A Promise
by Xiu Xiu
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Xiu Xiu bestography
A Promise is ranked as the best album by Xiu Xiu.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to A Promise on YouTube
A Promise track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
A Promise rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 48 minutes ago)
ForegroundNoise
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Showing all 15 members who have this album in their collection
A Promise ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 110 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/03/2026 20:31 |  Helios | 6,208 | 69/100 |
| ! | 06/01/2026 15:25 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,418 | 70/100 |
| ! | 02/22/2026 07:05 | thepardunk | 2,587 | 69/100 |
| ! | 01/20/2026 06:06 | ZacXavier | 14 | 62/100 |
| ! | 06/20/2025 18:31 | Invader666 | 2,622 | 65/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.8/100, a mean average of 76.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.2.
A Promise favourites
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A Promise comments
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I don't like this album, but I do respect it as a subversive piece of uncomfortably personal art. Unfortunately, the only track I would even consider listening to again is Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl. The rest just kind of gives me a headache and makes me sad at the same time. (Edited)
seb7 11/09/2022 05:00 | #291159
erotic, provocative, authentic and simply beautiful
Xiu Xiu was formed in 2000 in California by Cory McCullough, Yvonne Chen, Lauren Andrews and Jamie Stewart, Stewart becoming the sole master on board over the years; which does not prevent Xiu Xiu from sailing between unbridled noise rock and sophisticated electro. Xiu Xiu's sound is a mix of clear-sounding percussion, mega-synths, dance-to-hell rhythms, melodies and vocals by Jamie Stewart. The opener "Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl" is misleading in many ways, it attracts us with a nice guitar melody, before being joined by a floating synth work and Jamie's vocals. The greatest strength of the album is the ability to go from ugly to beautiful in seconds, in a litany of different ways. As I listen to this album more and more, this work continues to reveal things to me. It's an album that gives me the feeling of being completely naked, only alive and human. The most beautiful moments are: the sudden explosion of synths in "Apistat Commander", the fall in seconds of all instruments in "Sad-Redux-O-Grapher", the way "Blacks" makes you want to dance on a confused synth melody that lasts only 10 seconds. This 2nd album is for me the best album of Xiu Xiu although "Fabulous Muscles" is really excellent.
10/10
Best track: "Apistat Commander"
A few of these songs don't contain enough interesting hooks, lyrics, or melodies for them to be memorable.
Favorite tracks: Sad Pony Guerilla Girl, Apistat Commander, 20,000 Deaths
B+
What did I just listen to.
Nice album cover tho
johnner 04/01/2014 16:58 | #108253 | TOP COMMENT
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This album is the definition of a slow-burner which just gets better with each listen. It is brilliant.
I want to listen to this but the album cover is so hideous and I'm scared of having it on my chart if I end up really loving it.
Hayden 05/30/2012 21:42 | #43301 | TOP COMMENT
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Why does this have to have such a fucked up album cover....Great album.
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