A lot of great music exists out there. But NBN can’t devote a slot to every CD that hits shelves, especially for bands most of you have never heard of. So, that’s where we come in. Due to our indie-leanings here at One-Click Wonders, we catch all the music too obscure for the main page, and offer up a quick take on it. For our first speed trial ever, we have Xiu Xiu’s Women as Lovers

Taking Xiu Xiu seriously can be a tough task. The Oakland-based group deals in emotional extremes, singing about depression and depravity in ways that would make even the most bleeding Emo heart blush. Sometimes it works, like on past standouts “I Luv the Valley OH” and “Apistat Commander” which capture personal pain gloriously. But other times, lead singer Jamie Stewart sounds almost comical, singing about absurd and violent subjects (bondage, the AIDS virus) and blurting out random phrases (”This is the worst vacation ever. I am going to cut open your forehead with a roofing shingle” being one of the weirdest). Xiu Xiu’s latest, Women as Lovers, skirts this absurd-serious line frequently, featuring some of the band’s most sincerely soul-crushing work to date and some of the group’s dumbest moments. Plus an “Under Pressure” cover to boot.

Album opener and popular Maury sentiment “I Do What I Want, When I Want” captures Xiu Xiu at its disfuntional best. Propelled by softly muttered lyrics, random blasts of saxophone and creepy backing “doo-doo-do-doos,” the song is one of the group’s most melodic numbers. Following songs “In Lust You Can Hear the Axe Fall” and “F.T.W.” sound much more downtrodden, loaded with shouted vocals and near-breakdown level lyrics. Most of the songs on Women as Lovers never reach the peaks established by the first three songs, but “No Friend OH!,” “Puff and Bunny” and excellent album closer “Gayle Lynn” come close. Xiu Xiu’s latest stays consistenly solid throughout, but the truly dumb moments stick out badly. “Guantanamo Canto” contains politically-charged lyrics as clumsy as the song name, while “You are Pregnant, You are Dead” somehow tops it in the stupid song title department. Dumbest moment goes to “White Nerd,” an awkward song featuring a line about a specific tribe of Native Americans (I forget which at the moment). One of the lamer moments in the otherwise awesome history of Xiu Xiu.

If you like Xiu Xiu, Women as Lovers is a great treat consistenly showcasing the band’s best and stupidest. Not their best effort, but a step up from 2006’s The Air Force. Oh, and the “Under Pressure” cover? Damn good, albeit weird. But what would you expect from this band?

“I Do What I Want, When I Want” video