The noise/DIY scene of the mid-’00s was characterized by an incredibly high tolerance for “difficult” musical experiences. In many ways, the petit arms race to fortify our listening habits with the avant garde while competing with a handful of unknown bands to create the most challenging music possible was ironically juvenile and provincial. A preoccupation with abrasive experimentalism is not exactly a recipe for toe tapping or hummable melody, and many of us obscured the more enjoyable elements of music-making and listening in favor of weird shit.... But not Xiu Xiu goddamn it.

No other project of the most formative era for our band even comes close to so perfectly combining the elements of free noise, drone music, and experimental electronics with raw emotion, melody, and choruses. Nobody else even had choruses. Not many of us are left of this particular vintage. Most of the scene moved on to DJing house and starting podcasts. Xiu Xiu is still making great and uniquely moving music. We are simply happy to get the chance to be a part of it. What did the Minutemen say? “Mr. Narrator, this is Bob Dylan to me.” Yeah, something like that.