Xiu Xiu
Constantly shapeshifting around frontperson Jamie Stewart, Xiu Xiu has plumbed the depths of experimental noise rock over decades and continents.
Xiu Xiu (pronounced "shoo shoo") was formed in 2002 and quickly established its confrontational approach on the debut LP Knife Play, including despairing lyrics, clanging percussion, a variety of instruments and multimedia storytelling. The emotional follow-up album A Promise explored the border between music and non-music, layering Stewart’s Reznor-esque vocals over a cacophony of audio experiments and surprising melodies.
Each release in the years since has been a fearless jump into new sonic territory. 2004’s Fabulous Muscles created waves of synthpop, while 2010’s Dear God, I Hate Myself experimented with chiptune sounds engineered with a Nintendo DS. They released a tribute album of Twin Peaks tracks in 2016 and described 2017’s Forget as their “most direct engagement with pop music,” which is just the tip of the iceberg of their vast discography.
Between this dizzying flurry of albums, the band has relentlessly toured the world, collaborated with Mitski, and gigged alongside acts like Deerhoof and Sun Ra Arkestra. They performed an extended audio piece at the Guggenheim Museum in 2019, and in 2023, Stewart published a brazenly vulnerable memoir entitled Anything That Moves. Their latest album, 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips, is a chaotic storm of psychedelia that explores the idea of "interesting uselessness.” It’s also proof that fourteen albums and 20+ years in, Xiu Xiu’s noisy exploration — from post-punk universes to danceable queer pop over kosmische rhythms — is far from over.
About Sled Island:
Sled Island is an annual five-day independent music and arts festival in Calgary, Alberta that brings together a community of music, comedy and art with nearly 30,000 attendees in multiple venues across the city. For more information, visit SledIsland.com.
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Sled Island acknowledges Calgary as the traditional territory of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Ĩyãħé Nakoda First Nations, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Goodstoney First Nations. Calgary is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta (Districts 5 and 6).
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