Pitchfork: Ten in the Swear Jar Comp on the Way

Even the most enigmatic artist has to come from somewhere, which usually means years spent tormenting friends and roommates while slowly building up skills and/or a fanbase. Jamie Stewart and some of his Xiu Xiu cohorts, on the other hand, have been doing their thing in public since long before we first heard Stewart's lovable scream. He and Cory McCullough first played together in IBOPA ("Indestructible Beat Of Palo Alto"), followed by the formation of the short-lived Ten in the Swear Jar, whose riotous jumble of instruments (accordion, sax, banjo, violin, etc.) presaged Xiu Xiu's unholy fusion of musical genres.

And now friends, fast-forward with us to this coming summer-- July 26, to be exact. Asian Man Records has, with the help of Jamie Stewart, put together a collection called Accordion Solo! containing nearly all previously extant Ten in the Swear Jar songs and several more to boot-- we count four unreleased songs plus some live tracks and snippets of tape-recorder interlude, although given the prior obscurity of Ten in the Swear Jar records, they could pretty much just pretend they're all new and nobody would be the wiser. Anyhoo, the tracklist:

01 Malafuquana Espana (field recording)
02 Hot Karl
03 San Jose Fight Song
04 I Don't Play the Drumz
05 Gauntlet of Thor the Destroyer
06 Fort Awesome Drunk Tank (field recording)
07 Helsabot
08 Famine
09 I Love the Valley
10 Leg Show
11 King Earth
12 Melon (field recording)
13 When You Write
14 Worry Boy
15 Sita Deth
16 House Quake II
17 Sad Girl
18 In the Blue Trunks J.H.
19 Gauntlet of Thor the Destroyer (live)
20 I Love the Valley (live)
21 House Quake II (live)

Though the band's short lifespan ended in July 2000, multiple Ten in the Swear Jar songs have ended up in Xiu Xiu's repertoire, not least the much-appreciated "I Love The Valley"-- here minus its signature "OH!". Meanwhile, Xiu Xiu themselves have a new album, La Foret, coming out July 12, followed by a split 7" with Devendra Banhart. Until then, you can find them wandering Europe on the schedule below. We don't know what's planned for those 11 missing days in Italy, but we're sure photos of it will end up on an album cover eventually. Dates:

04-22 Krems, Austria - Donaufestival
04-23 Budapest, Hungary - Pesti Est Cafe
04-24 Belgrade, Serbia - Dom Omladine
04-25 Zagreb, Croatia - KSET
04-26 Ljubliana, Slovakia - KUD
04-27 Innsbruck, Austria - PMK Bogen
04-28 Genova, Italy - Milkshake
04-29 Brescia, Italy - Freemusik (w/ Blown Paper Bags)
04-30 Rimini, Italy - Velvet (w/ Blown Paper Bags)
05-01 Pescara, Italy - Indierocketfestival
05-12 Torino, Italy - Teatro Juvarra
07-17 Chicago, IL - Intonation Music Festival