Customer Reviews

Knife Play

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Critics sometimes share a form of bloodlust. They relish tossing off stock terms like 'sophomoric' or 'infantile'-- they're after the amateur for whom all output is 'art,' little more than a child proud of its own *sht. If that's the case, then Xiu Xiu have produced one of the most inviting piles of it I've ever heard-- a profusion of all things twisted, wrecked, corrupt and sour and terrified. All I want to do is dive in and roll around in its richness. Each track on Knife Play is like a rock song captured in a photo negative, with all the hidden details brought frighteningly to the fore. It's a debut clearly in the debt of post-punk, one that has cut up and contorted itself to fit into the few cracks that albums in the past haven't reached.

All this may be guessed from the infamous cover sticker, which reads: "When my mom died I listened to Henry Cowell, Joy Division, Detroit techno, the Smiths, Takemitsu, Sabbath, Gamelan, 'Black Angels' and Cecil Taylor." The quote comes from the group's enfant terrible, Jamie Stewart, and many who've bought the album for its influences aren't prepared for his tantrums. Though he cools down to a whisper later on, the first few songs shift without warning into strained cries, yelps and howls. I'll make my warning very clear: there will be hordes of people who will absolutely hate this album. They'll diss it for being too histrionic and pretentious, and maybe they'll even be right.

Stewart wants to shock you, of course. His vocals stage guerilla skirmishes, cowering back in thickets of sound before pelting out a wild yell. Admittedly, at times he reaches a level of unintentional self-parody. "Hives Hives" opens with an awesome squall of feedback, but soon the tense, rumbling drum crashes peak with Stewart pining, "A-I-D-S/ H-I-V/ I cannot wait to die, can't you tell, can't you tell, can't you tell?" It's pathetic to the point of banality, the height of clichéd angst. Hope comes only in sonic bombast-- one of the most gloriously nihilistic guitar solos I've heard in a while, a solid screed of stupid feedback firing measure after measure into nothingness.

Stewart is more than just a Reznorian miserabilist, though. In taking Xiu Xiu absolutely literally, people will miss their sense of humor. The drum machine on "I Broke Up (SJ)" patters manically forward until the rhythm splits in a hopeful burst: the keyboards swell like a Peter Gabriel ballad, then just as soon wilt and reveal some psychotic twin. Then the sudden scream: "THIS IS THE WORST VACATION EVER-- I'M GOING TO CUT OPEN YOUR FOREHEAD WITH A ROOFING SHINGLE!" "Anne Dongî" proceeds with more subtlety: solemn, almost religious bells and other clanging sounds set the rhythm amid the soft drone of a saxophone. This long, slow dirge is capped off nonchalantly with a deadpan impression of a young Jarvis Cocker: "You're not coming to my birthday. Ohh, I know."

Despite these moments, Knife Play is deadly serious, an album for the mad and the ill, the suicidal and those near death. As such, with Xiu Xiu form fits function-- the songs warp aurally to match the anguish in the lyrics, drudge on in approximation of the doldrums, or just fizzle out in aborted contempt. "Don Diasco" opens with an ornate gong pattern, signaling the band's classical ambitions. New Order synth-pads thump for a second and then cease, and Stewart's passionate breathiness reminds a little of Talk Talk's Mark Hollis. The brass figures at the beginning of "Luber" seem to have drifted away from Björk's "Aeroplane," but then the trumpet bleeds into aquatic synthesizers, leaving an aching feeling instead of the former's contentment.

I'm tempted to favor the strangest turns, as on the Thighpaulsandra-esque "Homonculus," where dissonant piano figures are obliterated by crunchy bass bombs. But the piece that seems to resonate with everyone the most is "Suha," a relatively straightforward ballad about a mother who is going to hang herself; it's stark enough to make you start eyeing your own wrists. The band admits that most of their material is directly autobiographical, and a dark, voyeuristic pleasure enters play when you realize that Stewart's addressing other band members in a few of the songs. That ability to marry oblique sounds and a sense of mystery to a sentimental, personal narrative makes these patchwork vignettes incredibly affecting, and it's no wonder that the disc scans as a bizarre love child of synth-pop, no wave and goth. So *screw* your 'art damage' and your 'pathetic self-pity.' Intensity this overwhelming makes you reevaluate your opinion on what emotions music has the right to explore. Knife Play may have its weaknesses, but it's oddly cathartic to immerse yourself in, peeling back layer after layer.

-Christopher Dare, June 5th, 2002

"This is the worst vacation ever. I'm going to cut open your forehead with a roofing shingle" - I Broke Up

I've been listening to this CD since I saw Xiu Xiu (pronounced "shoe shoe") at Alley Katz on Easter Sunday. Yeah, there was nobody there, but they played like the place was packed. Jamie's vocal style is reminiscent of Morrisey/Robert Smith (whom I was never a big fan), but paired with the instrumentation (which includes synths, bells, horns, accordians, and the kitchen sink), it's a delightful combination. Beats are subtle, if present at all. You cannot dance to this CD, anymore than you can dance to the ocean's waves or the moon's beams. But you can let the music on Knife Play wash over you, absorb it, and let it change you.

Fans of modern classical experimental art music should check this one out. I came here from Pigface and Skinny Puppy. If you're into Limp Bizkit, don't bother.

This is one of the most amazing things i have heard in a loooong time. Every so often, something comes along that really suprises me, and i have to say that this is it. The combination of electronic and acoustic sounds and all of the asian percussion instruments is amazing. And Jamie Stewart's voice....wow. Just honest, ridiculous, over the top, and *cough*, touching. I got fabulous muscles first, but this one is waaaayyy more intense. Ive said enough....if you like Joy Division, Bright Eyes, and/or evil noise music buy this album right now!

Knife Play is more like an old depeche mode album (for instance "construction time again" or "music for the masses") whose been kidnapped and raped by a Thai street gang "over and over", on its Asian sightseeing tour. The music is totally deconstructed, jamie stewart is a tortured dave gahan who eventually began to loose sanity and self confidence and became to sound like robert smith right after the incident. However there's still a sense of older depeche mode soul in it, keeping "knife play" away from the screaming and jaw breaking tops of "fabulous muscles". This debut work of xiu xiu is also away from the "bright eyes looking" mediocore appearence of "la foret", and is a demonstration of totally original roots of the band. A must have and the perfect start to get into this ground breaking band.

Describing Xiu Xiu's music is damn near impossible. The first time you hear this album, it will probably scare the crap out of you. However, if you're like me, you might be intrigued, rather than completely frightened away.

The best description I can think of is this: take the most psychotic, dangerously depressed person you can think of, think of what kinds of twisted things must be going through their mind, and imagine if you could take that, and put it onto a CD. Do this, and you have some idea of what "Knife Play" is all about. Now, to some, this may not sound like a good idea, but to those into dark, depressing, truly twisted music, it's a dream come true. Jamie Stewart seriously makes Trent Reznor look like Richard Simmons. Able to go from subdued, heart-wrenching vocals, to hair-raising manic screams, he truly brings this delightfully nightmarish music to life.

The opening track, "Don Diasco", is instantly attention-getting, with its jarring broken rhythms, and Jamie's deranged vocals. "I Broke Up" is deliciously bipolar, toggling between dark melodies and unsettling walls of noise. "Poe Poe" and "Over Over" are about is "normal" as things get, boasting twisted techno rhythms over forlorn synths (Fans of Nine Inch Nails and the Cure will likely appreciate these); "Anne Dong" is barren and desolate, evoking imagery of a cold, lifeless planet. "Suha" is a sort of ballad, with sad, eerie accordion and string melodies adorning Stewart's subdued vocals. "Homonucleus" is similarly subdued, with squawking, free-jazzy bursts of noise interspersed throughout. The album ends with the massively minimal "Tonite and Today", where everything finally just collapses. A dark, enveloping piano ballad, this song reaches unfathomable emotional depths that would even make Mr. Reznor feel better about this life.

If you haven't figured this out by now, this album is not for the faint of heart. To be honest, it's something I really have to be in the mood for (and I'm not sure I even want to meet the person who's in the mood for it all the time). It's intimidating, uncompromising, and unsettling, but if such is your pleasure, you'll dig it for sure.

A completely psychotic "OK Computer." I mean this in the best way possible.

Xiu Xiu's album, 'Knife Play', is a success. Progressive, dark, pop. Go out and buy it.