Search - Xiu Xiu :: Tu Mi Piaci

Spine and Broken Rib Cage

gordo_aka_thegrunter | San Francisco, CA USA | 10/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"That's the cover of this EP. Fitting. Overall, a fairly depressing sounding EP, but then that's expected I suppose. This is a covers EP, it's short at only 5 songs and that is just about perfect. I am unfamiliar with the original version of "he needs me," or at least I didn't recognize it from this version. It's quiet and almost spoken and sounds desperate. "Don't Cha" is completely listenable in this form. This is actually why I bought the EP. It's uptight, and a lot different from the Pussycat Dolls version. It's grinding and has this fantastic high pitched voice that sings along at the chorus. "Kangaroo" I am familiar with through This Mortal Coil, and this is a beautiful cover with vocals and harmonium. Great song and this doesn't fall too far from the original, maybe just a few steps more depressing and empty sounding. I don't know who Nadelle is, but "blueberry mine shaft" is a nice sounding acoustic song, still depressed, but quiet and subdued. It's beautiful. Even doing an acoustic song like this, it still is clearly Xiu Xiu performing. There is almost some hope hinted at, but then I rarely listen to lyrics...so I could be way off. Finally, the Bauhaus cover "all we ever wanted was everything." It is pretty close to the original. Great song for Xiu Xiu to cover. It bursts open at the end yet stays pretty close to the original. Jamie Stewart does a good Peter Murphy voice at some point. The final vocal chorus sounds full and empty at the same time. I would like to hear XX cover more Bauhaus. I'd like to hear a lot of these songs live at some point. For an EP, this is great being that it is cover versions so I am somewhat familiar with most of the material already. It's also short and there isn't anything on here that you would skip over if you were listening. This is an ideal model for other bands to follow in that there isn't any throw-away material. I'm glad that Xiu Xiu exists and I could easily see how kids much younger than I could follow Jamie Stewart like older generations followed Morrissey. I would even say that Xiu Xiu are better at expressing these feelings than Morrissey did. JS is a lot more handsome as well...haha."