Xiu Xiu; Dirty Beaches; Father Murphy @ Bowery Ballroom

Xiu Xiu; Dirty Beaches; Father Murphy @ Bowery Ballroom New York, NY - May 4, 2012

I haven't gone to the Bowery Ballroom in so long (two years) it was like going back to church after leaving the faith. A flood of memories courtesy of my own personal nostalgia train. But it was better that I was going to see a band I've never seen before or even really listened to before instead of a familiar face in the old shrine. At the same time, considering it was an act that has been around for as long if not longer than the peers of the very rock n roll moment that was the exact flood of memories, that was better too.

Xiu Xiu call up Joy Division/New Order and the legacy that followed. Mining some of the better moments of the alt 80's (and doing it since before the 80's took over retro-cool), the simplicity of a stripped down duo also recalled certain memories of other stripped down duos. Xiu Xiu had something else going for it: what the impending-wife said has appealed to every man since the Tet Offensive: emotionless Asian woman.

Dirty Beaches are so No-Wave they make Teenage Jesus and the Jerks sound like bubblegum. I think I heard a Stooges song in there.

Father Murphy - well if you can't say anything nice...