EIC's 10Q's w/ Eskimeaux

"..eternally endearing and honest.."

Eskimeaux

Gentle Mechanical

Eskimeaux Bio:

Eskimeaux was originally a project started by Gabrielle Smith. It was a compulsive audio diary, used as a way to document physical stasis and emotional transience that one experiences while living in New Jersey. Through various six-degrees-of-separation connections, Gabrielle and Benjamin Schurr met in 2007 and after being heavily influenced by his project Br’er, they began working on music together. After the completion of their first collaborative record, the lo-fi I Am a Spiral, the follow-up record was shelved indefinitely as a result of a serious rift between the two, causing them to not speak to one another for several years. Over time, they set aside their differences and Benjamin and Gabrielle co-produced the record Two Mountains from across the several state borders between New York and North Carolina. Once Benjamin moved back to Philadelphia they decided to make Eskimeaux a collaborative effort once again and forever.

Hello, how are you?

We are great! We are currently in Greensboro, NC hanging out at Sessions Coffee shop with our dog. It's our first day off from tour in three weeks!

What are you currently listening to?

Ben: I would say that I have spent the few months leading up to the record being finished listening to 'The Infamous' by Mobb Deep, 'WIXIW' by Liars, Cabaret Voltaire, 'The Seer' by Swans, and '2nd Annual Report' by Throbbing Gristle. I pretty much only listen to music on vinyl these days, so I've been kind of obsessively delving deep into this specific rotation of LPs. I did, however, just get 'Return Of The 36 Chambers' when we were in Kalamazoo, so that will be taking up 100% of my time when we get home.

Gabby: I spend most of my time in transit, so I pretty much only listen to music on my ipod. There are only two artists on it right now, so I only listen to a cycle of Xiu Xiu albums. My favorite, right now, is 'The Airforce', but that changes weekly. In the car, we have been listening heavily to our holy trinity of albums, 'When You Think Of Us, Pray For Us' by Hollow Boys, 'Erasure' by Erasure, and 'Ex-Military' by Death Grips. Hollow Boys are this amazing band we got to surprise-tour with from Minneapolis, whose album we have playing most of the time. Erasure is pretty self-explanatory, it's extremely feel-good, a little bit scary gay bar synth pop. Death Grips is our I'm-feeling-stressed-out-by-this-highway-situation-and-need-to-be-comforted music.

Whats with the band name?

Gabby: I was adopted and the only part of my heritage that I actually know is that I am part Tlingit-Eskimo. The -eaux comes from Gabrielle being a French name, so it's a way of coming to terms with having gaps in my background and forming an identity around a lot of uncertainty.

When did this project come about?

Gabby: Eskimeaux originated as a soundscapey collage project with tidbits of songwriting. It was based on creating arrhythmic loops on Garageband and trying to make someone nauseous and uncomfortable, but be beautiful at the same time. It was kind of a "fuck you" to an ex-boyfriend who claimed that I wasn't doing anything with my time, so I told him I was working on an album, which wasn't true. I made the first album in one night in secret in our house. After I met Ben, however, I learned a lot about form and started writing actual songs.

Ben: We met at a Br'er show at Cake Shop in the Lower East Side of NYC in late 2007. Shortly thereafter Gabby moved to Philly, joined Br'er, dropped out of college, and started touring with us. During this process, Gabby was working on some songs and we organically just started working together on it. There were a few years after that when we were living in different states and not really talking to one another, but Gabby would still obstinately send me songs she was working on and we would collaborate long-distance. I ended up back in Philly in 2011 and we decided to actually start collaborating like a real-people band.

Gabby: It became really clear to us that we have the same aesthetic desires, which are to make pop melodies disguised in beautiful complex arrangements, with an undertone of feeling poisoned and nervous. We want to use our recordings to give people a sense of sonic spatial reasoning and texture.

Care to tell us a little bit about your latest album, theme, likes/dis-likes, etc.?

Gabby: The new album is actually a reformed collection of songs that were released in 2010 under the title Ixsixàn, which means "I love you" in the Tlingit language. They were songs that Ben and I were supposed to work on together, but we weren't talking for a lot of the time that I was working on them, so they kind of got the shaft as a result. We decided to re-record them (and add a new song or two to the mix), fully realized and nurtured and make this our self-titled album, since it's finally a jump from our original lo-fi sound into high fidelity and true collaboration. The theme of the record is emotional transience. Mostly all of the songs were written on the Bolt Bus when I was traveling back and forth a lot between New York and Philadelphia (which hasn't really changed, come to think of it). Actually, most of the beats for this album were made by Ben when he was riding the Bolt Bus to and from my apartment.

Ben: It's really interesting how many things simply fell into place with this band/record. In a weird way, I've seen this record as only having been able to exist at this specific period of time because Gabby's songs came from such a simultaneously musically raw, but emotionally guarded place. We synced up in a lot of ways because of this shared state. Interestingly, we actually had to record the album three or so times, because we started by recording the really quiet, "subtle" versions of the songs, and quickly realized that wasn't the kind of music either of us wanted to be making anymore. This album felt, in a lot of ways, like a powerful uprising against feeling inadequate when we were presenting ourselves as an acoustic band. There's something very powerful and visceral about the experience of seeing live, loud music and translating it to a recording. Since we're both electronic sound designers first and foremost, we wanted to present ourselves and our songs that way.

What is you favorite track from said album?

Gabby: My immediate reaction was "Littoral Lullaby", which is the banger of the record. My favorite, however, is definitely the last track "Curses".

Ben: "Your Fire Arms" emotionally wrecked me the first time I heard Gabby perform it and I was really anxious to work on it for this record. I think it's the most successful delivery of a very specific emotion, both lyrically and musically.

In a dream world whom would you pick to remix your songs?

Gabby: Jamie Stewart or Vince Clark, definitely. It would also be really cool if Balam Acab did a remix, he does really beautiful, crazy versions of songs.

Ben: Chris and Cosey, Havoc, Boards of Canada, or Vince Clark, always.

What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?

Ben: 'The Piano Teacher', by Michael Haneke

Gabby: http://youtu.be/iRNqhi2ka9k on a loop

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?

Gabby: 'The Airforce', by Xiu Xiu

Ben: "Always", the CD maxi-single by Erasure

Are you living your dream?

Gabby: Definitely.

Ben: Always.

Thanx Gabrielle & Ben!

Eskimeaux just got back from a pretty massive tour, while they catch their breaths, check them out...

EIC's 10Q's w/ Xiu Xiu

"..between ear piercing noise and tear drenched ballads.."


Xiu Xiu
Desolate Abrasive Anomaly

Xiu Xiu Bio:
Taking their name from the 1998 Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, post-punk throwbacks Xiu Xiu were formed in San Jose, California by Cory McCullough, Yvonne Chen (publisher of the indie zine Zum), Lauren Andrews, and Jamie Stewart. Before forming Xiu Xiu, McCullough and Stewart played in the band Ten in the Swear Jar. Prior to the 2002 release of their first full-length album, Knife Play (released on vinyl through Absolutely Kosher and on disc through 5RC/Kill Rock Stars), the band made appearances on numerous compilations. Shortly after Knife Play's release, Springman released a 10" collaboration between Xiu Xiu and Deerhoof. Vocalist Stewart has earned comparisons to the Cure's Robert Smith, while the band itself has been likened to just about any angular guitar band from the late '70s and early '80s without any blindingly obvious sources of inspiration. In 2002, the band issued the Chapel of the Chimes EP. The following year, A Promise and the limited-edition, mostly acoustic Fag Patrol EP arrived, and early 2004 saw the release of their most accessible work to date, Fabulous Muscles.

Xiu Xiu kept busy in 2005 with the full-length La Forêt and a split single with Devendra Banhart. The group's fifth album, The Air Force, which was produced by Greg Saunier, arrived in fall 2006; an EP of covers, Tu Mi Piaci, was also released that year. Issued in 2008, Women as Lovers managed to be some of Xiu Xiu's catchiest and most abrasive work, and featured Michael Gira on a cover of "Under Pressure." Caralee McElroy, who had joined the group for The Air Force, left Xiu Xiu in 2009 and became a member of Cold Cave; she was replaced by Angela Seo, who worked with Stewart and Saunier on 2010's more overtly poppy and electronic Dear God, I Hate Myself. Two years later, the band commemorated its tenth anniversary with Always, which tackled war atrocities ("Gul Muldin"), the plight of Chinese female migrant workers ("Factory Girls"), and the right to choose ("I Luv Abortion"), and was dedicated to the band's devoted fans.


Hello, how are you?
SLEEPY!!!!! and stressed out at the same time. i need both an upper and a downer

What are you currently listening to?
Morton Feldman, a collection of gospel 45s from the 1940s to the 1970s and OMD. Oddly that seems to be about it.

As the release date of 'Always' nears, I am curious about the meaning behind the album's title and what you think of the finished work.
Oh I can't tell you what I think of it! I know that at the time we worked on it, we did our best and out our whole hearts into it. The rest is for a potential listener to decide. The title, for me, comes from a few places. My brother introduced me to the Erasure song "Always" at a time when he was going through an incredibly deep trauma within his family. I drove around the countryside looking for watermelon and playing that song over and over trying to sing along but breaking into tears every time I tried. It's about after being in Xiu Xiu for 10 years, feeling more bound to and by music than ever. Lastly it came from seeing a Bible verse spray painted on my gyms wall that said essentially to God, "..love and hate, good and evil are the same.." This duality was, as one would expect both comforting and terrifying. I had to see this graffiti everyday (since painted over) it was disturbing and inspiring and felt what I imagined the idea of "Always" feels like.

'Always' deals with many themes we have long known to expect from you: suicide, addiction, molestation, and death. Why do you choose to express these obsessions through music?
They are not so much "obsessions" as they are facts of life, my life, my families lives, how politics effects life. It is an attempt to turn them into something other than only crushing negative weight. Or to put them some where other than just pushing them down on my throat..

Throughout your career you have worked alongside many different backing girls. How do you feel dealing with such intimate subjects changes when you're accompanied by a new musical partner?
Hardly backing! Nearly everyone I have played with has been an incredibly close friend and it could only be incredibly close friends with whom one would share the experiences that the songs we try to do document. It follows then that only an incredibly close friend could play them as well. Because of those already established bonds, that aspect of it has always been natural and, for me, deeply rewarding.

You also repeatedly collaborate with artists across multiple mediums. Cam Archer, the director of queer films like 'Wild Tigers I Have Known' whose work I adore, is among these people (Archer directed two Xiu Xiu music videos, “The Fox And The Rabbit” and “Sea”). How did this partnership start and are there any other contemporary queer filmmakers with whom you would like to work with?
We have a mutual friend, Rob Fisk, and he introduced us. Lately Brian Skeet and I have been talking about becoming involved in a number of film projects together. He's using Xiu Xiu songs in a film, Xiu Xiu is recording & scoring a film of his and I'll be acting in a couple of his films. It is a new world for me. Brian is the best and I am excited about this beginning.

Tell me about your work with Grouper. How did the split EP, 'Creepshow', that featured five songs you two co-wrote arise and in what way do you think Ambient music has influenced your sound?
We are actually re-releasing it on the Xiu Xiu blog next month. Liz and I had been friends in Oakland and I went to her shows all the time. she is someone who I admired then and now. Being a fan, I wanted to see what it would be like to work together. It was very easy. She is ultra talented. My understanding of the idea of ambient music, at its onset at least, was that it was sound more than music. Since we began exploring sounds as much as harmony has been exciting for us. Many of the songs begin as a sound and then the trick is to figure out how to fit that into a song in a way that they compliment their meanings. I love any kind of sound. Poke out my eyes whenever you want.

'Always' is littered with over-the-top synth tracks, like “Honeysuckle” and “Hi.” Do you feel writing for your dark synthpop side-project Former Ghosts has effected the music of Xiu Xiu in any way?
Oh I am sure, but I didn't write anything in that band other than a few synth parts, that was all Freddy Rupert's music. but playing in that band certainly re-lit my long time love of synth pop. As noted see OMD in the 2nd question.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life... Which album would it be?
Something really long i suppose.

Are you living your dream?
As far as being able to make records goes, yes. It's a privilege that I hope I can live up to.

Thanx Marisa & Jamie!

Xiu Xiu is currently on tour, including a few select dates with Dirty Beaches(!), make sure to check out a live show if you can...