Editing Fabulous Muscles (section)

==Reception==
{{music ratings
| MC = 80/100<ref name=Metacritic>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/fabulous-muscles/xiu-xiu|title=Reviews for Fabulous Muscles by Xiu Xiu|publisher=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref>
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]] 
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|last=Phares|first=Heather|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/fabulous-muscles-mw0000332342|title=Fabulous Muscles – Xiu Xiu|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite journal|date=April 2004|title=Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles|journal=[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]|issue=189|page=88}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Cokemachineglow]]''
| rev3score = 68%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815175348/http://www.cokemachineglow.com:80/record_review/1169/xiuxiu-fabulousmuscles-2004|title=Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles|website=[[Cokemachineglow]]|last=Betz|first=Chet|date=February 24, 2004|access-date=April 27, 2025}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev4Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{cite journal|date=May 2004|title=Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles|journal=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|issue=126|page=105}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev5Score = 9.0/10<ref name=pitchfork>{{cite web|last=LeMay|first=Matt|date=February 17, 2004|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8826-fabulous-muscles/|title=Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=May 8, 2013}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Stylus Magazine|Stylus]]''
| rev6Score = C<ref name=stylus>{{cite web|last=Gottlieb|first=Akiva|date=February 25, 2004|url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/xiu-xiu/fabulous-muscles.htm|title=Xiu Xiu – Fabulous Muscles – Review|work=[[Stylus Magazine]]|access-date=July 1, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330104952/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/xiu-xiu/fabulous-muscles.htm|archive-date=March 30, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Tiny Mix Tapes]]''
| rev7Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=TMT>{{cite web|author=Amneziak|url=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/xiu-xiu-fabulous-muscles|title=Xiu Xiu – Fabulous Muscles|work=[[Tiny Mix Tapes]]|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[URB (magazine)|URB]]''
| rev8score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref>Ultimately, Xiu Xiu builds something sacred from tiny moments of pain. [Jun 2004, p.90]</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev9Score = C<ref name=Christgau>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=November 30, 2004|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgvts-04.php|title=Consumer Guide: Mine Enemy the Turkey|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=December 13, 2016}}</ref>
}}
''Fabulous Muscles'' received mostly positive reviews. On the review aggregate site [[Metacritic]], the album has a score of 80 out of 100, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".<ref name=Metacritic/> Critics were generally receptive to the album's more accessible sound.

Heather Phares of [[AllMusic]] wrote that ''Fabulous Muscles'' "might be the best expression of Xiu Xiu's unrepentantly original music; even if the world that the band creates isn't necessarily one you'd want to visit all the time, it remains fascinating."<ref name=allmusic/> ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''{{'}}s Matt LeMay also praised the album, writing, "Though there are many notable high points to ''Fabulous Muscles'', its overwhelming consistency is what cements its place as Xiu Xiu's finest. The album does not contain a single hiccup or yawn-- no extraneous noise, no potentially offputting histrionics, no throwaways and no dull moments." The album also received a "Best New Music" designation in the review.<ref name=pitchfork/> Adrien Begrand of ''[[PopMatters]]'' praised it as "more focused and direct" than ''A Promise''.<ref name=popmatters>{{cite web|last=Begrand|first=Adrien|date=March 1, 2004|url=https://www.popmatters.com/xiuxiu-fabulous-2496118811.html|title=Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles|work=[[PopMatters]]|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref>

[[Robert Christgau]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' panned the album, writing, "The musical parsimony, cultural insularity, moral certitude, and histrionic affectations of these lo-fi artier-than-thous promise indie ideologues whole lifetimes of egoistic irrelevance."<ref name=Christgau/> ''[[Stylus Magazine]]''{{'}}s Akiva Gottlieb wrote, "Obviously, Stewart has a penchant for self-examination—some of it brilliant and incisive—but [their] work is also obnoxiously self-indulgent."<ref name=stylus/>

''Fabulous Muscles'' has appeared on a few end of year lists. ''[[The Morning News (online magazine)|The Morning News]]'' named it the 7th best album of 2004.<ref name=morningnews>Womack, Andrew. [http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/opinions/the_top_10_albums_of_2004.php The Top 10 Albums of 2004]. [[The Morning News (online magazine)|The Morning News]]. 20 December 2004. Retrieved 1 July 2011</ref>  [[Pitchfork Media]] ranked ''Fabulous Muscles'' #50 on their list of the top 50 albums of 2004.<ref name=Top2004>Pitchfork Staff. [http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5934-top-50-albums-of-2004/ Pitchfork: Staff Lists: Top 50 Albums of 2004]. [[Pitchfork Media]]. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 1 July 2011.</ref> In addition, the same website ranked the song "I Luv the Valley OH!" #176 on their list of the Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s, with reviewer Brian Howe writing "A great Xiu Xiu song is like someone actually hurting himself, right in front of you. This ["I Luv the Valley OH!"] isn't their most violent effort, but it's their most scouring; a place where mortar-round drums pound down on rolling bass and chiming guitars, unsubtly conveying the painful insight that some dreams have to be razed, not realized."<ref name=Top500Tracks>Pitchfork Staff. [http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7686-the-top-500-tracks-of-the-2000s-200-101/3/ The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s: 200-101] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818054914/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7686-the-top-500-tracks-of-the-2000s-200-101/3/ |date=2011-08-18 }}. 18 August 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2011.</ref> The album also placed 19th on Tiny Mix Tapes favorite albums of 2000-2009.

Brandon Stosuy of ''Pitchfork'' described the album as "brilliant" and a blend of "circus music and shattered death disco".<ref name="Pitchfork 2006"/> In a review of Xiu Xiu's recent album ''Oh No'', Brian Howe of Pitchfork described the title track as a "mini-masterpiece."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Xiu Xiu: OH NO |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/xiu-xiu-oh-no/ |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref>