Angel Guts: Red Classroom

About

Angel Guts: Red Classroom is the ninth studio album by Xiu Xiu, released on February 4, 2014. It was released in the US via Polyvinyl Records and in the UK via Bella Union. The album was recorded in the Los Angeles home studio of frontman Jamie Stewart, and in the Dalla, Texas studio of producer John Congleton. Angel Guts is Xiu Xiu's follow-up studio album to its 2012 Alway. The title of the album is based on the 1979 Japanese erotic film Angel Guts: Red Classroom. Its themes include "racialized sex, double suicide, double penetration, criminality, fear of physical harm". Tiny Mix Tapes described the album preview as "the most Xiu Xiu album ever released", darker than its preceding album, and "the sound of Xiu Xiu's death". Record label Bella Union compared the album's tone to that of Suicide, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Scott Walker. The album was recorded at Nurse, the home studio of Jamie Stewart, and the Elmwood studio of producer John Congleton in Dalla, Texa. The instruments on the album are limited to analog drum machine, analog synthesizer, and a drum set. Stewart's songwriting was influenced by his move from North Carolina to a crime-ridden area of Los Angele, as well as the aforementioned erotic film. Stewart's home was near "a park divided among four gang, a lake routinely dragged for bodie, a building wherein two infant skeletons were recently uncovered". The album's first single, "Stupid in the Dark", was released via Pitchfork on SoundCloud on November 20, 2013. The album was released on February 4, 2014 in the US via Polyvinyl Records and in the UK via Bella Union on CD, clear vinyl, limited-edition red vinyl, and as a digital download. Music videos were made for "Stupid in the Dark," "Botanica de los Angele," "Cinthya's Unisex," "Lawrence Liquor," "Bitter Melon," "El Naco," and "Black Dick." The latter two were premiered on non-music websites rather than YouTube ("El Naco" on a horror site and "Black Dick" on a porn site). .

via Last.fm

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