Pitchfork: Xiu Xiu Reveal New Album Details

A year without Xiu Xiu is no fun at all. Remember 2001? Yeah, we all know how bad that year sucked.

Thankfully, 2006 will not pass without Jamie Stewart's impassioned shouts and murmers. According to Xiu Xiu's website, the group will release their next album, The Air Force, in September on 5RC. Greg Saunier of Deerhoof handled production duties; "If you did not know he is talented," the site says. We did know, but thanks anyway.

Saunier also plays on The Air Force, a curious move if you've noticed the lack of live drumming in Xiu Xiu's discography. Nedelle Torrisi (aka Kill Rock Stars/Kimchee singer-songwriter Nedelle) and bassist Devin Hoff help out the core duo of Stewart and Caralee Mcelroy as well.

There will be 11 tracks in all, and may or may not be sequenced in this order (the website isn't so clear):

Hello From Eau Claire
Boy Soprano
Buzz Saw
PJ in the Streets of London
Vulture Piano
Saint Pedro Glue Stick
Save Me
Bishop, CA
Watermelon vs. the Pineapple
The Fox and the Rabbit
Wig Master

Xiu Xiu also has plans for two other, shorter releases this year. The first of these will be a five-song covers EP (think 2003's Fag Patrol and its Stewart-centric acoustic focus). It will be released in May, and will split up the five tracks between a two-song 7" and a three-song CD all wrapped up in one big happy gatefold package. Unlike Fag Patrol, however, these covers will target non-Xiu Xiu material from folks like Air Force comrade Nedelle, Bauhaus, Alex Chilton/This Mortal Coil, Elliot Smith, and Nina Simone.

The second mini-release should appear in September, and will be a collaboration between Xiu Xiu and Grouper that the website claims will produce "ambient music." Since Stewart has mastered using tension for effect, an ambient turn makes sense on paper, but we'll believe it when we hear it (hopefully hearing creepy vocals intact).

Finally, Stewart and Hoff are currently working on music for a McSweeney's DVD series of "cartoons and stop motion features from the early 1900's," according to their website. Sounds...intellectual.

Xiu Xiu will appear at SXSW this week and Noise Pop in April. An Australian tour is scheduled for late April and they'll play Europe in May.

Life and live:

03-16 Austin, TX - Emo's Annex (Kill Rock Stars/5RC SXSW showcase) *
03-30 Davis, CA - UC Davis
04-01 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall (Noise Pop Festival) #

* with the Gossip, Erase Errata, Two Ton Boa, They Shoot Horses Don't They, Old Haunts
# with the Velvet Teen, Minipop, Polar Bears