Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Worst Vacation Ever, December 24, 2004
Pay no attention to the 4-star rating you see above these words -- labeling a record as dense, polarizing, and difficult as Knife Play with any number between 1 and 5 is pointless and next to impossible. Since the release of this album, Xiu Xiu have gone on to cement their reputation as a very respectable and often breathtaking avant-rock act, and this album is the bare and frightening skeleton of the elememts that got them there. As such, it is almost endlessly fascinating -- spare electronic beats meet clanging Asian percussion to provide an uneasy backdrop, which is lavished with squealing feedback, nauseated horns, and of course, Jamie Stewart's impossibly despairing wail.
Stewart has proven himself adept at creating truly chilling moments not from the inherent creepiness of an individual line or riff, but by the uncomfortable context he places them in. Lines that would come off as sophomorically melodramatic on paper are given a shocking potency by the way he orchestrates them into his abrasive compositions. At one point in "Over Over," an impotent disco beat bounces in the background before distorting itself into a teeth-gritting screech just as Stewart sings the words "kill yourself." Throughout several of the tracks, hopeful melodic figures appear that for a few seconds appear to be leading to some sort of satisfying emotional payoff... before they are cut mercilessly short and you are again left alone in the album's cold metallic landscape. Even when a comfortable chord progression is allowed to soar, the instrumentation that creates it is so detuned and unpleasant that it ends up even more heart-rending than the more deliberately malevolent moments (see the devastating "Suha").
Ultimately, Knife Play comes off as one of the most intensely intimate and tangible chronicles of utter despair that has ever been laid to tape. The sense of isolation created by this frigid music is almost unparalleled in its veracity. On "Hives Hives" Stewart screams "I cannot wait to die, can't you tell can't you tell can't you tell?!" Yes, Jamie, we can -- and that's what makes this record such a startlingly fascinating, if exhausting, work of art.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
chilling., January 17, 2005
Xiu Xiu _Knife Play_ is awesome, but maybe that isn't the appropriate word. this is, hands down, one of the most saddening and empty albums i've ever heard, but it works, very well. there isn't really any melody on it, but when there is, it's short-lived, bedeviling the listener into thinking things are going to get better. they never do. the chords are dissonant. the vocals are barren. the lyrics are contristed. the song _Knife Play_ ends with is, without a doubt, the most desolate and depressing song i've yet to hear. it destroys anything you might be thinking of. anything. i hope, sincerely, a more depressing song is never made, and if there is one i certainly hope it doesn't reach my ears. to give you an idea, there is a piano playing dissonant chords that are enough to make one's heart break, and the vocalist is singing in no real rhythm, just letting it flow out of his soul. it's like the man just lost his entire family, absolutely everything he ever loved and cared for, and this is the only thing he has left to cling to his sanity. the vocals make me hurt. to top it off, there is a bird chirping in the distance, it's buried deep in the mix, virtually inaudible. this is about the only glimmer of hope on the entire album. it's desolate. it's brilliant. it's highly recommended.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Weird and Wonderful, April 27, 2003
Wow. 'Knife Play' is one of the most disturbing, depressing, and beautiful albums I've ever heard. Their sound is hard to describe, but their lead singer, Jaime Stewart, kind of sounds like Robert Smith. Musically, the band (two guys and two girls) use a multitude of instruments like synths, mandolins, drum beats, gongs, trumpets, and programming. The guitar work is excellent as well, particularly towards the end of 'Hives Hives' and 'Homonculus'. Lyrically, if you find anything darker, I don't think I'd like to hear it. Here's a snippet of their glorious song 'Suha': "I hate my husband, I hate my children, I'm going to hang myself..." Yikes. If you like your experimental pop down and dirty and are open minded to different musical art forms, 'Knife Play' will surprise you, shock you, scare the hell out of you, and maybe even comfort you.
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