The amazing Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu answers Three Qs.
13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips is out now.
Synth History: What are some of your go-to pieces of gear?
Jamie: If that go-to is for enveloping the world in a net of hideous and revolting noise, my two absolute favorite synths are the Erika Syntrx and the Trogotronic Valkyrie.
If you are uninitiated, the Syntrx is a thoughtfully inspired tribute to the EMS Synthi. It allows for all manner of surprises and fabulously uncertain evolutions. You can save the patch points but not the knob positions so it requires spontaneous reactions to whatever or wherever it may be going. The three oscillators are incredibly thick and gnarly sounding and the knob and joystick layout is ultra stimulating and wild to play. Also being able to set different patches out of either the left or right output and have them play at the same time is dope. Double also, it looks cool and I wish I could marry it.
As a Mothra to the Synthi’s Godzilla is the hot to touch all tube Valkyrie which is a hate-fucked HP sine wave test oscillator. I have no idea what Trogotronic did to it but when you turn any of the seven side knobs and patch any of the seven patch points on the side while turning the massive dial on the front, the sky splits open and the oceans boil. I have never before played a synth that frightened me. It is intensely klangerous. Any time a musical passage needs a beat down, this is the electronic friend/gargoyle for the job. One of Earth’s true delights is setting these two beasts next to each other, cranking them up out of an Ampeg 8x10 and Fender Twin and seeing how far I can shove my emotional state into hapless oblivion.
Synth History: What is one of your most favorite memories from playing live?
Jamie: Fireside Bow, Chicago, March or April 2002, our first long tour. This was a tour with Hella and Semiautomatic for what I think was six weeks? It was booked at the last minute by a hardcore—as in the punk subgenre not as in bad ass—booking agent and they generally placed us in wildly inappropriate venues: either way too big and filthy or way too small and filthy. All the bands had just released their first records and were mostly unknown, so the turn outs were miserable every night and we were not making any money. Largely, we all shared one motel room or one living room floor for eight people. It sucked and I feel no positive nostalgia for this time in any way. The day before this show one of the people in Xiu Xiu said she had had enough and wanted to go home. All things considered, I could not begrudge her. It was not an inspiring trip to say the least.
The Fireside Bowl is a badly ventilated bowling alley with a small stage to the side that still regularly does shows, often more than one a day and their walls after a show, if it is crowded, are literally dripping with condensation. We played there several more times after this as we began to grow a small following—however this first time playing there, on the cusp of our meager three-person line up shrinking by 33 percent, we got a small write-up in the weekly arts paper as a preview to the show, so about 12 or 13 people showed up which was not a bad crowd for this tour. Looking out as we began to play, one person was actually moving, dare I say, dancing a little. It filled me with a tiny hope.... Could this work out?! Could this work out?!
I told the bandmate who wanted to leave I would give her $200 if she stayed on for the rest of the tour and she agreed, that is how tight money for all of us was. But that show was the defining moment for me that solidified a stubborn, foolish, bullheaded tenacity not to give up. I will be eternally grateful to that one swaying person who opened this door for me. I seriously doubt Xiu Xiu would still exist if it were not for them or this particular show.
Synth History: If you could pick three albums you think everyone should listen to at least once in their lifetime, what would they be, and why?
1. Eliane Radigue - Transamoren - Transmortem
This is a masterpiece of the void. Famously played on an Arp 2500, Radigue drew out extraordinary beauty from almost static filter and feedback drones.
The layered pitch slowly over the course of an hour and seven minutes goes from piercingly high to a focused middle and bass tone that burrows into the center of your skull and chest. I am listening to it right now as a thunder storm shears and booms outside and feel, for a moment anyway, that humans and nature might not be at war. One of the more moving experiences I have ever had was listening to this record while in the Mojave Desert. It was not a distraction from the universe, but a keyhole’s view into it.
2. Arthur Alexander - The Greatest
Many soul singers from the 1960s—and this does not detract from their magnificence—portrayed themselves as physically wounded but also physically endowed. Arthur Alexander conversely never shies away from shyness and vulnerability. His voice does not need to bellow to be intense and his subject matter does not need to be powerful to give the listener strength. The feel of his phrasing and his unusual timbre are so special, backed expertly as one would expect by the Muscle Shoals gang, that I can think of no comparisons among his peers. The approach to many records of this era was to have two good songs and 8 rushed fillers so this best of collection is your best bet and it is a bet you will win! Bet? Ja! Bet!
3. The Wolfgang Press - Bird Wood Cage
Incomprehensibly not in as lauded a position of the post punk canon as Cabaret Volatire, The Chameleons or The Birthday Party is The Wolfgang Press. This record is a combination of said genre run through a devoted flash flood of nascent hip hop and bad dream early electro funk.
No one else, especially on Bird Wood Cage, sounds like this nor nailed catchy song writing and hooks as well as them. The drum programming, bass playing, cuckoo sound effects and singing—what a voice—will blow your brains out. Thankfully, after a long hiatus they have a new record coming out soon and I hope it brings people back to them. I stole this cassette from someone with whom I had been on a very bad date, unilaterally deciding they were not nice enough to own it. It redeemed that mortifying night and countless nights since.
Synth History Exclusive.
As part of Issue Four.
Conducted by Danz.
Photos provided by Xiu Xiu.