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MagnetApr 12, 2012A mix of ping-ponging bangers ("Hi," "Born To Suffer"), touching, presumed-true stories ("Joey's Song," "The Oldness") and two skip-now shockers dedicated to monstrous worthlessness ("I Luv Abortion," "Black Drum Machine") [No.86, p.60]
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Under The RadarMar 21, 2012Nothing's taboo in the surreal, often Fellini-esque reality [Stewart] concocts on the endlessly fascinating Always. [Mar 2012, p.81]
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Q MagazineMar 16, 2012It's not all politico-provocation; pretty duet Honeysuckle and minimalist piano ballad The Oldness counterbalance the more outspoken moments nicely. [April 2012, p.107]
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Mar 14, 2012The record functions as a well-executed sampler of the magnified pain and horror we've come to expect from this band.
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Mar 12, 2012The most noticeable thing about the new Xiu Xiu album is ... how disarmingly vibrant it sounds.
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Mar 10, 2012These catchy, desperate, searing, and searching songs aren't always the most accessible, but they show exactly why this band has such a dedicated audience.
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Mar 8, 2012Stewart is the rare artist who hews as closely to his creative impulses as possible, letting them take him to places both uncomfortable and inviting, depending on the moment. If nothing else, this is a sort of fearlessness, and that's worth your time.
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Mar 8, 2012Xiu Xiu is so earnestly committed to its project that its music inevitably bursts through its own irony to the other side.
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Mar 6, 2012At its best, it's both cathartic and transformative, harnessing the transformative power of empathy to politicize the personal and personalize the political.
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Mar 6, 2012The ideas it presents of consequence and scars, and the deep pathos with which they are conveyed, are often compelling, but the songs themselves work better here when they sand down the fangs a bit, a concession Stewart is rarely willing to make.
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Mar 6, 2012Always is not an easy album to enjoy, but it's a harder one not to.
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Mar 6, 2012While experimentation and weirdness still abound--as on the abrasively sung-spoke "I Luv Abortion"--Always seems much more tempered than past efforts, extending the poppy sensibility of 2010's Dear God, I Hate Myself.
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Mar 5, 2012These are stories we've already heard told better, and in the same voices.
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Mar 5, 2012Much like a pungent stilton, this is difficult prospect to recommend or advise against, especially if this is your first experience of Xiu Xiu. Dip your toe in the water, though, and there are bits to love.
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Feb 29, 2012Often shocking and consistently, unapologetically direct, every word and note here is positively swollen with meaning.
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Feb 28, 2012This showcases Stewart's proclivity for macabre imagery and borderline perversion waging war with his pop-songwriting expertise.
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Feb 27, 2012Always may well be the Californians' finest yet.
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Alternative PressFeb 27, 2012Jamie Stewart lyrically references previous Xiu Xiu material, masterfully turning over the stories to find more nuances within. [Apr 2012, p.99]
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Feb 24, 2012Always is one of Stewart's most accessible albums.
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Feb 24, 2012Jamie Stewart's most preposterously tremulous and knuckle-whiteningly transgressive work.
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UncutFeb 22, 2012Stewart's preoccupation--narcissism, sexuality, body horror--translate into a sort of febrile synth-pop, dotted with orchestral excursions and abrupt electronics. [Mar 2012, p. 107]
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Feb 22, 2012What Xiu Xiu demonstrate throughout Always, is the way in which they can lay down so starkly how terrible life can be and how fucked up one can feel and create something amazing, angry, political, fierce and defiant out of all of it.
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Feb 22, 2012This is an album that need proffer no apologies for its dramatic, overwhelming and salutary take on darkness and light.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 16
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Mixed: 3 out of 16
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Negative: 0 out of 16
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Mar 31, 2012
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Mar 6, 2012