With their taut hybrid of post-punk and abrasive electronics, HXXS take 21st-century angst to surreal levels on releases including 2019's debut album Year of the Witch. HXXS (pronounced "hexes") began in Portland, Oregon, where Gavin Neves was working on music on his own before he met Jeannie Colleene. They became creative partners not long after they became a couple, and their musical experiments led them away from standard guitar and drums fare to choppy, noisy electronics. A few months after they started making music, HXXS moved to California, where they were both raised (Neves grew up in San Jose, while Colleene is from Bakersfield). The Golden State's shadowy underbelly influenced their first set of songs, 2017's Valley Fever. After signing to Captured Tracks, the duo released the MKDRONE EP. Recorded with Liars' Angus Andrew in a San Jose warehouse next to a porn studio, the duo's official debut arrived in December 2018. When the hard drive that stored their debut album -- which Neves and Colleene had recorded during six months on the road -- was stolen, HXXS recreated those songs from memory with the help of TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone. The results were Year of the Witch, a more expansive version of the duo's glitchy sound that Captured Tracks released in October 2019. ~ Heather Phares