Xiu Xiu + High Places
The making of this kooky group's new album included Nintendo sounds, a vibraphone, tenor recorder, optigan, desk bells, a Game Boy, harmonium, chamberlain - even a celeste. So if glitchy abstractions, ambiguous beats and Nintendo bleeps sounds like your thing make your way to the Oxford Art Factory this Thursday.
Overview
Glitchy abstractions, ambiguous beats and Nintendo bleeps. Sounds like you? Sounds like Xiu Xiu. Where some people paint still-life, watercolour canvases to express a part of their identity, lead singer Jamie Stewart uses dark words and a stormy demeanour (mashed in with experimental rock) to express his.
Stewart may be a little bit angry, but it’s not personal instability seems to be his driving force (the band has had four lineup changes in eight years), and it's clearly reflected in the spontaneity of sounds on Xiu Xiu’s seven-spinner discography. Stewart is now joined by Angela Seo for Xiu Xiu’s latest release, Dear God, I Hate Myself (2010), which has been described by their label, Popfrenzy, as "more overtly poppy and electronic". The making of the album included Nintendo sounds, a vibraphone, tenor recorder, optigan, desk bells, a Game Boy, harmonium, chamberlain even a celeste.
Joining them on the September tour, also from NYC, are electronic fringe-dwellers High Places and Sydney's experimental-pop darlings, Kyu. All three groups will be playing new material. These will certainly be high-calibre performances, but what I want to know is (1) will Jamie Stewart be as angry as I'm afraid he is in concert; and (2) how will they play all those instruments? There’s only one way to find out.
Image by Huy Ngo.
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