Mar Vista, California’s native sons and daughters, Xu Xu Fang, are a dark-and-brooding, slow-and-rolling musical experience like something you’d hear at a Laserium show or listen to on big headphones in the back of a conversion van. The first single and video, Noir State Beach, from the band’s upcoming, 2014 full-length album, (featuring guest duet vocals and bass guitar by Michael Shuman of Queens of the Stone Age) premiered on RollingStone.com. Rolling Stone wrote, “Xu Xu Fang’s music is so moody and emotional that it almost demands a visual accompaniment.” The video stars actor Luke Grimes (American Sniper/50 Shades of Grey) and is directed by long time Spike Jonze collaborator Casey Storm. In rotation on Los Angeles tastemaker radio station KCRW, Consequence of Sound describes Noir State Beach as “Stunningly beautiful moments amidst the chaotic buildup of spiraling distorted guitars.” Noir State Beach is featured in the Season 2 Premiere of The CW’s The Originals, and is included in Entertainment Weekly’s TV Jukebox: The Week’s Best Music-On-TV Moments; a Spotfiy playlist and feature about the song. The band’s new single and video (directed by Ladytron member Reuben Wu), Friend to the Unknown, premiered on VICE’s music site, Noisey. The video is also the subject of a behind-the-scenes article about the making of Friend to the Unknown on VICE/Intel’s The Creators Project. KOMPAKT Records released Noir State Beach The Remixes 12" vinyl at the end of 2014.

Hailed as “local innovators,” by the Los Angeles Times, Xu Xu Fang’s 12” debut single, These Days, received initial praise in the UK’s MOJO Magazine; the same place where producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Bobby Tamkin, enjoyed similar overseas success as a member of The Warlocks. After touring in an opening act with Foo Fighters, Tamkin sent the Xu Xu Fang single to The Onion, who wrote, “Enormous, dark, psychedelic, and beautiful, Xu Xu Fang is full of meditative moods that haunt the diaphanous triangle formed by Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and Sigur Ros.” Xu Xu Fang produced The Mourning Son ep in 2008, and Pop Matters wrote, “Xu Xu Fang is not satisfied with playing straightforward, albeit fantastic, music. It’s not hard to tell there is something truly great brewing throughout.” Television show Gossip Girl licensed multiple songs from the self-released ep, skyrocketing it to #3 on Amazon’s Psychedelic Rock Album Chart. Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) raved, “Fuck me sideways, if this isn’t some of the best new music I’ve heard.”

The band recorded a version of The Cure’s Fascination Street for a The Cure tribute record. A mainstay on Sex Pistols Steve Jones’s radio show Jonesy’s Jukebox, and featured on USA Today, Pitchfork wrote, “Xu Xu Fang take ‘Fascination Street’ on a trip through Massive Attack's Mezzanine, with static crackle, flutes, and a portentous tom beat inverting the sentiment from wide-eyed wonder to heavy-lidded menace.” LA Weekly called it, “A deep psychedelic meditation, a beautiful recording.” Xu Xu Fang produced the Seven Days Now ep, and Pop Matters jumped on it, writing, “Even in its brevity, the effort is just as poignant and as powerful as most full-lengths. That is what makes Xu Xu Fang both so much fun to listen to and just so damn good.” The single, Your Way, premiered on Gossip Girl, and was named, Today’s Top Tune, during KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Seven Days Now hit #1 on Amazon’s Trip Hop Album chart, and #4 on Amazon’s Psychedelic Rock Album chart. This reignited interest in The Mourning Son, giving Xu Xu Fang 3 Top 5 chart positions on Amazon.