The avant-garde band based out of San Jose, Calif., Xiu Xiu, released the strangest album of 2014 (so far) on Feb. 4. Led by Jamie Stewart, Xiu Xiu created Angel Guts: Red Classroom, a terrifying blend of raging percussion, wavering whispers for vocals, and electronic noise.
The album opens with “Angel Guts:,” an ambient track leading into the haunting vocals and muted percussion of “Archie’s Fades.” The album then speeds up with its third track, “Stupid in the Dark,” which includes a fast keyboard riff and operatic vocals, billed as the lead track of the album, showcasing Xiu Xiu’s very unique style.
We continue down this dark, experimental path with the David Bowie-esque vocals and synth beats of “Adult Friends,” a song reminiscent of walking through a haunted house. This track nears ‘acceptable’ status before suddenly dipping back into the terror of screaming samples and pounding electro/keyboard beats.
Angel Guts: Red Classroom winds down with “Botanica de Los Angeles,” one of the few tracks with coherent vocals, featuring a surprisingly light-hearted organ masking the background screeching that is ever-present on this album. The journey through obscurity is then completed by “:Red Classroom,” a two and a half minute recording of a screeching guitar consistently interrupting the ambiance heard in the opening track.
A reccurring theme of Xiu Xiu’s 13th album is the complete nonsense it portrays. While listening, you feel as if a song is about to make sense through its melody or beat, but then Stewart inserts his ‘suicide’ vocals and the linear factor of today’s common music is thrown out of the window.
Some of the backing keyboard or production sounds fairly decent without vocals, but Stewart’s lead makes Angel Guts: Red Classroom utterly unlistenable. Understandably, the band is trying to be unique and fit into the avant-garde category of music. Angel Guts: Red Classroom may be Jamie Stewart’s method of artistic expression, but not many people would be able to indulge in Xiu Xiu’s work or find it relevant to their daily life.
Rating: F
