Xiu Xiu on the Patio

The last time I saw Xiu Xiu at Rubber Gloves, they had played the rubber room, the venue’s inside stage. It was our second time seeing Xiu Xiu together and my friend Richard and I were surprised to see this show scheduled to take place on the venue’s patio. The small, closed-in room and low stage matched the intimate vibe of the band’s performance and complimented their noisy style by allowing the entire room to become a vibrating box of sound. The patio stage in that warm, early October air was perhaps fitting, given the new record’s psychedelic rock inspirations—a spirit that would motivate the night’s performance. 

Dallas noise act Rawzilk opened for Xiu Xiu with a 45 minute set of heavy bass, gooey, pulsating synths, and occasional rhythmic passages. Accompanied by a suitably esoteric collection of visuals, the performance was a perfect precursor for what was to come. 

Joining Xiu Xiu for a second round of touring—having played some part in the recording of the band’s past three albums—is former Devo/Sparks collaborator David Kendrick on drums. Kendrick looks like a hipster wizard on the drums. I had to sympathize when I saw him plugging his ears as Jamie Stweart and Angela Seo blasted whistles and kazoos into their microphones at high frequency. When one of his red drumsticks broke after a particularly spirited symbol crash, the wizard threw his splinted wand right at me, as I was chosen to receive it; later that night, Richard caught the corresponding piece from a different stick.

On stage right, operating the various synth keyboards, MIDI gongs, real gongs, symbols, and other objects that push the definition of the word “percussion,” was Angela, the group’s second most stable collaborator besides Jamie. Seo was an austere performer during most of the band’s set, looking intently at her instruments or gazing into some fixed point as she shook a tambourine or hit a cymbal. This minimal performance made the two songs in which Seo took the lead all the more rewarding and engaging, ranging from soft-spoken word to paralyzing screams—a harrowing performance.

Jamie steered the ship throughout the night, directing the band with precision whilst simultaneously putting as much dramatic flare into his vocal (and physical) performances as he does on record. Multiple times, Jamie launched himself upwards and slammed down as he strummed the final chords on some of the more hard-rocking tracks.

The setlist was a refreshing and healthy mix of old and new, with an understandable focus on the material that dates after Seo joined the band in early 2010. I got to hear some of my favorites from both extremes of that spectrum, so “Gray Death” (from 2010’s Dear God I Hate Myself) and “Sleep Blvd.” (from September’s 13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips) were standouts for me. 

I feel very lucky to have been to two Xiu Xiu shows with the current lineup. David Kendrick’s weirdo-rock-rooted drums laid a solid foundation over which the band highlights just how catchy a lot of their songs are—once you see through the “artsy stuff.” That doesn’t mean the band is unwilling to venture into its most abrasive territory on stage, though; look no further than Seo’s aforementioned performance on the song “Wig Master,” which feels like a more than adequate substitute for ever catching Whitehouse live.