Xiu Xiu - Angel Guts: Red Classroom

Xiu Xiu
Angel Guts: Red Classroom
4 February 2014
Polyvinyl/Bella Union

4.5 stars out of 5

 

Perhaps the American indie scene’s most notoriously difficult listen, the music of Xiu Xiu is as uncompromising as it is unparalleled. The band’s ninth album, Angel Guts: Red Classroom, based on the 1979 Nikkatsu Roman porno film of the same name (or 天使のはらわた 赤い教室 if you prefer),, is perhaps Jamie Stewart & Co.’s bleakest album yet (which is saying a fucking lot). The LP is also incredibly focused, and, if one could use such a term for such unsettling music, beautiful in its naked torment.

“Archie’s Fades” is Throbbing Gristle meets… well, Jamie Stewart. The guy’s inimitable. Late ‘70s industrial music themes on new technology, but the result is as fresh as it is dark. The beginning of “Stupid in the Dark” could be from a lost Suicide track, but then the song breaks into a typically-cathartic Xiu Xiu chorus, a reminder of how easily this band inverts and distorts pop music structures and conceits for their own very non-pop uses. “Black Dick” is as lyrically disturbing as it is sonically disorienting, all to fantastic effect. The neo-Residents cacophony of “EL Naco” will likely send both your cats and dogs running for cover. “Adult Friends” condenses all the tension and fear of the entire film noir era of Hollywood into a quick 2:24, and then throws in some more tension and fear for good measure. “The Silver Platter” is more intense than anything Alan Vega and Martin Rev ever achieved while using the same basic blueprint of one-note keyboard melody and half-screamed, half-sobbed vocals. “A Knife in the Sun” ventures into Einstürzende Neubauten territory, full of F.M. Einheit-style percussive mayhem. And, if you can believe it, the album gets even more intense after all of this. “Cinthya’s Unisex” is fucking crazy. I’m still shaking my head in amazement at this song. I’m not even going to describe it—go listen to it yourself and then pick your jaw up off the floor. The closing song (the proper final track isn’t exactly a song as such) “Botanica de Los Angeles” is possibly as close to an epic rock anthem as Xiu Xiu can get, but rest assured it is most definitely not safe for prime time radio.

Angel Guts: Red Classroom is a stunning achievement. When all the dust has settled, this might be Xiu Xiu’s magnum opus. It’s certainly their best work to date out of a career that’s been full of “this is their best album ever!” moments, and probably the best record I’ve heard by anyone in the last couple of years.

reviewed by Richard Krueger