Pitchfork

So last week we scooped you on the latest news from camp Xiu, including new albums, new videos, new tour dates, and about 62 side projects and collaborations. For a fun and enumerated list, consult said scoop here.

All caught up? Good, 'cause your Xiu-lovin' pals at Pitchfork have just talked to Jamie Stewart, who was kind enough to share a little more information about the forthcoming Xiu Xiu remixes/covers disc, new band member Ches Smith, the lasting effects of horror movies, and more.

But first! Check out the video for "Bishop, CA", one of four vids from Xiu Xiu's forthcoming The Air Force (due September 12 via 5RC). Directed by XX tour manager David Horvitz, the clip features, according to Jamie, "Super 8 [film footage] that [Horvitz] shot when he was in Israel recently, and Super 8 footage of his family that he found in a box in the closet." The results are appropriately eerie; view it by clicking on our exclusive download here.

As previously reported, Slender Means Society will release the Creepshow EP, an ambient collaboration between Xiu Xiu and Grouper, on November 7. Turns out Jamie and Grouper's Liz Harris drew the inspiration for Creepshow from a horror film: "Completely by chance [we] found out that we were mutually traumatized by this horror movie from the Seventies when we were little kids. The commercials would be really, really brutal and we found out that, in some deep way, they really, really disturbed us to this day. So, it seemed like an interesting premise to work on as a record."

Presumably less frightening will be Stewart's minimalist collaboration with John Dieterich of Deerhoof, still "in the formative stages."

"One time [John] told me that he liked to listen to [minimalist composer] Morton Feldman and play along while he was stoned," reported Jamie. "So [we decided] it might be kind of fun to work on a record together...we want to do something really, really minimalist. Not pop at all."

This yet-to-be-named collaboration will likely be a one-off; however Stewart told Pitchfork that his also-unnamed project with Freddy Ruppert of This Song Is a Mess and So Am I will likely be a full-fledged band.

"He and I are friends and both really big fans of synth pop and dark wave, and it didn't really seem entirely appropriate for us to, in an undiluted way, pursue synth pop and dark wave kind of styled aesthetic in the bands that we were currently working on-- although they're definitely influenced by that music. But we just wanted to do something that was kind of purely in that element, and we didn't really know anyone else in our mutual circles that was interested in that kind of stuff, so..."

Formed a band. They formed a band.

No name yet here either, but according to Jamie, Freddy is "working on it. He's a theology major, so it's going to have something to do with either a particular saint or martyr or theologian he's interested in, but he's picking one right now."

While Stewart's off dabbling with various musical types, a bunch of other musicians will be dabbling with the music of Xiu Xiu-- contributing tracks to a combination remix/covers disc due out on 5RC early next year. A number of acts have been asked to contribute, including, according to Stewart: Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown, Kid606, Parts & Labor, Her Space Holiday, Gold Chains, Supersystem, This Song Is a Mess But So Am I, Oxbow, Sole, Wes Eisold of Some Girls, New Zealand's So So Modern, and Italy's Larsen, with whom Xiu Xiu record as XXL.

In fact, the two bands will record the next XXL record in December and plan to play the first U.S. XXL show during the month before. "It'll be fun for us to actually be showcased as a regular band rather than a side project of both bands," said Jamie.

Prior to that, however, the newest incarnation of Xiu Xiu-- featuring percussionist Ches Smith-- will tour the crap out of North America (evidence below). Smith will also open all shows under his solo percussion moniker, Congs for Brums, and help chart the course for the sixth Xiu Xiu record.

"As an experiment, because we have such a fantastic percussionist in the band, we're not doing any programmed drums [on the next Xiu Xiu LP], which for us is really changing the writing process tremendously." That LP will also feature a cover of the Queen/David Bowie classic "Under Pressure", with Jamie as Freddie Mercury and Angels of Light's Michael Gira as Bowie.

So lets see: a remix record, Xiu Xiu LP6, a massive tour, music videos galore, and at least five collaborations-- geez Louise, Jamie Stewart. That's a whole lot of goings-on.

"Hopefully everything that we're working on actually happens. Now that I'm actually listing it, it all seems sort of preposterous."

Xiur dates:

09-22 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *#
09-23 Denver, CO - Climax Lounge *#
09-24 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck *#
09-25 St. Louis, MO - Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center *#
09-26 Oklahoma City, OK - Conservatory *#
09-27 Denton, TX - Hailey's *#
09-29 Austin, TX - Emo's *#
09-30 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington *#
10-02 Tallahassee, FL - Club Down Under *#
10-03 Tampa, FL - Transitions Art Gallery *#
10-04 Sarasota, FL - Sudakoff Convention Center (New College) *#
10-05 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *#
10-06 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum *#
10-07 Charleston, SC - Map Room *#
10-09 Charlottesville, VA - Common Grounds *#
10-10 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *#
10-12 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *#
10-13 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *^
10-14 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *^
10-16 Buffalo, NY - Soundlab *^
10-17 Rochester, NY - Bugjar *^
10-19 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *^
10-20 Toronto, Ontario - El Mocambo *^
10-21 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *^
10-23 Columbus, OH - Little Brother's *^
10-24 Newport, KY - Southgate House *^
10-25 Cleveland, OH - Beachland *^
10-26 Gambier, OH - Horn Gallery *^
10-27 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *^
10-28 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock *^
10-29 Fargo, ND - Aquarium *^
11-04 Portland, OR - Disjecta *^
11-05 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall *^%
11-07 Visalia, CA - Howie and Sons *^%
11-08 Goleta, CA - Hard to Find Showspace *^
11-09 Los Angeles, CA - Echo *^
11-10 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall *

* with Congs for Brums
# with BARR
^ with Dirty Projectors
% with Grouper