Today Xiu Xiu release their new album of covers. Yep, they've again interpreted the songs of others. With other artists, this is usually a trite thing. With Xiu Xiu, this is something else.
Buy or stream the album via this link. Note: somehow, the band's own Bandcamp page offers the album in 16-bit/44.1kHz sound quality while some music-streaming services offer the album in 24-bit/96 KHz.
Because I'm a fucking weirdo, here's my hot takes on hearing nearly every track for the first time.
'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads
Organ paired with a simple drum machine, Jamie's howling, a reverbed-out slappy guitar played as though Little Richard were at the controls...
The whole song reeks of the jungle, as though Tom Waits wanted to get in on the action.
I really dig the syncopated synth bleeps toward the ends...echoed metal percussion...and then the guitar comes in again with a rich bass drum to boot.
This is such a good example of a track that's made to sound lo-fi but is really great hearing in 24 KHz...
'Warm Leatherette' by The Normal
Ah, the magic of the xylophone, a thing hitting wood, on this cover of a classic early 1980s electronic pop miracle of a track.
Breaking glass in an underpass...
Nobody can make synth sounds with vibrato like Xiu Xiu. Then, add focused noise. How the fuck can Xiu Xiu be this good?
I've not thought about the obvious connection between this song and J. G. Ballard's novel 'Crash'... - in my head there's an obvious connection (probably not for many others).
This is an impossible dance track. It shouldn't be able to make you dance, but it does. The outro really does.
This is a fine example of how great a cover can be when it's beyond the original song.
'I Put A Spell On You' by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Grinding a half-acoustic beautiful electric guitar...paired with a dirty drum kit nearly played in souped-up swing tempo. This song really carries a live feel to it. Jamie's screamy vocals work.
The fucking horns. Forget about Primal Scream's 'If They Move, Kill 'Em' (MBV Arkastra)...even though that song is also great.
Somehow this cover doesn't scream desire to me, like SJH's original does. This is more about thrashing, deep, burning expression. In other words, it may actually be about desire. Fuck my thinking.
'Hamburger Lady' by Throbbing Gristle
TG is one of the all-time greatest experimental bands in my opinion.
Angela Seo's voice speaks while there's bass ripples, synth sounds, phantom howls, whinnying streaks, distant piano rants, rubber squeaks, all one after the other.
This song makes me feel like the film 'House' has died and passed on to another realm and is distilled into a calm, non-farcical song.
How can a band make ghostly sounds like these in the 2020s?
'In Dreams' by Roy Orbison
'I close my eyes/and I drift away'...
Imagine David Lynch and Elvis Presley meeting up. I know Jamie sings on this track but does Angela sing as well? I guess not but this says something.
I can't help it/I can't help it/if I cry
I just read up on this track. It was in David Lynch's 'Blue Velvet'! And how about this wikipedia quote:
Orbison later claimed that "In Dreams" came to him while he was sleeping, as many of his songs did. He often heard music while asleep, with a radio disc jockey announcing that it was Elvis Presley's new song. Orbison was half-awake when he imagined "In Dreams", and thought, "Boy that's good. I need to finish that. Too bad things don't happen in my dreams." When he woke up the next morning, he wrote the song in twenty minutes.
It does have a very dreamy quality. I dig how this cover has a lot of reverb, as with most of the prior songs.
'Sex Dwarf' by Soft Cell
Banging intro. As in I-nearly-thought-this-was-a-Death-Grips-track unexpected. The music brings an electro energy while Jamie's style of singing imitates that of Marc Almond (half of Soft Cell).
You know what they say about small boys
The repeated voices in the break...brilliant. And then back to the simple, dungeon-y drums and percussion. I'd love to hear Xiu Xiu collaborate with Einstürzende Neubauten even though they're at times eerily similar, but I think it would be a good kick up the jaxxy for both bands; not that I think either band needs a kick but I mean, they're collaborative and they're two of my favourite bands.
Xiu Xiu are a great example of a band who are able to make something that sounds a lot greater than most recording studios are able to make. What I'm trying to say is: this is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Again, distorted sounds. Which instruments are they? A saw? A güiro?
Thank Bog for Xiu Xiu.
'Dancing On My Own' by Robyn
Jamie's voice can sound gloomy and down. It can also carry a vibrato like nobody else, especially when it's treated to sound like it's played through a 1930s radio in a dimly lit brothel late at night.
How does this not sound comically camp? This is good. This is homely.
Disco dance, all night
The semi-dissonant synth strings paired with a heavy bass drum come together nicely. The staccato violin-sounding plucks contrast the hi-hat well.
Halfway through the song, sounds like I'm in a car, watching lights from other cars and stop lights moving through darkness.
I dig how the melody hook comes in when there's a minute to go of the track. It's not like the one on the original track. The howling distortion and the drums...the production...what a fucking triumph of a track.
'SPQR' by This Heat
I've not heard the original song.
God I love when people play a guitar in ways that don't bore me. I've played the electric guitar for 30 years and try not to bore myself when I play it, so I love people who play it like Blixa Bargeld, Robert Quine, etc.
This is a stomping attack, nearly a military 2/4-time, something we're reminded of 01:40 into the song when the guitar and bass drop away. The force of the song returns even harder with the instruments after the break.
'Lick or Sum' by GLo Rilla
I've not heard the original song either!
The song and lyrics remind me of Peaches, Lil' Kim.
This is my least-favourite track. To me this is meandering, the type of monotony that Can tried to escape. Still, I've not heard the original.
'Some Things Last a Long Time' by Daniel Johnston
To say I love Daniel Johnston is not an understatement. I love his music. I've bought all of his albums.
I instantly feel joy from hearing what I guess is Angela's beautiful piano playing; Daniel didn't play the keys subtly. He was, however, a songwriting genius.
Around 01:45, Xiu Xiu remind me yet again why they're the SHIT. A rattling mixture of percussion and chaos contrasts with Jamie's sweet song and Angela's piano. Many artists wouldn't dare do this.
A melody from a toy piano, one of those finger-played ones that you come across in kindergarten, that's what's heard.
I love hearing a band fucking amaze me in the sense where I can't recognise instruments, where I wonder 'How the fuck did this happen in this song?' but I drop that train of thought and just take in the beauty of it all.
I love the end. Feels like a Bowie-esque 'Subterraneans' kind of drop toward the end.
'Triple Sun' by Coil
Coil are hard for me to put a finger on. Experimental buggers, wonderful composers and arrangers.
I can't remember the original version of this song. Not that it matters in the slightest.
A minute into this song I suddenly wonder if this is what Trent Reznor feels like he could do if he'd get his NIN-trademarked sound out of his ass.
More horns. This is an elegiac track. I love the second layer of Jamie's voice on top of the lead. The repetition works. The synths remind me of The Cure but not very much; Xiu Xiu are always able to stay original, not sounding like they want to imitate.
This is masterful. The song is very beautiful and is beautifully played, arranged, and performed.
'Cherry Bomb' by The Runaways
After the Coil cover, this perfect rock track is nice. Love when the bass, bass drum, and the distorted sounds come in...
Some times, there's nothing more needed than a bass drum and a punk attitude. I dig how Jamie and Angela's voices are understated; the track comes through.