Do you want to write for Ink 19?
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
Henry "Hank" McCoy
