As we reported last week, London trio Xaviers are currently on tour with Wire, supporting the band for the UK leg of their current tour. These shows mark the first time the trio, made up of Bo Ningen’s Yuki Tsujii (guitar) and Akihide ‘Mon-Chan’ Mona (drums) and visual artist Kenichi Iwasa (synth/percussion), release recordings of their work, previously only performing live. However, they’re doing so with a caveat: to preserve some of the ephemerality of their music, they’re recording each night’s show, before mastering it on the move and then, the day after, uploading it to their SoundCloud, where it will be available to stream and download for free, but solely for the duration of that day. They’re also burning a limited number to CDs, which will be available at the venues.
They’ve uploaded their first recording of last night’s set in Newcastle (after some rapid mastering in a local branch of Wetherspoon), titled ‘Saint Nicholas’ – have a listen below:
While each night will be different, sometimes centring around overtly motorik or noise directions, ‘Saint Nicholas’ finds the band firmly on experimental form, opening with a spacious soundscape focalised around Iwasa’s synth before moving into more freeform territory, with Tsujii’s mutated guitar tones caught by the undertow of Mon-Chan’s trademark frenetic drumming, ramping up to a furious, driving final third.
Stay tuned to the band’s SoundCloud for each successive instalment (see the tour dates below) and their Twitter for updates.
SEPTEMBER
Thu 19 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Fri 20 – Arts Centre, Norwich
Mon 23 – Komedia, Brighton
Tue 24 – Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Wed 25 – The Fleece, Bristol
Thu 26 – Gorilla, Manchester
