Xerophonics is the musical endeavor of
Dr. Stefan Helmreich. Various critics have called the work
electronica,
dance,
house, and other similar genres, but the truth is, there's nothing quite like it.
That's because every sound on the album is made by a copying machine.
Helmreich made field recordings of thirteen different copiers and, through the wonders of studio magic, cut and looped the samples to produce a remarkably tight album. Although the songs have the tendancy of sounding pretty similar (there's only so many sounds you can get from copying machines!), there is enough of a difference to not feel ripped off. While there is undeniably something groovy about the album, I wouldn't classify it as dance music. The easiest comparison is Einstürzende Neubauten, as both projects make heavy use of appliances, but Xerophonics isn't quite industrial enough (or fronted by the voice of The Mummy) to have too many ties with Neubauten either.
Each track on the debut album, entitled simply "Copying Machine Music", is named with the make and model of the copying machine used for that song. My favorites are "Matrix 12510-12", "Xerox 265DC", and "Xerox Docucolor 12".
Complete track list for "Copying Machine Music":