Xiu Xiu Has Left The Building
Last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg, California quartet Xiu Xiu seemed destined to return for a couple more crowd-pleasers. The sold-out crowd remained planted, erupting with surges of loud cheering that over time developed into a thunderous pounding of feet. It was the [type of applause that Greg Dulli was demanding at Webster Hall less than a week ago]. But after all the effort by the fans, the venues music and lights came on, and the realization that there would be no encore settled in.
The band had just played a phenomenal set, and in all reality nothing would change that. A couple more songs may have actually been too much. Bands often fall under the trap of playing too long and totally exhausting themselves and their audiences. Elvis Presley never did an encore, desiring to leave his audience wanting more. More musicians should really follow Elvis' example and stop playing bullshit encores.
When they were on stage, Xiu Xiu could not have been better. Their experimental mix of avant jazz, indie rock, noise and punk transitioned perfectly to the live setting, with a lot of credit owed to percussionist Ches Smith. Smiths brilliant playing added an extra depth to the bands unhinged yet melodic songs that isn't always apparent on record. Though supporting their 2008 release Women As Lovers, the band did a great job of mixing in enough older material. Every time the songs wandered towards a more conventional approach, they let loose and deconstructed them, breaking them apart into catastrophic experimental masterpieces. No moment better exemplified this than when F.T.W seemed to explode in the crowds face.
Xiu Xiu may have been the headliner, but opener Thao Nguyen actually had a slightly larger crowd when she was on stage. A recent music-blog favorite, Thao and her band The Get Down Stay Down are on the verge of indie stardom. With a jazzy folk sound along the lines of big time indie female stars Feist and Cat Power, Thaos latest record We Brave Bee Stings and All is far more consistent and enjoyable than either of those artists recent works. Though obviously still nervous playing live, Nguyen has a strong charismatic stage presence thanks in part to her energetic guitar playing. Aside from being treated to a bunch of great tunes, we also learned that Thao really likes saltat one pointing telling the audience a story about gargling salt that ended with her confession that if she could be any animal itd be a horse.
Photos by [Jonny-Leather]