Angel Guts: Red Classroom is the beginning of Xiu Xiu’s descent
from grayness into the deepest blackness endurable. It is the sound
of Xiu Xiu’s death. Primary songwriter Jamie Stewart relocated to
Los Angeles this past year, moving blindly into a neighborhood
whose notoriously dangerous reputation was unknown to him. The
aura of his new home bleeds into every pore of the album, each
lyric and note bearing traces of its essence: the terrible beauty, the
despair, the violence, the ultra humanity, the uncertainty.
Working with only analog synths, drum set, and 1970’s analog
drum machines, Xiu Xiu has never before sounded so focused, so
captivating, so intent on delivering a kick to the throat. Unbearably
dark, yet incredibly illuminating, AG: RC is the work of a band
unraveling to its core and exposing the boldness within.
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