Girl with Basket of Fruit
by Xiu Xiu
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 35
  3. Negative: 2 out of 35
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  1. StevenX
    May 31, 2020
    3
    Overwrought, self-tortured naked emperor of the decade Jamie Stewart slides out his latest approximation of a Seventies acid trip that he'll never have, greasier than a young Trump hairdo and nonsensical as a Shaggs tribute album sung in Croatian. Let's-throw-this-in-too sound collages grate, yet it's the hipster melodrama of the shouted/goth-warbled, random-phrase vocals that make youOverwrought, self-tortured naked emperor of the decade Jamie Stewart slides out his latest approximation of a Seventies acid trip that he'll never have, greasier than a young Trump hairdo and nonsensical as a Shaggs tribute album sung in Croatian. Let's-throw-this-in-too sound collages grate, yet it's the hipster melodrama of the shouted/goth-warbled, random-phrase vocals that make you finally give up. "Smile and then don't!", he orders at the end of one "song" (like, no problem, dude), throws in an Alan Vega-esque backing track on the next one (on and off), then features a female voice listing bugs on the next. Surely this is the soundtrack to a documentary about The Last Man-Bun. It's very telling that the Xius' recent two-person cover of a ZZ Top song (and anything on the last album) wipes the floor with this mess. Focus, James, focus.… Expand
  2. filipkazm
    Feb 11, 2019
    8
    One of the best albums I have heard this year, there are suprising amount of catchy melodies hidden in the supposedly random sound clips, very engaging listen
  3. musicwizard636
    May 7, 2019
    8
    By no contest, this is the greatest album released by Xiu Xiu. While remaining heavily dark and experimental, "Girl with Basket of Fruit" contains the group's catchiest, most palatable songs to date.
  4. ursaminorjim
    Dec 21, 2019
    10
    For an album as uncompromising as this (sonically, structurally and lyrically), "Girl with Basket of Fruit" has become one of the most seductive records I've heard in a long time. I kept returning to it over the course of the year to soak it in and to soak in it. Even at its most brutal and chaotic ("Ice Cream Truck," "Scisssssssors") there are moments of almost giddy beauty and delicacy.For an album as uncompromising as this (sonically, structurally and lyrically), "Girl with Basket of Fruit" has become one of the most seductive records I've heard in a long time. I kept returning to it over the course of the year to soak it in and to soak in it. Even at its most brutal and chaotic ("Ice Cream Truck," "Scisssssssors") there are moments of almost giddy beauty and delicacy. It's an album that includes one of their most gut-wrenching and harrowing pieces ("Mary Turner Mary Turner") and one of their most open and tender ("Normal Love").… Expand
  5. WOWWW
    Sep 2, 2022
    10
    This album is frightening, experimental in all the best ways, weirdly catchy, and most importantly, creative. The versatile vocals and ever changing "melodies" are treated with brilliant, bizarre, and realistic lyricism. The track-listing is impeccable, and I very rarely resist the temptation of listening to the whole album after hearing just one song. I do not rate albums 10 out of 10This album is frightening, experimental in all the best ways, weirdly catchy, and most importantly, creative. The versatile vocals and ever changing "melodies" are treated with brilliant, bizarre, and realistic lyricism. The track-listing is impeccable, and I very rarely resist the temptation of listening to the whole album after hearing just one song. I do not rate albums 10 out of 10 with no reason. Believe me when I say this is one of the most unique projects ever created.… Expand
  6. AvoidedRat
    Aug 21, 2022
    10
    Absolutely fantastic album. From the rapid paced songs like pumpkin attack on mommy on daddy, to the darker more ominous songs like Mary turner, and to the slower tracks like Normal love, this album never leaves you bored and only wanting more. Only critique for the whole album is that amargi ve moo isn’t something I would enjoy out of the context of the album as a whole.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. The Wire
    Mar 7, 2019
    80
    The blithe ease with which it slips from unruly quasi-techno to Tony Conrad-like violin drone (“Pumpkin Attack On Mommy And Daddy”; “The Wrong Thing”) keeps this consistently diverting. [Mar 2019, p.62]
  2. Dusted Magazine
    Feb 26, 2019
    60
    Without the contextual anchor that Vo’s art gave to “Deforms,” Girl often gets lost in its own tormented vision. The album plays out like a series of crises, some real, some imaginary, some personal, others global. ... The better angels of Xiu Xiu’s nature are on display in the slow, scraping cello elegy “Amargi ve Moo” and in album closer “Normal Love,” the closest Girl gets to a legitimate pop song.
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  3. The Quietus
    Feb 22, 2019
    80
    There's nothing fetishistic, voyeuristic, or pathetically ambiguous here, more an outpouring of disgust that we seem to be in similarly horrendous times again. There are moments of beauty here too, of course, for that contrast has always been a hallmark of Jamie Stewart's songwriting, and what makes Xiu Xiu bleed where others merely pose.
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