The most exciting and terrifying parts of dreams (or nightmares) are the ones we recognize. Familiar fragments collide and reassemble into something strange. Things we thought we knew are turned upside down or ripped apart and sewn together backwards. That unnerving thrill — the shiver of recognition followed by disorientation — is at the core of Xiu Mutha Fuckin' Xiu: Vol. 1, the latest collection of covers from prolific music provocateurs Xiu Xiu. Jamie Stewart, Angela Seo and David Kendrick warp and distort classics spanning decades and genres — from 1950s rock n’ roll to new wave, Robyn to Throbbing Gristle.
Xiu Xiu are no strangers to interpretation. Since the group’s inception in 2002, they’ve regularly paid homage to artists they revere — from New Order’s “Ceremony” (featured on Chapel Of Chimes EP) to David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure” (for 2008’s Women As Lovers).
They’ve done tribute albums — 2013’s Nina, honoring Nina Simone, and 2016’s Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks — cementing their reputation for considered reimaginings. Across twelve tracks, Xiu Mutha Fuckin' Xiu: Vol. 1 compiles a heady selection of monthly covers the band began releasing in 2020 through their subscription series via Bandcamp, expanding their bewildering universe to commune with artists throughout time.
For Xiu Xiu, covers aren’t about improvement, but reverence. “We never approach them thinking ‘how can we improve these’ but really ‘what can we learn from these,’” Stewart says of the process. Xiu Xiu explores the music that’s moved them, as if each artist were a singular creative deity. The result is “a small honorific offering to the muse that created us.”
Some covers are a shadowed vision of the original, zooming in on the song’s pronounced aura. The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” bratty defiance funneled through industrial pulses and slithering percussion — a ticking time bomb of acidic distortion and rebellion. Their version of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” is reborn with howling ‘60s organs, flute spirals, and swirls of reverbed vocals. It feels older than the original, as if Question Mark & The Mysterians or 13th Floor Elevators have been drawn into the conversation. Other reworkings with Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” or GloRilla’s “Lick Or Sum” unearth new understandings of contemporary hits.
Certain songs provided unexpected obstacles. “In Dreams” tested the limits of Stewart's vocal prowess; Coil’s “Triple Sun” allowed them the opportunity to study a band that listeners are constantly linking them to; Stewart was moved to tears while recording Daniel Johnston’s “Some Things Last a Long Time”— “If there ever were a sincere and wounded voice in the world it is his.” On XMFX, Xiu Xiu reshapes echoes of pop history into séances, lucid dreams, and sonic rituals — breathing new life into music’s past through a years-long, sustainable practice.
Music played by
Tim Berne - alto saxophone
Mary Halverson - guitar
David Kendrick - drum set
Tony Malaby - tenor saxophone
Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo - viola, vox
Angela Seo - vox, backing vox, synths, percussion
Ches Smith - drum set
Jamie Stewart - vox, guitar, drum machine, synths, organ, bass, piano
Houda Zakeri - backing vox
Recorded in Los Angeles at Nurse and Berlin at Krankenschwester
Mastered by Alan Douches in Hudson Valley at West Westside
Design by Janelle Abad
This record would not be possible without the past
& present mind bogglingly generous XMFX subscribers.
