The XX

anyone else listening to them? probably the best new music i've heard all year. they describe their influences as everything from Aaliyah to Cocorosie, Rhianna to The Cure, Missy Elliott to The Chromatics and Mariah Carey to The Pixies which may sound a little pretentious but is pretty OTM.

first single "crystalised":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pib8eYDSFEI

full album stream
http://www.we7.com/#/album/xx-Exclusive-album-preview-!albumId=367943

New single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHZVGqqf3gg

http://www.kspace.tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/the-xx.jpg

Don't get this band. They seem to have become this year's Token Indie Band for the dubstep crowd (exhibit A - The Lex likes them) but I thought the album was just blank and nothingy and a bit dull. Maybe I need to give it more time.

I'm really enjoying the record. I can hear some of the influences namechecked above for sure, but the minimalism reminds me of Young Marble Giants more than anything. Not musically, but in just how spare the arrangements are.

I also dig the way that their image seems completely incongruous with the music.

this v good record am enjoying greatly

They sound like a slightly less dynamic Morcheeba. If I want moody poseurs playing emptily doomy music I'll stick with the new Horrors album I think.

The male singer is a total snooze; he perks up when the girl joins in.

They're phenomenal live. They blew The Big Pink off stage in London a few months ago.

(Which, on reflection, isn't saying that much.)

the album's ok... gets old fast

but the minimalism reminds me of Young Marble Giants more than anything

This is my favorite thing to use a reference as well.

That said, outside of "Crystalised" being one of my favorite songs of the year, I think the album is pretty boring.

are these guys actually ok? whenever indie bands run thru their list of influences + it has stuff like aaliyah, missy &c then i start rolling my eyes. it's like myspace pages w/ crunk

this might be unfair

Yeah it's okay but where's the Aaliyah, Missy, and Mariah Carey? Maybe they should work on The Meters.

Both of those singles sound incredibly boring to me. Certainly not hearing Missy or the Pixies

I can hear Pixies-lite...

Listening to this just makes me want to listen to that live version of Gus Gus's "Believe" instead

Uh influences is just that, influences. Doesn't mean they will use the sound of mentioned band/artist. Which thank god they didn't do. I'd hate to hear Pixies mixed with Mariah. Love'em both but not at the same time.

"Uh" then how exactly are they influenced by them? And Strokes/Christina Aguilera worked so why not Pixies/Mariah?

Personally I hear Xanax references

sounds like stripped down balearic tunes being packed in a form of soul ballad. 'shelter' is pretty great, till the moment one realise that it goes nowhere.

never mind the balearics

here's the XX

wow "basic space" is really really good

this is the sort of minimalis indie that i can handle - everything is v confidently & carefully arranged. basically the complete opposite of micachu.

as previously mentioned, though, I feel like it goes nowhere. I keep waiting for the song to begin.

because of the RIHANNA! MISSY! AALIYAH! name dropping i was all ready to hate on this like crazy but it really won me over real quick. "basic space" is the only one i've listened to so far but i really think it has a great sense of build, and they add on hooks as the song progresses (even into the final minute). i keep coming back to micachu, but i feel like that stuff just takes one or two ideas and plays it out all smashed together for three minutes with no real regard or care for 'proper' arrangement. ('proper' in the sense that it was well thought out not in the sense that there is an objectively 'proper' way to arrange a song.) (and this is not to say that all music needs to be properly and artfully arranged & planned out like a mansion is being built [altho i would say that i probs lean towards music that is made like that more often than not] but that i think with twee-leaning stuff like micachu the sloppiness & bareness can get really grating where something like, idk, early green day would not)

otoh "basic space" just has this sense of professionalism and knack for structure that i think is most prevalent in stuff by people like - GASP - the-dream & that's where i could see some r&b influences and it's v impressive

i'm really glad i got into them before i read any of the bio/influences stuff, which have...not very much to do w/their music. i like the stillness, the carefulness, the clean production and bare-bones arrangements. disagree that the songs go nowhere - as i remember there are some really great builds on the album. it's "moody" in the best sense. 'basic space' is prob my least favourite on the album (tho).

aw fuck there's a micachu remix of "basic space"

i think i'll be fine w/never hearing that

ok listening to this now. i love the combination of shoegazey ethereal harmonies with the steady bare-bones arrangements - the vocals are blurry but everything else is in such sharp focus. am reminded somewhat of the kills in their attitude to repetition.

OOH they are playing london this week.

I thoroughly enjoyed this when I gave it a listen the other week, but I can't say that I've been inspired to listen to it since. It was pleasant but there was something a little sterile about it. Geir-friendly, perhaps.

the difference between really liking this and finding it "pleasant but sterile" is in the margins i think

Wouldn't this be a lot better with only the girl singing ? The guy's voice sounds really dull. Nice production and some cool songs though.

'basic space' is prob my least favourite on the album (tho).

Mine too.

as previously mentioned, though, I feel like it goes nowhere.

That's the problem with a majority of the album. It sounds like they got bored with whatever idea they worked out and moved on to the next one. "Crystalised" is the only one, to me, that feels fully fleshed out (but I do love the instrumental "Intro" regardless).

I only listened to the track on the Youtube video embedded above, having been enticed by the interesting set of quoted influences, but found it very tedious. I just don't want to hear songs with that kind of numbingly boring, uninspiring chord sequence or that tired-sounding vocal style. I never liked that style in the first place but it seems even worse now, being rehashed for the umpteenth time.

Relistening, "Basic Space" isn't terrible but still isn't my thing. Certainly doesn't "suck" though, and I give them mad props for doing something that really isn't being done atm. The sound quite mature for whatever age they look in these videos/pix.

I am loving this. So nice and sparse, almost Young Marble Giants-ish in places.

Xpost

Saw them on Friday at a free show in NYC, purely by accident. Liked them more than School of Seven Bells, also on the bill, FWIW.

British, sparing, sometimes melancholic. I might have too much of this stuff already. But maybe not.

almost Young Marble Giants-ish in places.

Argh, stop saying this. This is nothing like YMG.

Some of it kinda is.

But not enough. Another friend says this sounds like the Vaselines, which is also not quite accurate.

Someone tell me why I keep coming back to this thread even though I only like two songs on the record! Maybe I feel like a mother hen or something because I've been gushing over "Crystalised" since months ago and, even though the album was disappointing, I still feel loyal.

the biggest problem with this album is that all the songs sounds the same, and as mentioned,going nowhere.

somehow most of the new hyped british bands in recent years are dissapointing.

TS: X vs The X vs The XX ....

vs The Ex

It's not a perfect album by any stretch but in some respects there's nothing wrong with a band doing an album that all sounds the same. Loads of good albums sound pretty similar all the way through on the first few listens.

If anything I wish they hadn't included the slightly different sounding track. Not because I don't like it but because it's too much like 'Wicked Game' by Chris Isaak.

because it's too much like 'Wicked Game' by Chris Isaak

Ha! I definitely heard that in there too.

Also, the first track, to me, sounds like a Foals 45 played at 33.

They just played Roskilde as well. Absolutely amazing, and I don't get how they do it, and why nobody else just does the same... It looks so simple.

i see the XX are playing next week here in Los Angeles. i want to go but seeing Spoon with the Shins this weekend. anyone going?

Glastonbury show is here for anyone who didn't catch it on the bbc

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5rw4wb

properly excellent.

This album is settling in and really is one of my favorites of the year, despite feeling lukewarm-at-best about "On Hold" and "Say Something Loving".

Their live show is pretty spot on right now; enjoy it if you go

Yeah the album and your has turned out to be a real victory lap for them.

seeing them tomorrow. have very fond memories of seeing them w/ phantogram at the wiltern in 2010. I am very excited.

their live performance is what really sold me on the new songs, esp On Hold

Dear god perfume genius is amazing

xp went into this thinking album 1 was still my favorite, but you are right - the new songs were excellent, maybe better, live.

bit unfortunate that drunk person behind us sang awfully during the quiet moments of the show closing angels, then presumably got embarrassed, and so doubled down by moaning for the entire back half of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZRnk971u4M&

can't say i saw her going full on new order pastiche, but i'm not upset about it either. song's decent, i suppose.

so-so. I love her voice but this isn't a particularly good vehicle for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPqUcVbAbzw

oliver solo single, produced by jamie. it's not great

wonder if that romy solo album is ever going to turn up, let alone a new album from them as a band

Yeah, this isn't amazing but I like it a lot more than her single from a couple years ago.

Was really hoping this revive would be news about a new record but oh well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r4I6tz72Q4

this one's very good, feat. jimmy sommerville from bronski beat

sim solo album out in september

Wow, that's beautiful.

yeah, this is fairly epic. definitely unexpected and better than than the one from a while back.

here's "fruit" from a bit ago, which i missed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6xflB8Vv60

it's alright.

wow so it's FIVE YEARS since their third?

was 5 years between 2nd and 3rd but it doesn't sound like a 4th is on the way anytime soon

happy that oliver is getting this out. i recall being very excited about romy's album, which purportedly existed (i'm sure there was even a big guardian interview where she talked in detail about it) but we're approaching 2 years since she released "lifetime" and nothing else has materialised

oliver's album is pretty forgettable unfortunately, "hideous" is the only real highlight. jamie's production is just not that good outside the constraints of the xx's sound

i checked & while romy did say that an album was planned for 2021 when "lifetime" was released, she also said it wasn't finished yet with a lot more work planned, so i guess she still hasn't finished it yet for whatever reason. there' s an interview from last year where she said she's been learning how to produce for herself.

Oliver Sim has cancelled his solo tour. While I don't love the album, a few songs have grown on me.

I like "Never Here"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aFF09jjZwk

another track from romy at last

I remember the Dazed cover story from ... 2020 when the album was supposed to come out lol. Almost as bad as Sky Ferreira

really enjoying Jamie's own stuff this year tbh including the remix of Sim's 'GMT'

ideally romy's love of trance will make it into the next xx album

good track would sound nice b2b "believe" by cher

'Hideous' reminds me a lot of La Force's 'Mama Papa' from a few years back - would expect xx types to be a fan of her (that track especially)

is this band over? I heard a song by them the other day and realized I'd kind of forgotten about them.

it looks like they have all pivoted to DJing instead.

Oliver put out a solo album mentioned above that was not dj'ing

Romy just sang live with Fred Again, and while Jamie XX is dj'ing -- he creating a recent Notting Hill Carnival track himself

romy is working on a very slowly gestating solo album, jamie has been putting out the occasional solo track too

figure they'll make another album in a few years once romy's released hers, they still seem to be all on good terms

romy is onto something good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6gGG7u0dbE

The Romy album is out today and it's fantastic

it's quite good, makes me hope the eventual next xx album goes full deep house

Shazam’d a song and was pleased it was from this album.

this is pretty solid

This is truly the year of retro '90s house

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/arts/music/romy-madley-croft-mid-air.html

Growing up, she explained, the first music that spoke to her identity as a gay woman was mostly what she jokingly referred to as “lesbian acoustic music.” “I’ve always fought against that,” she said. “The reason there’s electronic music in the early demos of the xx is me, wanting to make something else.” She readily credits a new generation of rock and indie acts with broadening the scope of queer guitar music, but “indie, and rock, that’s not really my thing now.” She came to a firm decision: “I want to make dance pop.”...She mentioned Everything but the Girl — which Madley Croft’s parents raised her on — or even Cher’s “Believe,” which she cited as her favorite song. But rooting the anthemic big beats is inspiration taken from more sober moments in her life: processing the grief of both of her parents’ deaths before she was 21; her ongoing struggles to conquer self-doubt and adapt to a new romance.

“She makes very catchy melodies. That’s the thing that always gets me,” Jamie xx said in a phone interview. He noted that the album was filled with earnest tracks that “could become really big pop songs — and could be super cheesy — but there’s always a level of restraint and classiness that she brings to it.”...In early 2018, she was paired for a songwriting session with a young up-and-coming producer named Fred Gibson, a.k.a. the now white-hot musician Fred again.. The chemistry was immediate. “He has a very magical charm — which is amazing, as a songwriter and a producer — to make someone feel at ease,” she said.

She mentioned Everything but the Girl — which Madley Croft’s parents raised her on

I always thought she had a very similar singing style to Tracey Thorne.

I desperately want extended versions of Loveher and She's On My Mind. just gorgeous songs.

https://consequence.net/2024/01/the-xx-new-album-confirmed/?

They should add more members to the band so that they can also do solo albums first.