Hi, everyone. Sothony Sicktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of the new Xiu Xiu album, Xiu Mutha F**kin' Xiu Vol. 1.

That's right, everyone. We have a brand new project from the experimental rock outfit known as Xiu Xiu, an act that we have covered on the channel multiple, multiple, multiple times before. These guys have been respected figures in the indie scene for years now, and they're only getting more prolific and creative as time goes on. I think this is in part due to the band's collective experience, but it's also definitely because of the incredible independence they have accrued over the years, allowing them to exert a considerable amount of control over their music, like with their recent removals from Spotify.

A lot of their newer material is still very much pushing boundaries, aesthetically and stylistically. And on occasion, we also see Xiu Xiu doing these fun little musical sidequests like this because with this project, they are pretty much checking off the dreaded covers album box.

Now, covers albums are certainly not a bad thing in concept. They're really more prickly in practice because I feel like it's almost an unspoken rule that this is the thing a band does to fulfill a contractual obligation that they're scratching their heads at how exactly they're going to finish it. Or maybe there's a bit of writer's block when it comes to newer material.

However, Xiu Xiu hasn't exactly been short on original stuff as of late, especially good original stuff, as evidenced by their most recent album in 2024. Xiu Xiu are also no strangers to attributing some of their biggest influences over the years. Take, for example, their Nina Simone covers album or the amazing record they did where they cover the music of Twin Peaks. They're also currently setting out on a tour where the whole point is to pay tribute to the music of David Lynch's Eraserhead. Given all that, a carefully crafted compilation of covers honoring some of Xiu Xiu's favorite songs ever, that seems almost like a walk in the park at this point.

Not only that, but this thing is also, I think, an interesting listen as a longtime fan of the band because not only does Xiu Xiu's unique style and vibe definitely put a different spin on some of these well-known classics. But Xiu Xiu has been at it for so long at this point that we're now hearing a new generation of young artists and bands that are just so obviously inspired by them. It's been a while since I've really sat down and rethought what are actually some of Xiu Xiu's biggest musical inspirations. This project definitely points toward that. There's a lot of, 'Oh, yeah, of course they're into that' moments in this tracklist, depending on how well-versed you are in a post-punk and protopunk classics that is. There are also a few surprising and hilarious inclusions that we'll get into as well.

Now, the opening track is one of the most obvious, but fun picks on this project, "Psycho Killer", Talking Heads. But the potential problem of covering a song like this is that it's already been covered the world over, even revised by the band themselves multiple times. What possibly could Xiu Xiu bring to a song that even some of your most casual music fans can karaoke in their sleep?

Well, it turns out quite a lot, as Xiu Xiu didn't really need to do much more other than just perform this track in their old-school, harsh, abrasive performance style in order to come through with a thrilling result. Not only that, but Jamie Stewart's singing highlights just how much vocal overlap there is between them and David Byrne. Plus, the super wild, noisy presentation of Xiu Xiu's version here has a nice live feel to it, like they're trying to imbue to it a Stop Making Sense energy.

After this, though, things tighten up with the track, "Warm Leatherette". Yeah, Xiu Xiu is doing their version of this track from The Normal. This single over here has gone platinum in weirdo minimal synth circles for generations now, and it's even been covered by the likes of Grace Jones. But yeah, Xiu Xiu's version here is every bit as tense and unnerving. Although in a lot of ways, the original version is somehow still more off-putting. It's hard to beat it on that front, though.

"I Put a Spell on You" is yet another pick in this tracklist that has just been covered to death at this point. But Xiu Xiu's performance here results in really one of the most chaotic versions I think I've ever heard. So amen to that, honestly. The horns they worked in are a very nice touch, too.

And then Xiu Xiu continued to explore minimal and industrial classics, such as a Throbbing Gristle's, "Hamburger Lady", a version in which so many liberties are taken, it sounds like a completely different piece entirely in some respects, which I'm fine with because Throbbing Gristle's original is so simple and so stripped back, that there's a lot of room to work with. What Xiu Xiu do with this track now makes it feel like, I don't know, some weird scene out of a David Lynch movie. It's so far removed from Throbbing Gristle's recording unless there's some alternate version of it I'm unaware of.

Xiu Xiu also showcases an eerie beauty in their version of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", but that's not really anything the original didn't have already in spades. As cool as it is to hear just how much vocal DNA, Orbison and Stuart have in common here, the more subdued performance and washed-out production on this version waters down the intensity of the song a bit emotionally.

However, "Sex Dwarf" by Soft Cell is a very fun pick for this project because most Soft Cell listeners don't really get beyond "Tainted Love" and how freaky and kinky and genuinely weird the duo's debut album is sometime overlooked. Plus, it's always been a record that I've had qualms with because I've long felt the music could have been a bit freakier to match the lyrical content of the songs. However, Xiu Xiu makes that very thing happen lots of abrasive electronics and beats that sound like an MRI machine going off. Plus, Jamie Stewart's vocals on the track capture a really nasty snide energy that works so well.

Xiu Xiu then provides a sad, dreary little version of Robyn's "Dancing on My Own" with lots of warped, droning instrumentation. I would say, aesthetically, this track, with its hushed vocals as well, is maybe the most, I guess, expected in terms of not only what a Xiu Xiu song typically sounds like, but also just in terms of the likelihood of how a cover of this song was going to pan out. So yeah, usual strange, depressive Xiu Xiu vibes being used to live out one of the greatest electropop singles of the 2010s.

And while this version is probably not overtaking the original anytime soon, Xiu Xiu definitely does forge an amazingly bittersweet feeling in this new version that's hard to deny. The whole track feels like a dance floor immersed in molasses. Plus, I mean, just in general, it's a great song. It's hard to mess it up so long as whatever you're doing just allows the original tune of the track to shine, and Xiu Xiu does that.

The band then delivers a cover of This Heat's "SPQR". Their version is much more lofi, saturated, bedroom and goth rock, tinged. It's a very faithful take, even if the brisk drumming of the OG recording doesn't really make it onto this version.

Then, miraculously, Xiu Xiu also does a cover of GloRilla's "Lick or Sum", but it's a cold, dark wave, minimal synth version that is so low-key, so quiet, even whispered rap bars, it's just so, trying to hide. But still, the band makes sure to hit a lot of the major musical plot points between the syncopated claps and the "bow, bow, bow, bows," as well as some unnerving spoken-word passages about "eating ass" on the bridge. The novelty of it does wear off a little bit with repeated plays for sure, but if this track does not make regular appearances at goth nights across the country for the duration of this year, we have failed as a society.

From here, we move into an all right final leg. The band attempts a very bare bones version of Daniel Johnston's "Some Things Last a Long Time", which is a really tall fucking order to fill. There are very few things on this planet that have the emotional sting of a super raw Daniel Johnston ballad. It's like alcohol straight into an open wound.

And yeah, predictably, Xiu Xiu falls short of that standard. However, that's a test most bands and artists are not going to pass. The fact that they even got close with a listenable version of this song, with it being as simple in presentation as it is, I suppose, is admirable.

And then Xiu Xiu's take on Coil's "Triple Sun" is all right. It's kind of a surprising pick. While the super repetitive lyrics of the original track remain intact, Xiu Xiu more or less seems to have overlooked the super refined and subtle growth of keys, and synths, and beats that make Coil's track here sound so meditative and alluring, and as a result, their take here is just not nearly as enchanting.

While I don't know if this closing track, this version of Joan Jett's and The Runaway's "Cherry Bomb" is going to be for everybody, I know at the very least it's for me. Yeah, it doesn't have that old-school protopunk rock production on it. It's not very pumping, it's not very thunderous. But what Xiu Xiu does manage to do is deliver a version that is just so harsh, so sassy, so weird, and so gnarly. At the very least, it's capitalizing on the track's punk energy.

But yeah, overall, I thought this was a pretty fun, competent, and entertaining collection of covers. Some very admirable versions on here for sure, even if there are a handful that fell short of my expectations and were a little underwhelming, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent seven on this one.

Anthony Fantano. Xiu Xiu. Forever.