Xixa - Bloodline

by Lisa Torem

published: 15 / 5 / 2016

Label: Glitterhouse Records
Format: CD

Extraordinary latest album from eccentric and diverse Arizona-based project, XIXA

Review

XIXA is a groundbreaking Arizona-based band that merges Peruvian cumbia with psychedelic rock and which rose from the ashes of Giant Sand. Their new release, ‘Bloodline’, is loaded with character, brilliant rhythms and contrasting vocals. The theme song revels in thrashing beats and the first of many palpable narratives. Through eerie clatter, the ambience shades suspenseful verses (“The spirit fades away, bloodline is here to stay”). ‘Vampiro’ follows with cleverer vocal infusion and dizzying percussion. You won’t envy the life of a night creature after hearing about their trials. The embellishments are terrific, The term “cold-blooded killer” gets tossed around as casually as a touring football in ‘Killer’. “Her lips turn cold and blue,” give you a good sense of the leading lady’s essence, the sweeping harmonies nail it. “Ships come in every day to take us away...” In escapist ballad, ‘World Go Away,’ the vocals are truly expressive, especially when accompanied by lovely, acoustic guitar. The electronic intro. and psychedelic guitar make ‘Down from the Sky’ another winner. Gruff vocals add spit and polish. “Who are we coming down from the sky?” The answer? A cosmic blend of grinding bass and loopy, atonal riffery. Buen Provecho. More intensity? Try ‘Pressures of Mankind’ (“Crushed by the hands of time / strapped to these dreams of mine…”) and then mellow out to the other-worldly intro. of ‘Golden Apparition’, which is truly mind-bending and gets even more so when it strolls into a reggae beat. ‘Dead Man’ is super dreamy and features solid, but bewildering interaction between vocals and instrumentals. “Thieves that roam and eat their own?” Why not? ‘Nena Linda’, sung in Spanish, is very lively and contagious with splendid contrasting sections. The closer, ‘Living on the Line’, is a great one to end this fun fest. Think Bowie meets the Ventures during a lightning storm and you’re halfway there.

Track Listing:-

1 Bloodline
2 Vampiro
3 Killer
4 World Goes Away
5 Down from the Sky
6 Pressures of Mankind
7 Golden Apparition
8 Dead Man
9 Nena Linda
10 Living on the Line