Xiu Xiu & Dirty Beaches

Split Record Store Day 7-inch

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Mar 30, 2012

Record Store Day (April 21) is still a few weeks away, but dark popsters and tourmates Xiu Xiu and Dirty Beaches are letting the masses in on both sides of their limited split seven-inch a little early. Online you can stream each act's contribution to their shared platter, which arrives via Polyvinyl, and, well, both tracks play it cold and creepy.

First up is Xiu Xiu's take on synthpop icons Erasure's 1994 hit "Always," which flips the euphoric feel of the clubby original for lo-fi soundscapes made of drum pulses and leader Jamie Stewart's unruly, reckless falsetto.

Dirty Beaches' attempt at Françoise Hardy's "Tu Ne Dis Rien" is even more unsettling, with the French pop number being broken down to a dank and decrepit mechanized waltz beat, swirling wind chimes, and Alex Zhang Hungtai's Lurch-styled mumblings.

You can stream the Xiu Xiu track here and Dirty Beaches' here.

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