hypersongs

Fabulous Muscles

The third album, the most accessible of the early records.
Xiu Xiu, 2004

McCulloch produced it, with recording in Oakland and Seattle and mastering by John Golden. The credited line-up includes Lauren Andrews, Jherek Bischoff, McCulloch, Sam Mickens and Stewart, and the cover shows Stewart nuzzling a toy kitten. The title track was inspired by Iceberg Slim's Mama Black Widow, "Brian the Vampire" is based on a child Stewart met while teaching preschool, "Mike" honors a family member, and "Support Our Troops OH!" opposes the Iraq war. Stewart told PopMatters's Peter Joseph that on this record they really tried to write a pop record.

Metacritic scores it 80. Pitchfork's Matt LeMay gave it 9.0 and Best New Music, AllMusic's Heather Phares four stars, and Pitchfork put it at 50 on its 2004 year-end list. PopMatters's Adrien Begrand called it a remarkably accessible album and easily the band's best yet, and The Morning News's Andrew Womack noted its overt accessibility.

Track listing

  1. Crank Heart3:19
  2. I Luv the Valley OH!2:59
  3. Bunny Gamer (b)2:40
  4. Little Panda McElroy (b)4:25
  5. Support Our Troops OH! (Black Angels OH!)4:46
  6. Fabulous Muscles (Mama Black Widow Version)4:10
  7. Brian the Vampire2:38
  8. Nieces Pieces (Boat Knife Version)3:33
  9. Clowne Towne3:50
  10. Mike5:13

More from Xiu Xiu

Knife Play (2002), Fag Patrol (2003), A Promise (2003), La Forêt (2005), The Air Force (2006), Women As Lovers (2008), Dear God, I Hate Myself (2010), Always (2012), Nina (2013), Unclouded Sky (2014), Angel Guts: Red Classroom (2014), Kling Klang (2015), Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks (2016), Forget (2017), Girl With Basket Of Fruit (2019), Deforms The Unborn (2020), Oh No (2021), Ignore Grief (2023), 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips (2024), Eraserhead Xiu Xiu (2026)

Sources

  1. Fabulous Muscles, Wikipedia
  2. Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles, PopMatters (2004-02-29)
  3. Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles, The Morning News (2004-04-27)