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XXL (Xiu Xiu and Larsen)
!Ciaütistico! (Important)
Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu main man – and Bay Guardian Goldie winner – Jamie Stewart can be a pretty tough guy to work with. He admits this. Perhaps it's why he chooses to take solo tours every once in a while, or do one-off collaborations with far-flung acts like Turin, Italy, band Larsen to, you know, keep things fresh and not wear out his welcome with his regular bandmates. These two recent discs represent just that – a couple of pleasant departures from Stewart's sometimes overwrought but usually brilliant guitar-and-synth rock. !Ciaütistico!, a team-up with the impossibly obscure Larsen (it's said that they all met at a Jarboe show), proves to be an exhilarating experience, with the two projects' distinct flavors complimenting each other's subtleties and trademarks. At less than two minutes, "Ciao Ciautistico" is a brilliant forward-mover – a genre-crossing cousin of Massive Attack that plays like abstract techno made on subdued synths and a Harry Bertoia sculpture. It's later followed by a barky and discordant rendition of Adam and the Ants' "Prince Charming" that pushes and pulls in all directions, benefiting nicely from Stewart's herky-jerky immediacy and Larsen's patient soundscapes and ultimately sucking all the light out of the original. Life and Live, recorded on Stewart's acoustic tours of 2002 and 2003, is more than just an obligatory live album. An audio tour diary of Japan and many rough-hewn single-track recordings augment the Xiu Xiu set list, but overall, the recording provides a quieter, more contemplative look into Stewart's genius. And the moments of panicked brilliance that take over tracks like "Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl," where Stewart finds himself mid-way between Nick Cave-like balladry and spirit-possessed glossolalia, make Life and Live particularly special. Stewart has illustrated time and again his gift for balancing the harsh with the elegant, and he continues to portray that emotional depth on both of these gorgeous diversions. (Ken Taylor)
Tom Heyman Deliver Me (Jackpine Social Club) Hey, man, Heyman, you got a voice – and a fine, soulful one it is. Court and Spark player Tom Heyman steps out from behind the pedal steel and delivers a more than solid second solo full-length. Deliver Me pulses with warm, classic countrypolitan feeling, gentle bar stool anthems, and lazy but locked-in and groovy arrangements, thanks to friendly contributors like Chuck Prophet, Jeffrey Luck Lucas, Wilco's John Stirratt, Virgil Shaw, Mark Eitzel, and various Mother Hips. His subject matter should be familiar to roots aficionados: Deliver Me mails home haunted houses, nostalgic pompadours, rainy days, pills, spills, high times, and at least one "Fat City." But musically and lyrically, there's no teetering here. Heyman knows how to tell a story and make the listener care – starting with the meaningful, lingering looks his narrator casts in "Bottles": "I've been staring at the bottles lined up by the window / How they catch the colors of a dying afternoon / And I feel like I've been dreaming, but I've been hustling and I been scheming / And I know I've been so lucky / This streak could end real soon." Lovers, losers – they're the stuff of cliché, yet Heyman rises above the trite fray – particularly when he gets specific about those demons ("Black Mollies"). Lovely – so let's have another round. Tom Heyman plays Jan. 14, Ivy Room, Albany. (510) 524-9220, www.ivyroom.com. (Kimberly Chun) Mail stuff for review to Sarah Han, Bay Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107. |
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