Daily Download: "Bog People," Xiu Xiu

Xiu Xiu's upcoming record "La Foret" is their best yet, still disturbing and emotionally confrontational, but more subtle and fairly trembling with disquieting beauty. Jamie Stewart is also embracing more than ever the beauty of his voice, rather than just the spookiness of it and the ability to sound scared shitless and a little bit out of control. At times on this record he sounds almost as velvety (in the same slightly kinky way) as Anthony of Anthony and the Johnsons. "Bog People," among the most up-tempo and energized tracks on a generally slow-moving, attenuated record, is propelled by what sounds like a manically strummed autoharp.