Xiu Xiu - What The Christ?

saw him open for a Swans show a few years back. After a particularly anguished vocal on one song, a guy sitting near us yelled out "It's all right, dude! It's gonna be OK!!"

I got on the bus between A Promise and Fabulous Muscles (when Pitchfork was giving 'em shine, natch), but my fandom was always sort of... situational? like they played the same outré rôle in my personal musical library that "Pepper" or "Detachable Penis" played on MTV/radio in the 90s... "crazy person music," as Dave Matthews so bluntly put it. Needless to say, this was a fucked-up attitude that drastically circumscribed my own engagement with the music, & ultimately left me feeling that it didn't have very much to offer beyond novelty value. (FWIW, this reductive approach seems fairly common among casual fans of the band, cf. the post upthread from 2013 complaining: the "shocking" "boundary pushing" thing is so ridiculous at this point)

It's only over the past couple of years, in working my way through the many excellent & varied releases either side of those two, that I've come to really respect Jamie as an artist, performer, & innovator -- not just some unhinged weirdo who knows how to push people's buttons. Jordan OTM re: consistently excellent sound design -- even the acoustic album just plain *sounds* really good!!

Years ago, a girl I was dating at the time played "Buzz Saw" for me really loudly in one of the radio station listening rooms (we were both DJs for our college radio station) because she said there was an awesome farty bass noise in it that was one of her favorite sounds ever -- but these days, it's the chimes from the end of that song that stick in my memory like a plaster toe.

Honestly, it was the farty bass that drew me to this band, too.

Whenever I'd play Xiu Xiu on my college radio show I'd have to field angry phone calls and AIMs

I'm not denying the button-pushing, getting-under-people's-skin aspect; I just think there's a lot more variety to their music (in terms of instrumentation, sonic texture, song structure, affect, ...) than they are typically given credit for

Yeah, that's part of the thing, he's pretty inventive with his instrumentation and production. It's not really "this guy's a fucked up weirdo! let's laugh at him!" Dude gets into some pretty intense emotional territory, though, which I personally appreciate because I've seen shit

Ol snowy, if I could touch your forehead to transfer the things that I've seen and lived through, you'd have a seizure and poo your pants. So I like that there's an artist who goes out there to express really intense feelings. That's why Jamie Stewart has a place in my heart.

"bunny gamer" is a ten in the swear jar song?

i love the valley was, apparently

Your true self has become weak and alone and annoying
And a true ridiculous dumb-ass
Clowne towne revealing nothing
Clowne towne a flock of coots
Clowne towne a single beauty
Clowne towne a big dumb kid

i love that biting and sardonic but still weirdly empathetic song, sung in a trembling voice that sounds like its on the precipice of madness

Dude gets into some pretty intense emotional territory, though, which I personally appreciate because I've seen shit
― larry appleton, Thursday, April 14, 2016 5:31 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

+ reading this essay http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/in-praise-of-suicide/

I like the way he sings "No one can touch you" it is one of my very favorite Xiu Xiu moments (*not listening to the Jennifer Lopez song anymore)

lol u listen to xiu xiu

i had a really strong/positive response to a promise when it was released. more breathable than knife play, and some truly awesome (Ian Curtis Wishlist) and beautiful (Blacks, Sad Redux-O-Grapher) moments throughout the record.. really brief, too. oddly, an album tailored to my tastes. February of 2003, gorgeous music. difficult to share w/others. the chapel of the chimes ep is similarly skeletal, though not as tenuous or home-y sounding

kinda lost interest around the air force, which has its share of great/striking moments. after seeing them live a few times (a couple very rigid performances), it just seemed like JS solidified a formulaic approach, cranking out several same-y albums over the last decade. listening back to la forêt right now, still affecting

Always might be my favorite "pop" album of his

I would agree that there was something special about A Promise - IIRC he/they were robbed while touring Knife Play and lost access to all of their instruments (in particular their collection of percussion) which is why they necessarily shifted to a more electronic sound.

I lost track of them a long time ago (around La Foret), but my favorite XX song might the xylophone pop/female-vocal "Hello From Eau Claire," which I wish they did more of. Granted it sounds more like a XX cover than an original.

"dear god i hate myself" gets stuck in my head all the time. i still like it.

idk why but THE AIR FORCE is just perfect start from finish in a way that none of their other albums are for me. absolute sweet spot.

I've still never heard The Air Force in its entirety, but will remedy that soon -- y'all are gonna make me blow my entire tax refund on Xiu Xiu albums, I swear!

Idk why but I find La Foret to be their *least* listenable (start-to-finish) album. Plenty of moments I love ("Muppet Face", "Baby Captain", "Ale", "Bog People", ...) but there's just not enough forward momentum to carry me through the dirgey bits... IIRC, starting from "Baby Captain" and letting it loop back to the beginning after "Yellow Raspberry" was somewhat of an improvement

the Twin Peaks album is amazing, if vocals are the thing that is off putting for people it's mostly instrumental.

This is my first Xiu Xiu love after totally failing to get into anything else of theirs and I can't imagine wanting less of his vocals, honestly! The material is just such a perfect fit...

ohhhhh this twin peaks record hits the spot

and they've got more on the way... looks like jamie deleted the recent tweet about a new record being mastered...

New one "FORGET" has leaked

is it good?

Just listened to the first two singles off this. Very exciting! Much poppier than recent offerings and imo the best thing they've put out in ages (though I liked the Twin Peaks thing a lot too).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b28_P8hImzE

Record sounds great, not sure if it's as immediately striking as Angel Guts but what is

dude is so prolific, interest waned hard after The Air Force... this is pretty nice, tho

New one is definitely harking back to that era imo

Oh wow... This is so great again.

new record rules so hard
i love "at last, at last," "jenny gogo," and "get up" the most. the opener ("the call"?) is great too

Yes It's such a beautiful record and 'the call' is just a great opening for a xiu xiu record. 'Petite' is probably my favourite atm. Amazing that he still knocks it out of the park so often after this many years.

continues to be an amazing & inspiring producer and sonic craftsman- I remember watching a video of him demonstrating how he put a bunch of kick drums through filters and pitch shifters to layer them a create a chord out of their tones. so sick. always tempted to buy some of his gear when he periodically puts it up on eBay.

i like the closer, too- all in all this is my favorite Xiu Xiu record since The Air Force. i have a feeling this could be BNM'd by p4k, and i hope they get the bump in attention and ticket sales they deserve...

I hope so, definitely up there with Air Force and A Promise for me. Feel like some of more recent poppier ones (always/women as lovers) sounded way too cluttered where as this one has a real breadth to it.

and good hooks- jenny gogo and at last, at last especially

i have a feeling this could be BNM'd by p4k

nah they don't rep career bands that way really ever

totally happens every now and then... i will back up this claim later

Mount Eerie's Clear Moon comes to mind but yeah not too often.

it tends to be foreshadowed by an uptick in coverage (like when they did their about-face on Deftones), haven't noticed anything like that

this rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SG6yDSbtxU

Xiu Xiu really deserves to play the Roadhouse

holy fuck that ZZ Top cover is amazing

Dig this. Xiu Xiu's always killed it with covers.

yup

yes... what?