‘The thing with Sal Mineo is that at 23 tracks spanning some 35 minutes, it lacks not only a necessary development of the disparate ideas from which it becomes but so too does it sound simultaneously overblown and underdone. Dollars in Demand is but a routine drone and a resonant wail redolent of Tunde Adebimpe; Brutish another synthetic whimper entirely incongruous with the feline shrieking to so uncomfortably knead its latter moments; Bits of Habit a piece of impenetrably processed creaking rendered superfluous by a running time of only 48 seconds. Glass clocks in at a couple seconds shorter still and although it glints with an inexplicably restricted intrigue, it’s but a shard and as such can never reflect its true potential.’
Dots & Dashes review the début recording from Xiu Xiu + Eugene S. Robinson.
‘Sometimes you just so happen upon releases – typically limited vinyl runs which come in polychromic pastel shades – with artwork so striking that you feel thoroughly compelled to feature the stuff caught in the grooves a little like grit under neglected fingernails just so that you can upload the sleeve imagery. And this split 7” from Ontario noiseniks WTCHS and whimsical soloist S Johnson, aka Thoughts On Air is a perfect exemplar of such a phenomenon. Just look at that gory beauty above! Mixed medium excellence, if ever there were. And, well, you know – the music ain’t half bad either…
Johnson opts for a quietly petrifying brain-fry of a track entitled Harness that’s all scratchy, stark guitar, tapedeck aesthetic and Xiu Xiu terror – a couple minutes claustrophobic as an Houdini straitjacket.
Although it’s the unapologetically acerbic Mr. Hands from the former outfit which pretty well frizzles your gizzards alive in glory once allowed to slither within down unassuming lugholes. Were Brian Chippendale’s Black Pus transplanted into the already ferociously eccentric genetic makeup of Malajube, the Québécois Francophones might end up sounding something close to this riveting. Though so singular is this stereo onslaught that it’s perhaps preferable to stave off the comparisons, and allow Mr. Hands to have his intimately wicked way with your insides…
I’ll shut up now.’
“If people are intimidated by me as an individual, or by the band, then there’s really nothing I can do about that. I have a huge stuffed animal collection, I love cats, I’m a vegan… I mean those are three of the least intimidating things in the world!”
Dots & Dashes meet with Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu to dispel the intimations of intimidation, discuss Sal Mineo and condemn the genuine dearth of “new bands that are great.”
‘Amid indestructible squalls of feedback and lingering drone there’s occasionally that bit too little to cling to and, truth be known, two hours of the gungey overdrive offensive – especially after all of the above – is a little too much to stomach for a maiden Mouth To Mouth. However all in all, disparate though it may have been in places, it’s been a not so quiet triumph and long may the discord and friction; conflict and strife continue!’
Dots & Dashes review Swans’ inaugural curation, featuring Mercury Rev & Ben Frost & Xiu Xiu & Grouper.
