“Directed by David Horvitz and Jamie Stewart, the video for “Hi” features footage
shot on a crazed road trip through the decaying bizarre and gorgeous of upstate
New York, photos taken throughout 2010-2011 Xiu Xiu world tours, and sneaking
out during wee hours to burn dolls in church courtyards throughout Durham, NC,
amongst other bad acts: throwing copies of Dick Cheney’s autobiography in a Barnes
& Noble garbage, graffiti lyrics next to a gas station sink, and Jamie lighting his hand
on fire.”

hi. for the past several weeks i have been obsessed with live, for pay sex cam sites.  i tried a couple of times to look at them in a sexual way, pulling it and ichatting with the person on the screen. but i am a cheap skate and it gets expensive very quickly. not surprisingly it also gets depressing very quickly. the people working, while generally very nice, seem as well generally either bored, desperate, sad or pretending. how could one not?

certainly there must a lot of people for whom this line of work is fun but mostly its seems not so. the sexual element in a base animal way is still there but it became impossible to get into it when people’s true emotions were so plain.

the more i looked the more interesting it became in an aesthetic and sociological way. it became more a chance to look at how people were dressing, did they pretend to be happy and enthusiastic, did sometimes people actually seem to be really happy? and most of all what kind of space were they working in. people from every continent. you can even choose which.

the most amazing one i saw was, A SCHOOL CLASSROOM!!!!!!!!, with rows of desks in the background.

once there was a wide shot of a man’s living room and he was walking out his front door carrying 2 huge gallon jugs. he had a cat in the room and a disco ball in the back ground and the cat then jumped on the disco ball and knocked it over. all in real time, in what is supposed to be a paid sexual context. amazing moment in life. the man came back in the front door without the jugs, was again on screen, looked at the disco ball, sat down at the cam and cracked open a beer. there was a trumpet next to his desk.

however, in all of this seedy (or not) exploration, the most intriguing scenes where when a person was not there at all. they had stepping away from the camera for invisible reasons but the camera was still on showing where they worked. this might be the case with one out 100 people to choose from. there are rows of photos to click on and sometimes the photo is just the room. it seems like the cam refreshes the image one sees at random every few minutes and sometimes people have stepped away at that moment. frequently they have returned and you find them there even though their icon shows an empty room. it was like a treasure hunt to find who was really still gone and take a screen shot.

this whole world seems like it could be the greatest performance art space in human history. it is touching and honest and terrifying and stimulating and enlightening and filled with a dear and challenging sorrow and humor.

look over there >>>——>

http://soundcloud.com/xiu-xiu-music/xiu-xiu-hi

a free download of “Hi” the first single from the new xiu xiu record Always

is above

the lyrics to “Hi” are below

if you are wasting your life say hi
if you are alone tonite say hi
if you wish he should die say hi
hi, hi
if you have a hole in head say hi
if you have a stitch in your wrist say hi
if when you look at the sky it is black and shredded

a sliver of bone could get caught in your throat, well silence is golden
a shard of bone sticking out of your arm, well blood is beautiful

ch
if your curtain is closed and you are still standing be-ind it
if there is a rag in your mouth
broken glass will shine for with the moon
if your body is quit and you forgo residing in it
rat’s feces lay your tongue
broken hearts will shine for with the moon

if you have eaten it all say hi
if your bra is on fire say hi
if your bed is a living hell say
hi, hi
if you don’t know what to say say hi
if you have poked out your eyes say hi
if when you open your arms Ferdinand gores you in the chest

have you seen your face as of late, the hippopotamus is beloved
half a crocodile hanging out of its mouth,  with the village rejoicing

ch
if your curtain has closed and you are still standing behind it
if there is a bomb in your mouth
broken glass will shine for with the moon
if your body is wrong and you regret residing in it
Jack  razor blade at your throat
broken hearts will shine for with the moon

Xiu Xiu – Hi by Xiu Xiu

http://soundcloud.com/xiu-xiu-music/xiu-xiu-hi

the album ALWAYS will be released on February 28th in Europe/UK by Bella Union Records & on March 6th in thee rest of the earth by PolyVinyl Records.

Always will be released on white 180 gram vinyl and there will be 500 limited edition copies of translucent pink 180 gram vinyl available via Polyvinyl mailorder. A collage poster of Xiu Xiu tattoos and scars accompanies the LPs.

EUROPE UK  PREORDER ~

Europe/UK Preorder

Preorders

“if you look around my studio, you will see papier mache Deaths everywhere. Deaths of every size and color…”

“yes,” the interviewer interrupted, “however, i am not referring to the popular representation of death, but rather to the death that awaits all men.”

“in that i am even more mexican,” said rivera. “to me that death is the same as the popular death.”

January 5, 2012 is National Bird Day….

• The beauty, songs, and flight of birds have long been sources of human inspiration.
• Nearly 12 percent of the world’s 9,800 bird species may face extinction within the next century, including nearly one-third of the world’s 330 parrot species.
• Many of the world’s parrots and songbirds are threatened with extinction due to pressures from the illegal pet trade, disease, and habitat loss.

you can help my making a donation here, at the link below:

GREEN PEACE