Record label Cosmic Dreamer launched the "Limited Edition Curated Series" where musicians are matched with a visual artist in a series of 7" singles. The first paired John Vanderslice with experimental filmmaker Guy Maddin, and the second in the series features Xiu Xiu with artwork from Heidi Hahn. We've got the premiere of Xiu Xiu's interpretation of Mozart's "Turkish March" which is one side of the 7". Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart explains his choice:

shayna dunkelman (who plays the song on marimba) is from a political stand point interested in the idea of the "exotic" as it factors into "tiki" music and "tiki" culture and has introduced it to the band. the idea of a musical pastiche of the "orient" or the "islands" or the "east" being turned into a something for distraction and relaxation by someone from the "west" is rife with complexity, problems, possible curious results and weird history. tiki culture is a result of the soldiers from the WWII pacific theatre going to the most beautiful places on the earth and then murdering people and being murdered. their minds and hearts were destroyed but in the most beautiful setting imaginable. they came home and wanted to escape what they had done, had done to them and had seen but did not want to forget the beauty of where it occurred. as a result tiki images are usually a bizarre combination of scary masks, references to the world beyond (death) and also gorgeous women with big boobs and flowers. it is peaceful and palliative but also thinly veiled in the horrors of war.

the turkish march is one of the first examples of "exotica" in western music. mozart had an idea of what turkey was, what the east was and he wrote a piece through that lens although it has nothing to do with turkish music or culture. in the same way that martin denny wrote quiet village. it has nothing to do with polynesian music at all but it his idea of what that imaginary world is for a western listener. it is both a type of reverence and a type of racist domination. in that they felt like they could take an concept they were moved by (this concept of course being an entire culture and history) and reduce it to a musical whim.

and titularly it is a comment on the syrian refugee crisis with obvious implications and parallels.