Xiu Xiu - Babylon, Ottawa, 5/6/2007
by Andrew Carver
published: 16 / 6 / 2007
intro
Xiu Xiu's harrowing avant-garde pop has attracted an increaing audience in the band's natice Canada. Andrew Carver watches them play a tight but unpreictable set at the Babylon in Ottawa
Xiu Xiu’s harrowing avant-garde pop has attracted a sizable following in the underground. They headed up a diverse bill at Ottawa’s Babylon nightclub on the sixth evening of the Capital Idea Festival. The first band on stage was a late addition to the bill: Get Him Eat Him is a five-piece from Providence, R.I., which blends the adrenalin rush pop punk of bands like Ted Leo and The Pharmacists and the New Pornographers with the indie sound of the Wrens (all admitted influences). If they had emerged a couple of years earlier they’d have been lumped in with outfits like The Dismemberment Plan and French Kicks. Even scrunched on a stage loaded down with the gear of acts to come, the band managed to tear through an active, fun set of high-energy guitar-pop. Next up were local sonic troublemakers Fucked Corpse. The band’s fluctuating membership stood at seven for this evening, including a pair of ringers filling in for musicians who had departed and/or fled. Shout-along group vocals, lots of collective tambourine shaking and occasional autoharp abuse complement the band’s electric piano, bass, drums and guitar lineup to create some entertaining and occasionally comprehensible music. Chris Garneau’s winsome piano pop seemed a little out of its depth after the mania of the preceding acts. Sounding a bit like Sufjan Stevens, the diminutive Brooklynite seemed even more boyish behind the keys of a sizable Yamaha electric piano. He seemed a bit precious, even when singing about serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. His pleasant melodies were aided along by a capable cellist/harmonium player and drummer. Despite having to compete with chatter from the bar, his set did grab a good chunk of the crowd’s attention. In comparison, barring applause, you could hear a pin drop between Xiu Xiu’s songs. The band’s confessional lyrics, off-kilter polyrhythm and occasional bouts of music delicacy demand complete attention. Jamie Stewart, along with his cousin Caralee McElroy (who played percussion, flute, harmonium and synthesizer) and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith conjure a disquieting, emotionally fraught landscape that only a few edgy performers – Scott Walker circa ‘Tilt’ is one – dare to traverse. While the complexity and intensity of their music might suggest a ‘heads down’ stage act, the band is in fact an active bunch, with Stewart lunging and jumping guitar in hand while Smith’s wild-eyed stick-swinging suggests a man possessed. The result was an unpredictable thrill-ride of a show.
Picture Gallery:-
interviews |
Interview (2010) |
Jamie Rowland talks to founder and front man with Californian experimental art-rock band Xiu Xiu, Jamie Stewart, about his group's recent first full length tour of Britain, their tenth and latest album, and his early musical influences |
live reviews |
XOYO, London, 16/10/2010 |
Chris O' Toole watches Californian avant-garde duo Xiu Xiu play a confrontational, but compelling show at the new venue of the XOYO in London |
reviews |
Dear God I Hate Myself (2010) |
Challenging and eccentric, but ultimately fulfilling latest album from Californian experimentalists and avanat-garde pioneers, Xiu Xiu |
Women as Lovers (2008) |
The Air Force (2006) |
Knife Play (2002) |
most viewed articles
current edition
Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sala Apolo, Barcelona, 29/11/2023 and La Paqui, Madrid, 30/11/2023Anthony Phillips - Interview
Difford and Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook
Rain Parade - Interview
Oldfield Youth Club - Interview
Autumn 1904 - Interview
Shaw's Trailer Park - Interview
Cafe No. 9, Sheffield and Grass Roots Venues - Comment
Pete Berwick - ‘Too Wild to Tame’: The story of the Boyzz:
Chris Hludzik - Vinyl Stories
previous editions
Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down the StairsWorld Party - Interview
Michael Lindsay Hogg - Interview
Heavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl EP
Ain't That Always The Way - Alan Horne After The Sound of Young Scotland 2
World Party - Interview with Karl Wallinger
Joy Division - The Image That Made Me Weep
Steve Harley - Interview
Dwina Gibb - Interview
Prisoners - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Marika Hackman - Big SighSerious Sam Barrett - A Drop of the Morning Dew
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland - Swing Fever
Loves - True Love: The Most of The Loves
Ian M Bailey - We Live in Strange Times
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Autumn 1904 - Tales of Innocence
Roberta Flack - Lost Takes
Banter - Heroes
Posey Hill - No Clear Place to Fall
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart