XIU XIU - La Foret Review

Xiu Xiu, the musical embodiment of Jamie Stewart and his close circle of friends (notably, producer Cory McCulloch), are one of the most consistent bands of the last fifteen years. That consistency isn't just in quantity (they have released an album every year since their 2002 debut Knife Play, as well as various EPs), but also in quality, where they have crafted their own genre of music and have expanded the boundaries within it....full text Jamie Stewart’s recordings as Xiu Xiu are almost entirely predicated on misunderstanding. It’s no surprise. So far as I can tell, they aren’t there to be understood. Cultural, sexual, and artistic confusion are the building blocks of a haute-punk refuse that is as meta-musical as it is confession. No, scratch “confession.” Xiu Xiu lyrics seem to refuse to assign a potential for tidy self-knowledge, that most unexamined of modern virtues. The schizophrenia of the musical settings confirm this. Why should you care? I’ll come back to that....full text As I was getting to know Xiu Xiu's last record, Fabulous Muscles, I thought of it as their weirdest album. Now that I'm getting to know La Forêt, I again feel like their latest is also their oddest....full text