Winter’s end allows music lovers around the world time to reflect upon the music that was born from the cold and desolate months of the season
Similar to how root vegetables — seasonal to winter — were propagating beneath the soil last season, several artists were cooking up new songs.
“Xiu Mutha F****n’ Xiu”
Rock band Xiu Xiu released their covers album “Xiu Mutha F****n’ Xiu” on Jan. 16. It is a compilation of covers the group has been releasing on Bandcamp since 2020, now accessible to all listeners.
Xiu Xiu was founded in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart, and currently includes Angela Seo and David Kendrick.
This album contains a diverse range of songs that pay tribute to the band’s influences. From The Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” to GloRilla’s “Lick Or Sum,” Xiu Xiu makes each song their own. Their covers are infused with instrumental flourishes and ghostly, wavering vocals that haunt the listener. In an impressive display of musical ability, they transform these well-known songs into something unrecognizable, yet true to the title — undeniably Xiu Xiu.
Their cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” dramatizes the upbeat pop song with the addition of Stewart’s distraught vocals, turning it into something more cinematic.
Xiu Xiu has made moves to remove their music from Spotify in protest of the streaming platform’s military investments, so their music can be streamed from other platforms like Bandcamp or YouTube.
“Xavier”
Pivoting from the oldest act on this list, Xiu Xiu –– to the most contemporary, New York-based rapper xaviersobased released his 20-track debut album “Xavier” on Jan. 30.
While Xavier Lopez has been in the underground rap scene for a while, frequently collaborating with artists like OsamaSon and Nettspend, this release was his first full album.
The track “iPhone 16” begins with an atmospheric, nearly eerie melody. It is complemented by the deadpan delivery of the very contemporary lyrics that follow.
“Got a iPhone 15 and a 16, yeah / Drop a eighth, drop a sixteen / They been tryna steal my swag since I was sixteen.”
The combination of the melody, Lopez’s soft-spoken tone and the obscene subject matter creates an incongruity that elicits auditory enjoyment.
However, what Lopez’s album has in length, it does not make up for novelty. The 20 tracks are quite thematically and acoustically repetitive.
“Wuthering Heights”
However, repetitiveness is not always tedious. Pop artist Charli XCX’s soundtrack for the Valentine’s Day film “Wuthering Heights” was released on Feb. 13.
Though the inclusion of the “BRAT” artist may seem strange for an adaptation of Elizabeth Brontë’s gothic novel, director Emerald Fennell completely reimagines the film, allowing herself more leeway regarding period accuracy. The hyperpop soundtrack is one of many anachronistic elements of the film.
“Chains of Love” has cemented itself as the film’s anthem, perfectly encapsulating the whirlwind romance between the characters Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Songs like “Wall of Sound” and “Funny Mouth” are just as good at capturing the anticipation of the will-they-won’t-they dynamic that exists between the two lovers in the windswept world of Wuthering Heights.
The songs in the soundtrack share a similar structure. They begin steadily, then culminate into an orchestral symphony of synths and heavy reverb that captures the consequence of the romance.
“petal rock black”
On a note of grand music, Willow Smith released her seventh album “petal rock black” on Feb. 17.
In this self-produced album, Smith takes her already experimental discography to the next level. As the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith has worked hard to show how her talent transcends the label of “nepo baby.” Perhaps this can explain her stretching of musical boundaries and lean into experimental sounds.
In “petal rock black,” Smith incorporates elements of jazz and pop with her swooning, melodic vocals.
This is especially present in her last track, “ear to the cocoon,” which is a particularly hypnotic song. The jazz influence is present in the style of piano and light percussion. The bridge changes the flow and course of the song, marching listeners through a meditative procession of sound.
“Shelter me, Mother, with your ear to the cocoon / Ooh, shelter me, Mother, shelter me, Mother / You, petal rock black, oh, ah (Her luscious ache dreams a symphony, we all soar on, we soar on),” sings Smith.
Using her rushing, fluid vocals, Smith incorporates elements of spirituality by calling upon a higher power in her lyrics.
“Beautiful Disaster”
New York City-based electroclash duo MGNA Crrrta released their new mixtape “Beautiful Disaster” on Feb. 20, and are similarly interested in the otherworldly.
A project that started on a whim by Ginger Scott and Farheen Khan, MGNA Crrrta first entered the scene with their distinct girl-EDM sound and took off when they released “The American Experiment” in April 2022.
“Beautiful Disaster” seems to be emblematic of their sisterhood, with “BFF” being the first track.
“We’re twin sisters for real / In my Sims 4 world / We the best / BFF,” sings Scott.
Throughout the album, listeners are bombarded with relentlessly glitchy sounds and unapologetically bold fun. Their work draws upon their childhood inspirations of video game universes and alternate, alien worlds.
“Nothing’s About to Happen to Me”
Lastly, winter listeners tuned into Mitski’s eighth studio album “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me,” released on Feb. 27.
Mitski’s 14-year and counting musical career is providing fans with enough music to fuel crashouts for years into the future.
This new album shares the same melancholic tone as her previous work, which is no cause for complaint; it’s not broken, so she’s not fixing it.
In “Lightning,” Mitski meditates on the inevitability of death.
“If I’m dark, all the better / To reflect the moonlight / If I mourn, all the better / To behold the sunrise,” sings Mitski. “I can hear the song of my death / Singing for the lightning to come / Calling to thе thunder, ‘Polo.’”
As the final song of the album, it is a fitting place for Mitski’s musings on mortality. Perhaps the lyrics signify a reconciliation with these dark feelings, a sort of surrender to the call of the void.
From Mitski’s more brooding music to lighthearted releases from the likes of Mgna Crrrta, music listeners have been bestowed a wide berth of options to carry them into the spring season.
In any case, the latest albums from these artists prove they still have their careers ahead of them, and listeners are surely in for more.
Tessa Kang is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at tokang@uci.edu.
Edited by Corinna Chin and Joshua Gonzales