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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
pitchforkmedia review; 7.4 out of 10.0, March 29, 2003
Angst. Some bands hit you with it like a blunt object; Xiu Xiu wields theirs like a supersharp wakizashi. The Asian percussion, junkyard chimes and jagged electronics that surround Jamie Stewart's overwrought vocals are so over-the-top distressed, they'll either rivet you or fray your last nerve.There are many ways to hate Xiu Xiu. You can criticize the sincerity of Stewart's performance. Nobody gets that depressed: in our culture, we experience unhappiness but we don't (figuratively) vomit all over ourselves to express it, so it's partly his fault if he seems somewhat insincere. Then there's the aesthetic problem: the piercing first tracks of their debut, Knife Play, drove some people out of the room before they even cared where Stewart was coming from. And while some would find them too noisy, noise geeks play harder stuff than this at Sunday brunch. But to sweat all that is to forget that sometimes, it's fun just to bang on stuff and shriek, and that's where Xiu Xiu excels. Their sonic palette won't make waves in the new music world, but it sounds exhilarating in this brutally expressive, and often catchy, avant-pop context. Now, only months after the release of their debut, Xiu Xiu has issued an EP, Chapel of the Chimes, and once again, they deftly mix chaos with concentration to create pieces that sound spontaneous, yet are intensely precise. And the emotional extremes are cathartic in their own theatrical, witch doctored-way. On "I Am Center of Your World", Stewart sings like Bryan Ferry after twelve hours of torture. It's like they just yanked the electrodes off his privates and handed him the mike. He eeks out the lyrics in a faltering voice that's strained, believable, and yet also, strangely, romantically expressive. He's helped by the music, which is darkly fragile and fleetingly beautiful. A low, rapid-heartbeat bassline runs under the song, and a staggering piano and flourishes of chimes break out of the near-silence like a burst of light before he passes out. In contrast, "Jennifer Lopez (Sweet Science Mix)" is blaringly loud and single-mindedly abrasive. Raw-bowed cello, a drum kit and piercing electronics burn around Stewart's indecipherable exclamations. The song's multi-layered arrangement melts down to a concise attack. But the middle tracks flag. "10-Thousand-Times-A-Minute", solid but less remarkable, delivers its melody through an echoed, blatting sound like farting into a cistern. Stewart again sounds pained and strained, but he's at odds with the mushy context. The next track is career-record quiet: "King Earth, King Earth", a thin watercolor where the different tones float through too easily. It's subtle and nearly peaceful, but too vague to make an impression. So, after all that, who couldn't use a nice cover song? Xiu Xiu closes with Joy Division's "Ceremony", the most ecstatic track on the album. They maintain the tempo and spirit of the original, but boldly replace the guitars and drums with-- guess what!-- harsh electronics and a crateful of percussion. Stewart, keyed up to shrieks, seems to act out everything that might have been going on in a morose Ian Curtis' head. If nothing else, it's a confident reworking. I can't speak for whether Joy Division fans would find this creative or repellant, but I think it's a raucous, chimy good time. Sure, Curtis was more convincingly miserable-- but look what happened to him. -Chris Dahlen, October 16th, 2002
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by Xiu Xiu 
