Xiu Xiu Albums (7)
'Women as Lovers'
Release Date 1/29/2008
Tracks 14
Label Absolutely Kosh
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Xiu Xiu is so expert at straddling the line between avant-garde and indie rock that they've completely erased it. On Women as Lovers, there's less of a gap than ever between the band's ironically poppy (but genuinely) catchy songs and their experimental, unflinching ones. "I Do What I Want, When I Want" opens the album with chirpy synths and hints of a cheerful xylophone melody that are abandoned in what sounds like a sheet metal factory; hooky "doo-do-doo-do-doo" backing vocals are put through a distortion wringer. It's intense, it's uneasy -- but it's also strangely immediate in a way that only Xiu Xiu can manage. Over the rest of Women as Lovers, Jamie Stewart, Caralee McElroy, and crew cover the spectrum of their sounds, from "No Friend Oh!"'s outraged almost-pop to "Puff and Bunny"'s broken, self-loathing gamelan. The band's approach is so well defined now, so cleverly honed, that small changes make a big difference in their sound. Women as Lovers has a rough richness that sets it apart from La Foret's fractured electronics or The Air Force's spaciousness: percussion and voice are the album's main motifs, augmented by strings, super-saturated synths, and caustic guitar. "In Lust You Can Hear the Axe Fall" crashes in on big rock drums, then retreats into gentle, reverbed passages; "You Are Pregnant, You Are Dead" is muscular and downright brutal, with a steeply climbing melody pushed onward by more massive drums. In fact, much of Women as Lovers is as bleak as its namesake, Elfriede Jelinek's 1995 novel, but Xiu Xiu covers a wider scope, giving voices to many complex and anguished characters and situations. As always, the band rarely oversimplifies matters -- witness "White Nerd"'s mix of rage and sympathy. Women as Lovers gets increasingly bleak as it unfolds: on "Guantanamo Canto," Stewart sings, "My country needs this freedom/To contradict your humanness" as synths overtake the song like an invasion; "Black Keyboard," one of several songs about children, addresses child abuse in a way that's extremely unsettling even by Xiu Xiu's standards. Despite the album's grimness, Xiu Xiu leaves some room for hope with an inspired cover of "Under Pressure," with Michael Gira playing David Bowie to Stewart's Freddie Mercury. Their version is faithful enough to sing along to, and has that unmistakable bassline, but the atonal brass adds more tension and urgency. It's a call to arms, especially in the face of all of the pain outlined in the rest of the album. Xiu Xiu's unswerving intensity is admirable, but it can be a lot to take -- then again, they probably scared away the faint-hearted years ago. Nobody else sounds like Xiu Xiu, and they've made themselves even more singular on this album. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'The Air Force'
Release Date 9/12/2006
Tracks 11
Label 5 Rue Christine
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What The Critics Say
After the expansive darkness of La Forêt, Xiu Xiu return with The Air Force, a set of songs that manages to be just as challenging as La Forêt, but sparer and somehow more eclectic-sounding at the same time. This time around, Jamie Stewart and company's explorations of vulnerability and ugliness-beauty are even more vivid; as usual, Stewart's breathtakingly concise, poetic lyrics are front and center. He captures longing and self-loathing on "Buzz Saw," singing "Your acne is like pearl/I swear mine is like brimstone." On the closing track, "Wig Master," he whispers, "Loneliness isn't being alone/It's when someone loves you/And you don't have it in you to love them back," a statement as devastating as it is true. Even for a Xiu Xiu album, The Air Force has a remarkable mix of contrasting sounds and textures: "Bishop, CA" builds dense cathedrals of noise, while the icy, bustling electronics on "Vulture Piano" suggest delicate mechanical wildlife. Meanwhile, the koto, violin, and piano on "Pineapple vs. the Watermelon," "Glue Stick," and "The Fox and the Rabbit" give these tracks the intimacy of chamber music. On the whole, The Air Force leans more toward the avant-garde side of Xiu Xiu's sound, but its poppier moments are no less challenging in their own way. Chief among them is "Hello from Eau Claire," which is written and sung by Stewart's cousin, Caralee McElroy. A simultaneous declaration of love and wish for independence, the song surrounds her with chilly, strangely innocent-sounding electronics as she sings "I know it's stupid to dream that you might think of me as a man...I'm not embarrassed to sing the words 'love' and your name," sounding more vulnerable and desperate as the track unfolds. Not only is it one of The Air Force's best songs, it's one of the best songs in Xiu Xiu's catalog. "Boy Soprano" and "Save Me Save Me" are also standouts, cut from similar cloth as Fabulous Muscles' "I Luv the Valley Oh!" The goal of Xiu Xiu's confessional, confrontational music is to shake their listeners out of complacency and make them think and feel; once again, they accomplish this mission beautifully. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As conceptual as Xiu Xiu's fusion of post-punk, gamelan, synth pop, folk, and noise might seem, the group's music never feels overly cerebral or detached. On the contrary, it's usually brimming over with often contradictory emotions: love, hate, sex, violence, fear, and humor cling together so tightly in Jamie Stewart's songs that they can't be separated. Harsh and beautiful words and sounds remain intertwined on La Foret, which ranks among Xiu Xiu's subtlest, and scariest, albums. Stewart and company trade the deceptively bouncy electronics of 2004's Fabulous Muscles for a more subdued but eclectic backdrop that includes vibraphone, autoharp, and harmonium as well as the more expected keyboards and guitars. The folk and classical elements explored on earlier work like Knife Play and Fag Patrol resurface, beginning on La Foret's opening track, "Clover." Delicate acoustic guitars, vibraphone, and double bass play an aching, hesitant melody, while Stewart intones, "Don't don't don't walk like my single hope/I can only say it so many times," mining the song's pauses for all the beauty and pain that they're worth. Later, "Ale"'s clarinets -- which make the song sound like a kissing cousin to Björk's "Anchor Song" -- add to the air of barely restrained heartbreak and disgust. The scary-pretty synth pop of "Muppet Face" is the closest the album comes to the typical Xiu Xiu sound (if there is such a thing), and shows off Stewart's expressive beat programming. La Foret may be more delicate and less immediate than some of Xiu Xiu's other work (especially Fabulous Muscles), but at its best, it may have even more impact because of that. Though there aren't any songs quite as bluntly confrontational as "Support Our Troops Oh!," there are still plenty of unflinching moments, even if they're couched in imagery borrowed from childhood, nature, mythology, and fairytales. "Mousey Toy" compares a callously casual seduction to a cat's plaything, while "Pox" is filled with poetic insults ("This plastic coffin always in the shade of your sickening daughters and your idiotic hobbling wife/This is where I live/Community college is waiting for them") that sting even more because they take a while to unravel. Stewart also remains as political as ever: "Saturn" buries horrible threats under layers of industrial static and noise, and it's not hard to guess who the George mentioned in the song might be. As accomplished as it is, La Foret lags a little bit toward the end -- "Dangerous You Shouldn't Be Here" feels like a poem that shouldn't have been set to music, and "Yellow Raspberry"'s strident shouting works against its thoughtful, detailed lyrics. Even more than some of the group's other albums, La Foret seems guided by dream logic, flowing and crashing unexpectedly. And, like a dream, Xiu Xiu's music is unique, difficult to describe, and utterly compelling once you give yourself over to it. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'Fabulous Muscles'
Release Date 2/17/2004
Tracks 10
Label 5 Rue Christine
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Xiu Xiu continue to push the envelope with their third album in two years, Fabulous Muscles. While their mix of low-res electronics, flamboyant synth pop, and experimental rock sounds slightly more accessible than it has before, that just makes it easier for Jamie Stewart's confrontational vocals and lyrics to sink in that much deeper. As always, Xiu Xiu juxtapose their heroic doses of misery with lovely, if rough-edged, music: the drooping synth lines and chunky beats on "Crank Heart" and "Brian Vampire" sound like the music from some unspeakably sad video game, while "Little Panda McElroy"'s acoustic guitars have a hesitant prettiness that makes lyrics like "I can stop hating my own heart/I can do it because of you" even more intimate. Stewart either whispers obsessively or shout-sings, as if he's trying to drown out his own thoughts, and does both on the brilliantly morose "I Luv the Valley OH!," on which he vows, "It's a heart that you made/And I won't rest until I break it." More so than with many other bands, Xiu Xiu's music immerses the listener in the band's world view and the songs' characters: "Bunny Gamer" is an extraordinary portrait of yearning and self-loathing that begins as an internal monologue of an unrequited lover and then becomes a painful dialogue between him and the object of his affection, who is much more careless and carefree. The song's dead-calm desperation borders on the creepy and pathetic, but this is the uncomfortable territory that Xiu Xiu claim as their own. Much like the musical equivalent of Todd Solondz or Harmony Korine, Xiu Xiu set out to disturb their audience in pursuit of higher artistic goals. More often than not (and arguably more often than Solondz and Korine), the group succeeds. "Support Our Troops OH!," which graphically depicts a U.S. troop killing a young girl, could have been played for shock value, but the palpable anger that runs through the track is more implosive than strident. Similarly, "Nieces Pieces (Boat Knife Version)" explores a dysfunctional family with quiet contempt and dark humor rather than outright rage. It all culminates on "Fabulous Muscles (Mama Black Widow Version)" -- its effeminately macho title is yet another one of Xiu Xiu's dualities -- a mix of sex, violence, and sadness that features the lyrics "Cremate me after you come on my lips, honey boy/Keep my ashes in a vase beneath your workout bench" and manages to be horrific, romantic, and funny at the same time. Fabulous Muscles might be the best expression of Xiu Xiu's unrepentantly original music; even if the world that the band creates isn't necessarily one you'd want to visit all the time, it remains fascinating. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
