Hi, everyone. Switchthony Bladetano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Xiu Xiu album, 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips.

Yep, here is the newest album from experimental evocative ever evolving indie outfit, Xiu Xiu. It is spearheaded still by songwriters, producers, multi instrumentalists, singers Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo, and still holding on to their status as a trio with the addition of percussionist David Kendrick, who joined the group with their last full-length album, Ignore Grief, who was a very interesting addition to such an album, not only because of the background of artists he had worked with in the past, but also Ignore Grief is easily one of the group's most harrowing and eerie releases to date. Plus, the mixes on these tracks included a wealth of harsh noises and refined orchestral touches. There was just a lot going on with that project in addition to David Kendrick's percussive contributions. And while it has not grown to be one of my favorite Xiu Xiu releases, it's still an intriguing and unique listen, really up there with dark, intense highlights in the group's catalog like Knife Play and Girl with Basket of Fruit.

13", however, begins to cut away some of the experimentation, the abstraction, the creative concepts that have defined a lot of recent Xiu Xiu albums, in order to land us on a project that feels like they're going back to basics a bit. To my ears, this is the most straightforward the band has sounded since 2017's Forget, which makes this new LP potentially a very solid point of entry for new listeners who might look at a catalog as expansive as Xiu Xiu's and feel a bit overwhelmed.

Not only are a majority of the songs on this record catchy, but actually rockin'. I would say David Kendrick's impact on this record is truly felt because so many of the beats and drum fills and looped grooves throughout this record are hard as hell and provide a perfect backbone for the super bold lead melodies and riffs that define a lot of these tracks.

Before I dig too deep into the instrumentation, though, I do want to say that Jamie Stewart continues to be a completely incomparable and incredible vocalist and lyricist, certainly one of the greatest and most consistent the indie circuit has ever seen, because when it's not the tense vibes being given off through the sinister spoken word passages on "Maestro One Chord" pulling me in, it's that trademark deep, throaty vibrato that has been a shoe shoe mainstay for over two decades now. Not to mention the blood curdling shrieks and shouts that end the entire record off on the track "Pina, Coconut, and Cherry", which still hit.

But yes, these incredible and standout vocal performances are, of course, matched with lyrics that stun, like on the opener, "Arp Omni", which I don't think is the most thrilling listen on the record due to its dour and repetitive string sections, which very much feel like a holdover from Ignore Grief. Still, Jamie's words bring a lot of power to this track as they describe a love that there's just a a lot of reverence to. It's a love so great it makes life worth living, or in the case of Jamie, it just validates their existence.

After this in the tracklist, though, we are thrown pretty immediately into a punchy, grim string of noisy bangers. There's "Maestro One Chord" with its devilish synths, its droning bass, and just pounding loop beats, which are all contrasted very nicely on the chorus with these psychedelic washes of chords. It's a really groovy and intense listen all at once. It gets my head just bobbing without even thinking about it. Then at the same time, I am just brought down to such a deep and dark place by some of the freakish sounds that are coloring the instrumental passages of the song.

The song "Common Loon" does happen to lighten the vibes a little bit on the record, even if it does, production-wise, feel just as lo-fi. The dramatic and bittersweet beats and guitars on this track make for a righteous combo. And ultimately, it leads to a song that I think is one of the band's biggest anthems in a long, long time, especially with that cute, fried little glockenspiel that pops in around the hook. I love how thick and layered the entire song sounds, but again, simultaneously, very lo-fi presentation. It's rough around the edges, but simultaneously detailed. And sure, there is an element of harshness to how this song sounds, but it comes across as really blissful and warm and enveloping, too. I mean, most likely to the uninitiated, this track will be off putting on some level, but by Xiu Xiu's normal standards, this track is downright peppy.

Meanwhile, the track "Veneficium" brings the strange and bestial rock riffs back into the fold with some absolutely sick organ layers hanging in the background of them, too. The rest of the instrumental that builds up from there is just lo-fi ear candy galore between the buzzing bass and the fried cymbal that top with these super sour and bold standout lead melodies that feel like I'm sucking on a warhead, some really sour piece of candy, something like that. It's pure noise pop, post-industrial rock magic with lyrics that read like they're dealing in an existential crisis of sorts.

Then "Sleep Blvd" is really classic Xiu Xiu in so many respects. Between the looping beats and Jamie's very youthful and vulnerable vocal register on this track, it truly does feel like something that could have landed on the first couple of Xiu Xiu projects, but with a really explosive and satisfying chorus confined to a song structure that really emphasizes the contrast between the louder and softer points in the song. The dance groups on this track are really fitting as well, considering how many lyrics there are in reference to disco or discotechs, with lyrics describing overcoming a fear of sorts, and then just the complete flurry of sounds and colors that are offered on the other side of that threshold once the fear is overcome.

Then with "TDFTW" (or "The Devil Forgiven, That's Why") there's a really great interesting switch up that offers some fantastic vocal interplay between Jamie and Angela with these hurried, partially-sung, partially-spoken vocals, both of them dueling in each channel, which is happening over this intense and chaotic wall of whaling tones and drones, a vaguely exotic beat, too. More sunburned guitar layers. It's easily one of the most intense listens on the entire record. Edge of my seat the entire time. I feel like I'm about to go absolutely insane, which is what happens in the midst of the performance on the closing track.

Now, topically, I'll point out that this record ends in a different place than where it started, whereas on the opener, you do have this calm and serenity going on in the instrumental and in the lyrics, this very intense feeling of love. That is contrasted here on the closer with more of a sense of abandon, with Jamie literally saying on the track, "I loved you this hard for twelve years / I never thought I could love this hard for so long / It makes me insane / You can't refuse love like this / It is criminal", so on and so forth. The track really reaches a point of psychosis, of meltdown. But with the way the song structure moves and the instrumentation grows, so methodically, it is very much a controlled demolition of sorts, but really sends the record off of the deep end and our refrains like "A ballad rather than a rocker" will be sticking with me for a minute.

Beyond this, there are a few other cuts on the record. I was not as drawn to the progressions of "Pale Flower" and "Bobby Bland", namely, both of which I think undergo patience-testing evolutions that eventually lead to these zany horror camp crescendos with a lot of instrumentation that, again, feels like a leftover ideas or sound palettes from Ignore Grief.

But while I do want to emphasize that these tracks are not my favorites on the record, they're still intriguing all the same, especially the second of those two tracks, "Bobby Bland", with its lyrics that seem to be desperately seeking out some resolution on what could be unanswered family trauma.

So all things considered with 13" over here, I loved this record, even if it didn't necessarily blow me away with a super unique concept or maybe some ground-breaking instrumentation, maybe reaching a fever pitch of intensity, something like that. Once again, I feel like this is a record for Xiu Xiu that harkens back to a lot of the classics and most enjoyable and accessible moments in their catalog.

Now, what is accessible for Xiu Xiu is really all relative at the end of the day, because even some of the band's most notable and catchy and popular works can be pretty challenging to those who haven't really dug that deeply into the dark underbelly of the indie scene that Xiu Xiu is known for and been happening for so long.

So while many listeners out there may not be partial to those Xiu Xiu classics, I know I am. And hearing a lot of those classic ideas revisited with a very loud, very punchy, very bold rock instrumentation, especially with those buzzing basses, those sunburned guitars, and David Kendrick's fantastic drums - it's definitely a revitalization of something that is very familiar and very cozy. That is, if you're the type of listener who likes to settle into the unsettling, which is why I'm feeling a decent eight on this record.

Anthony Fantano. Xiu Xiu. Forever.