Xiu Xiu

With his warbling voice and visceral lyrics, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart is the crown prince of uncomfortable music. Xiu Xiu’s experimental electro-pop songs come laced with themes of despair, self-flagellation and abuse, with a tone seemingly tailored to disturb Red State America. Yet it’s Stewart’s unflinching honesty about taboo subjects that makes him so thrilling. His masterfully composed albums overlay intricate drum programming and dark-wave synthesizers with his on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown delivery. Typically dramatic is Xiu Xiu’s latest release, Dear God, I Hate Myself, a bent-pop opus that marries pitch-black subject matter to infectious melodies. Avant-garde bedfellow Tune-Yards (one-woman show Merrill Garbus) shares Xiu Xiu’s penchant for vocal affectation. Garbus blew minds when she opened for Dirty Projectors last November with percussive, ukulele-driven lo-fi. With Brooklyn’s post-punky Talk Normal rounding out the bill, this is a Monday night lineup worth busting out to see.