Xiu Xiu
Chapel of the Chimes
Absolutely Kosher
Uh, no.
Xiu Xiu has been getting tons of critical respect for their recent album Knife Play, and maybe that’s deserved; I didn’t happen to hear it yet. But after hearing this nineteen-minute EP, I’m not going to sweat it. This is pretty much the definition of the kind of “difficult” “experimental” stuff I used to pretend to like but never really did – maybe you enjoy tuneless post-punk explosions like “Jennifer Lopez (The Sweet Science Version)” or I-have-a-Zappa-album wank like “I am the Center of the World,” but I don’t have time for this stuff anymore. By the time I waded through the ominous but boring spoken-word monstrosity “Ten-Thousand-Times-a-Minute” and the cover of New Order’s “Ceremony” (which is either a pisstake or the worst cover version of anything I’ve ever heard in my entire life), I was left with the thought that I never ever want to hear anything Xiu Xiu does ever again for the rest of my life.
But maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m a boring old fart. But this EP helped me to realize that I just like music to sound like music. Xiu Xiu doesn’t agree.
Absolutely Kosher: http://www.absolutelykosher.com
