The first and only time I’ve seen Xu Xu Fang live, it was at a KXLU benefit concert at the Fais Do Do (run by the coolest pimp ever, seriously). Not sure if there are still 13 people in the band, since the only photo I could find of them only has 5, but that night they had 13 or 14 and they killed.

Playing along with a full length film they made about Los Angeles (read: driving in the rain and blurry street signs), Xu Xu Fang unleashed a massive wall of rock.

They have a tuba player. And it’s great.

This album, Los Angeles in the Winter of ‘99, is fantastic. It’s almost like listening to a movie. It’s part radio drama (a man being chased, fearing for his life, lots of rain and Los Angeles noise, torture, etc.) and part awesome rocking. Often simultaneously.

I almost didn’t post this because when I went to their myspace, they douche it up by asking you to request their music at KCRW and Indy 103. Normally, that’d be enough for me to cut off a band forever. However, this record sounds nothing like the coma-inducing shit of either station, so I’ll forgive them. I dare KCRW to play anything off this record. Mr. Harcourt, please fucking christ, turn people onto something that would make the world less BORING. Please?