Xlinisupreme

cult shoegaze(ish) band Xinlisupreme released their second proper album ever

You may remember Japanese not-just-shoegaze band Xinlisupreme (actually a solo project but has been called a duo) from their excellent debut album Tomorrow Never Comes. It came out on Fat Cat back in 2002 (and was followed with a few EPs). The highly rated debut album got an 8.1 that year on Pitchfork, who remembered the band existed again 14 years later when they threw the same album on to their “The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time” list. Xinlisupreme, who even Pitchfork admitted “are perhaps the furthest [on this list] from shoegaze in the purest sense of the term,” barely made it on tothat list at #50. My Bloody Valentine obviously made #1 for Loveless, and scored #4 with their even older Isn’t Anything.

This week, Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi made us a list of music he’s been listening to, and Xinlisupreme made that list. “It’s what I always wanted My Bloody Valentine to sound like, but maybe even better,” Dylan wrote. He also mentioned that Xinlisupreme emailed him about their song “Seaside Voice Guitar” and explained “how they tried to create the supreme song, a song that would take the same amount of effort to create as an album.” That inspired us to do some digging which made us realize that Xinlisupreme returned this year with their second proper album ever, I Am Not Shinzo Abe. The album includes “Seaside Voice Guitar” (which appears to have first come out as a single in 2010), as well as reworked versions of some songs that previously appeared on their 2005 digital-only album Neinfuturer (which was released for free on the band’s website but since taken down). The new album is available to stream or download from various streaming/downloading services. That includes Bandcamp who also profiled the album and more specifically its politics

The latest Xinlisupreme album continues the loud-to-soft dynamic Okano has long explored, featuring slightly reworked numbers from his days on the Japanese label Virgin Babylon. Its songs touch on both screeching noise rock (“Zouave’s Blue”) and smoke-damaged takes on dance pop (“Oh Yeah”). Yet its politics are always front and center; an accompanying text is focused on Abe, and it is being released at a time when the Prime Minister finds himself embroiled in a much-discussed scandal. In some ways, “I Am Not Shinzo Abe” is reminiscent of YG’s “Fuck Donald Trump”—no metaphor or subtext, just a statement delivered with passion.

Listen to both the new album and the classic Tomorrow Never Comes below:

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