Pitchfork

Photo by David Horvitz

Head to the merch table at any show on Xiu Xiu's current tour and ask percussionist Ches Smith to hand over the recorder. Trust us, he'll know what you're talking about.

Ches has a very cool project going on, wherein attendees at each show are encouraged to record a little snippet of whatever they'd like into Ches' mic. Smith will then write a brief percussion piece for each and every town Xiu Xiu hit, incorprating the sounds gathered from the tape recorder. At the end of the tour, he will post each town's piece as a free MP3 on the Xiu Xiu blog. He's calling the project Y/OUR TOWN.

Yes, it's yet another one of those crazy things Xiu Xiu does that nobody else really does. Like, for instance, photographer David Horvitz's ongoing series of disposable camera projects. Or the "Question of the Tour" thing Jamie Stewart is currently running, which gives fans the chance to get the answer to any burning query for the price of a self-addressed stamped envelope.



Xiu Xiu:

08-18 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad *
08-19 Lubbock, TX - Tequila Jungle *
08-20 Austin, TX - Mohawk *^
08-21 Houston, TX - Orange Show Center for Visionary Art *^
08-22 Birmingham, AL - Bottle Tree *^
08-23 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn *^
08-24 Charlotte, NC - Milestone *^
08-25 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *^
08-26 Providence, RI - Living Room *^
08-27 Boston, MA - Paradise *^
08-28 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *^!
08-29 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks ^!
08-30 Columbus, OH - Milo ^!
09-01 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop ^!
09-02 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom ^!
09-03 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge ^!
09-04 Dekalb, IL - The House Cafe ^!
09-05 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon ^!
09-06 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club !#
09-07 Fargo, ND - Aquarium !#
09-10 Seattle, WA - Neumos !#
09-11 Portland, OR - Backspace !#
09-13 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *!#
10-14 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
10-15 Oslo, Norway - John Dee
10-16 Gothenburg, Sweden - Nefertiti
10-17 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
10-18 Malmö, Sweden - Debaser
10-19 Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen
10-21 Berlin, Germany - Lido
10-22 Leipzig, Germany - UT Connewitz
10-23 Prague, Czech Republic - Meet Factory
10-24 Vienna, Austria - Brut
10-25 Krakow, Poland - Unsound Festival

* with Evangelista
^ with Common Eider, King Eider
! with Prurient
# with Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone