Ten in the Swear Jar
Accordion Solo!

If you read the comments on YouTube about some Xiu Xiu songs (especially from the early albums), you might notice discussions sparked by someone claiming that a certain song is a cover by another band. Unless you're listening to their version of "Ceremony" by Joy Division, the two most cited bands will likely have the improbable names IBOPA and XITSJ.

If the songs in question, despite actually being covers by these two actually existing bands, seem to have been not only arranged but also written down to the finest detail by Jamie Stewart, well, that's because they are.

Ten In The Swear Jar (often abbreviated to XITSJ where X is meant as a Roman numeral) were active for just one year from 1999 to 2000, and its five members all came from IBOPA (Indestructible Beat Of Palo Alto). These are the first two bands in which Jamie Stewart was the singer who recorded something. Their output is very hard to find, but Accordion Solo! is an album released in 2005 that contains live performances, songs, and live recordings dating back to the band's active years. Basically, it's a kind of Greatest Hits, I suppose, which also includes many of the songs redone by Xiu Xiu, which is why I decided to start getting to know this band.

The overall sound of Accordion Solo! is very close to that of early Xiu Xiu, given the very close temporal proximity of the two projects: minimal arrangements, bizarre synthesizers, moments of incredible calm alternated without any warning or pre-set plan with noisy and engaging moments (or just weird sometimes). Just look at the opening track: "Hot Karl," which with just a few keyboard effects and a lightly strummed guitar leads to a crescendo culminating in Jamie Stewart's distorted and frenetic voice. A solution that would open many Xiu Xiu albums. I think Accordion Solo! should be considered an album in its own right rather than something that precedes Xiu Xiu, as the style of XITSJ can be shocking both for someone approaching these sounds for the first time and for a Stewart fan, perhaps used to greater minimalism or a more rarefied or studied sound.

The main difference is the bizarre instrumentation. Besides guitar, bass, and keyboards, we find violins, accordion, and saxophone, which are often responsible for the most engaging moments of the album, taking from keyboards the primacy they will have in Xiu Xiu and perhaps surprising the listener even more with their unusual presence.
The percussion is much more conventional compared to Xiu Xiu's and along with the bass mixed notably better than in the future (but still played by Cory McCulloch, who I think delivers one of his best performances here) gives the impression of a more compact sound and indeed, that of a band of musicians playing the tracks live. There are no disorienting style changes that will characterize Stewart's future works (like the title track of "Fabulous Muscles") and in almost all tracks, the five play together forging a unique and absolutely indefinable style. An exception is the last studio track, "In the Blue Trunks J.H.", where only Jamie is accompanied by keyboards.

The album, as we said, also contains live performances and environmental recordings (which together last about four minutes), but the studio songs are the main interest, which together form almost 60 of the 74 minutes duration of the disc. Tracks of great impact alternate, such as "San Jose Fight Song," where bass and saxophone are the stars, supported by guitar, "I Love The Valley" and "Sad Girl," both quite different from the Xiu Xiu versions to deserve a listen (especially Sad Girl, played at double speed and with the entire instrumentation), or "Sita Deth," which alternates a half-whispered and half-yelled (literally) verse with a chorus that would give rise to a choir if placed anywhere else, to quieter tracks like "I Don't Play The Drumz," "Gauntlet Of Thor The Destroyer" with its unpredictable crescendo, and "Leg Show," slow and haunting like few songs. Amid these extremes, some songs remain in limbo, like "Worry Boy," "King Earth," and "House Quake II," always on the verge of bursting and never doing so, or "Helsabot," which we find played at a brisk pace in the form of a pleasant nursery rhyme. Worth mentioning is also the incredibly sunny and calm interlude of "When You Write," a cover of IBOPA.

Accordion Solo! ultimately presents itself as a monolith of unconventional sound where nothing is repeated twice. Perhaps because of this, it's a bit indigestible but doesn't shy away from being listened to only in parts or even without following the tracklist. This is because at the end of each piece, you'll inevitably wonder what awaits you in the next one.