Xiu Xiu - What The Christ?

Every time my partner and I have tried to see him/them has been stymied, the show either didn't happen or was canceled (pre- and post-pandemic). :(

BRO that has happened to me too!! I've had tickets three or four times!

The one I was most annoyed about happened at a little venue here in DC--as the show was starting, the sound system's snake had gotten unplugged and the entire system had to be set up again. They couldn't effectively do sound check, the guy on the soundboard wouldn't stop playing the pre-show mix or communicate with the band at all to work it out. This shit lasts until there's fifteen minutes or so left before a hard out being enforced by the venue because a salsa dance party was scheduled immediately after the show. Jamie had the set list written on a paper plate, which he chucked into the audience saying, "If you catch this, tell us what you want to hear. Just...I recommend you don't start with your favorite song, because...then it's all downhill from there."

The little bit they played was awesome. Can't wait to see a full show some day.

Cursed! I'm sure I've posted this multiple times upthread, but the first time was an outdoor college show where Dirty Beaches played a noise set, but apparently some crucial loop pedal or sampler broke and Jamie couldn't/wouldn't play. We ran into him in the parking lot and he gave us a bunch of 7"s though!

OH NO sounding really good so far, his most accessible since Always maybe. title track reminds of some of the early records.

also he has very very sneakily become quite a skilled vocalist over the years huh?

guest appearance by the screaming toy ducks from vine on that shearwater collab

I can't remember the last time I've done this--or if I've ever done this--but wtf is with this p4k review of the new album?

It’s difficult to be a Xiu Xiu fan, mostly because it means you have to listen to so much Xiu Xiu music [...] Stewart has spent the last 20 years blazing an illegible path, musically and morally, between queer politics and shock-jock shtick, radical vulnerability and repugnant cruelty, good faith and bad taste. The music varies wildly in style—from punky folk and dreamy pop to experimental electronics and harsh noise, all teeming with global instruments—and quality, from the heart-filled zenith of “I Luv the Valley, OH!” to the heartless nadir of “I Luv Abortion.” For every song you’d defend with your last breath, there’s another you couldn’t defend with your first. Most perverse is when they blend into the likes of “Ale,” a gorgeous tune about telling an overweight woman playing GameCube to shut up.

and this is a GOOD review!

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/xiu-xiu-oh-no/

or rather, a positive one (7.0)... what Xiu Xiu song is anywhere close to "indefensible," and on what grounds?

I don't know about "indefensible" and it's been a long time since I listened to those early records, but there some very, very bleak songs and a few about the horrific violence of war that I can absolutely understand someone having a hard time sitting through.

so, the author of that piece lives in the town Jamie called home, and shat on every chance he got, for several years. said author also edits the local independent free weekly. I don't wanna do a lot of talking out of school but Jamie's hatred of the town was weird for the people t/here who love the place and were happy to have him here, who loved & continued to love his music. his hatred of the town was visceral though and these dynamics inform your hearing of his music going forward, if you happen to have a stake in the town.

Well that certainly makes the piece less mystifying!

xp "hard time to sit through," definitely, but we're not talking about Chicago

I hate ilxtown too and still live here.

Excited to hear this one. I lost track of this band, but fabulous muscles and dear god i hate myself are incredible albums.

La Foret was the last one I bought before losing track for many years, but I got reacquainted with his work a few years ago and now I think Forget is his best record. Looking forward to making time for the new one.

as far as indefensible things he's done go the first that comes to mind is the A Promise album cover

I haven’t heard anything from them since Fabulous Muscles but the features in here definitely piqued my interest. He has improved a lot as a vocalist since then, Simon otm.

I don’t think they’re indefensible but their odd mixing decisions makes almost every song I’ve heard lf them sound very angular. It’s not a pleasant listen most of the time, but I guess it’s a very conscious aesthetic choice.

Every time this thread gets bumped I think "There's a new Xiu Xiu album called What the Christ??!"

there probably will be one day

and now we truly enter hell

it takes a lot to scare me but I think this is managing it

tbf this does seem to be the third album in their "hell" series (following Angel Guts and Basket Of Fruit)

my fault for not really paying attention until now. extremely convincing evocation of the abyss

first three tracks of this sounded incredible, looking forward to digging in/feeling bad. thought _forget_ was a really strong xiu xiu pop record, but the noise records have been peaks over the last decade.

reading the below line from the album description earlier reminded me of fgti's v perceptive comments upthread:

"Xiu Xiu has spent twenty years grappling with how to process, to be empathetic towards, to disobey and to reorganize horror;"

this really is some of the worst music ever made, I recoil viscerally from his entire aesthetic

my fave Xiu Xiu memory is watching an interminable, excruciating opening set for Swans and at a particularly self-indulgent faux-agony moment someone yelled out "it's OK dude! it's gonna be all right!"

Every time this thread gets bumped I think "There's a new Xiu Xiu album called What the Christ??!"

― Mark E. Smith died this year. Or, maybe last year. (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 30 March 2021 12:54 (two years ago)

*Twin Peaks itishappeningagain.gif*

Also lol sleeve, for some reason people shitting on Xiu Xiu is very amusing to me (I say this as a fan). There is just something so appropriate, so cosmically and karmically right, about people hating this weird funny music.

Truly one of the great troll bands of our time (not just in the sense of doing inflammatory things, but "This guy has probably gotten banned from Something Awful and/or paid to have someone else banned")