cassettes. The Dadacomputer was the first incarnation of what would later become Five Times Of Dust. It was the result of a collaboration between Robert Lawrence and Mark Phillips who came together during the summer of 1981 living between Bristol and Cardiff, UK. They collaborated by sending tapes back and forth through the mail and also worked together in their respective home studios. Later that year, they self-released The Dadacomputer on both MAP tapes and Quick Stab.
The Hipodrome Of Music 