Monday, 15 March 2021

Xixa - Genesis

Monday, a new week and it's time to present "Record Of The Week".

"Genesis" is the sophomore album by the mystic desert rock XIXA. Formed in the heart of the deep American Southwest, XIXA is a guitar-slinging six-piece, uniquely attuned to the desert and their Latin roots. Combining gritty guitars, the bumping grind of chicha, and desert blues into a mesmerizing stew. They're also a band whose time had come to define what they call "The New Southwest"-intense, sun-bleached music shot through with an inky gothic horror that scans like the long-lost soundtrack to a cult, macabre B-movie Western.

Their debut record, 2016 "Bloodline," saw them inject heavy fuzz guitars and Latin pulses into sandy rock and roll, a potent mix that took them all over the world for two whole years. For 2019s EP "The Code" they blended psych-rock, cumbia, goth rock, cowboy folk, and windswept desert blues into a dark, simmering occult.

On "Genesis" we find that XIXA delving deeper into their admiration for Peruvian chicha, extracting and refining their core, and giving voice to their most primal instincts. Informed by the band's rich history as songwriters and storytellers, they've carved a wider space for their psychedelic rock to swell, a place where scoundrels and coyotes roam free, and magic runs deep in the earth. It is the ultimate desert trip.

"Genesis" contains ten magical tunes with a playtime of forty-two minutes. It's a wonderfully sprawling story, Morricone feeling that lies over the album like a piece of silk, from the opening tune "Thine Is The Kingdom" that serving an atmospheric and epic landscape, soaring and summoning vocals. Throughout the album, the band has a great balance in the musical roots of the modern Americana and the Latin rhythms where they serve us a "smörgårdsbord" of liveliness, dance-friendly rhythms, with very great creativity that gives a wide and innovative result. "Land Where We Lie" gives us some singing by the Uummannaq Children’s Choir, the summer Latino inspired "Eclipse", the psychedelic rocker "Soma", the high tempo world music piece "Eve Of Agnes" featuring Imarhan (Algerian Tuareg desert rock quintet), that species of the tune with some Saharan desert vibes. "Velveteen" is a far-out psych beauty that follows up by the Latino galloping "May They Call Us Home", a spaghetti Westerns with Morricone floating in the space. The half-paced Tom Waits-sounding piece "Nights Plutonian Shore" is a real beauty of the blackened post-apocalyptic world and the vocals from Gabriel Sullivan are so deep and powerful and with Sergio Mendoza on piano. The album closes up with the country's slow-burner "Feast Of Ascension" in the best possible way. The album is a thrilling ride for those rockers and poppers with open minds. I really dig this and I have always been weak for bands that dare to take the turns a bit. So I do recommend this!

The lineup of XIXA consists of twin percussion (Winston Watson on drums and Efrén Cruz Chávez on Timbales and percussion), keyboards (Jason Urman), bass (Hikit Corbel), alongside twin guitar leads (Gabriel Sullivan and Brian Lopez who both share lead vocals).

Sum: This is the long-lost soundtrack to a cult, macabre B-movie Western.

Today's tune "May They Call Us Home", taken from "Genesis". Written and Directed by Charlie Stout - http://www.charliestout.comFeaturing Howe Gelb as The Enlightened OneMystic Bolo-Ties by Heliotrope - http://www.heliotropemetal.com, Enjoy!



More info @

Official Xixa Web

Listen to ”Xixa - May They Call Us Home" on Spotify!



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