Hyunhye Seo, also known as Angela Seo, has been a member of inscrutable experimental-rock band Xiu Xiu since 2009, providing synths, piano, and vocals to flesh out their consistently beguiling, unsettling sound. On her debut solo record, Strands (Room40), Seo conjures discomfort in new ways, trading in Xiu Xiu’s outré pop grotesqueries for two 18-minute […]
Tag: Xiu Xiu
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Noise-rock luminaries converge to explore despair and hope in Human Impact
If you haven’t already heard Human Impact, you could be forgiven for wondering whether the New York four-piece were soothsayers who’d prophesied humankind’s current struggle with an invisible threat. On “Respirator,” from the group’s new self-titled debut, vocalist and guitarist Chris Spencer (formerly of Unsane) laments, “We’ve made a mistake / Problems that can’t be […]
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Xiu Xiu reimagine the eerie, gorgeous soundtrack of Twin Peaks
As groundbreaking and fascinating as the television show Twin Peaks was when it ran in the 90s (and was again during its recent resurrection), it’s doubtful that the David Lynch-directed surrealistic murder drama would have reached its iconic status without its drop-dead-gorgeous soundtrack. The sparse, mesmerizing opening sequence, a collaboration between the chilly cool compositions […]
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Baconfest, stencil art at Vertical Gallery, and more things to do in Chicago this weekend
Transgender Day of Visibility, Frontwoman Fest, and more happenings from March 31-April 2
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Even with the new Forget, it’s doubtful Xiu Xiu go the way of synthpop
Xiu Xiu have never and are not going to make a pop album. Despite developing a four-on-the-floor rhythmic backbone for their recent Forget (Polyvinyl), these monarchs of bloodletting through experimental music leave no reason to believe they’ll pivot into the warm embrace of synthpop. Rather, Forget is another genre exercise in a career that’s seen […]
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Ganser’s Alicia Gaines on the only way to make Twin Peaks’ music more unsettling
Current musical obsessions of Ganser bassist Alicia Gaines, No Friends zine editor Ray Martinez, and the Reader’s Kevin Warwick
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Xiu Xiu return, bloody and harrowing as ever
Bay Area button pushers Xiu Xiu bring their pyschodramas to Lincoln Hall on Thursday
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The List: April 1-7, 2010
Critics’ Choices and other notable shows: Xiu Xiu, High on Fire, Small Black, Orquestra Contemporanea de Olinda, Little Women, Titus Andronicus, and more
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Early Warnings Roundup
Early Warnings this week include Beach House, the Black Lips, Lila Downs, Robyn Hitchcock, Mission of Burma, John Oates, Passion Pit, Quasi, and Xiu Xiu.