Angel Guts: Red Classroom

by Xiu Xiu

Overview

Angel Guts: Red Classroom arrived just a few months after Nina, a collection of Nina Simone covers that already hinted that Xiu Xiu were headed in a more experimental direction than much of their work from the mid-2000s onward. Relatively speaking, of course -- even the band's catchiest albums, like Always, have had more than a little art damage. At the time of its release, Angel Guts was touted as Xiu Xiu's darkest album to date, though it might be more accurate to call it one of the band's most obviously dark works. Named after a violent Japanese erotic film from the '70s and borrowing musical inspiration from Einstuerzende Neubauten, Scott Walker, and Suicide, the album finds Jamie Stewart and company diving back into their music's most provocative realms. WIthin this abrasive territory, however, Xiu Xiu still deliver nuances. For every song like "Black Dick," which brandishes its titular chorus like a weapon, or "Lawrence Liquors," which sounds like it's on fire, there's a song like the wearily beautiful "Bitter Melon," where Stewart wonders, "Can I have a face you can truly love?," or the majestic penultimate track "Botanica de Los Angeles." Even on "Cinthya's Unisex," where Stewart wails and growls "I hate everyone but you," Angel Guts rarely feels as personally harrowing as Xiu Xiu's earliest albums, and there are more than a few moments that could fit on their poppier efforts; "Stupid in the Dark" could be a more danceable cousin of Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop." Instead, the album's terrors have a more theatrical bent, like the squealing pigs that make "Adult Friends"' conflation of intimacy and horror play like a very dark joke. It might not be as haunting as some of their earlier work, but Angel Guts: Red Classroom proves Xiu Xiu can still make impressively intimidating music. ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	02/04/2014
Label:	POLYVINYL RECORDS
UPC:	0644110027412

Tracks

1. Angel Guts:
2. Archie¿¿¿s Fades
3. Stupid in the Dark
4. Lawrence Liquors
5. Black Dick
6. New Life Immigration
7. El Naco
8. Adult Friends
9. The Silver Platter
10. Bitter Melon
11. A Knife in the Sun
12. Cinthya¿¿¿s Unisex
13. Botanica de Los Angeles
14. :Red Classroom

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Xiu Xiu   Primary Artist
Thor Harris   Percussion
Jamie Stewart   Vocals,Analogue Synthesizer
Shayna Dunkelman   Percussion
Angela Seo   Analogue Synthesizer

Technical Credits

John Congleton   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Lyric Editing
Alan Douches   Mastering
Jamie Stewart   Composer,Engineer,Lyricist
Angela Seo   Lyric Editing
Vincent Van Gerven Oei   Lyric Editing