Xiu Xiu

Nina Xiu Xiu

2013 release from the Avant-Garde/Experimental outfit. With an artist as wide-ranging and prolific as Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart, it can be hard to put into words what, exactly, his music sounds like. But when it comes to Nina, he certainly doesn't sound like himself. Nina is a thank-you note, a love letter and a kind of musical fan-fic for the late icon Nina Simone. This being Xiu Xiu, of course, Stewart's tribute album is far from a collection of straight covers. Rather, he and long-time collaborator Ches Smith bring Simone into focus through their own avant-dark lens. To that end, Nina was recorded in just one day, all in first or second takes. In doing so, Stewart captured the immediacy of the feelings that inspired the record.