The XX

Jeff Stelling gives them the thumbs up, 'Interesting harmonies. The song was a bit dull, I thought, but there's something there I quite like'.

when or how did jeff stelling talk about this?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/06/recrod-doctor-jeff-stelling

Recrod?

jeff stelling's words pretty much sum up my feelings about what i just saw

OK, I saw this band at Leeds Festival this year having heard three of their songs once each. They were my second favourite after Radiohead and I'm loving the album, especially Islands. Much better than Florence and the Machine, who're apparently a shoo-in for the Mercury. I hope The xx's album at least gets a nomination for next year's prize.

these guys are good music for when I don't feel like hearing music at all. I mean this as a compliment

^^^ OTM. I've actually only found myself putting this on when I'm not in the mood for anything else at all, and just want something blank to hang there.

Good way of putting it.

ok having listened to the album a couple of times, i really dislike their aesthetic and their songs, sorry

it's the kind of knowing understatement in lieu of actual songwriting or developed narrative which is both cowardly and uninteresting

'infinity' is ok in a bland ham-sandwich way

so is the rest of the album, and boy they do bland soooo good.

different shades of grey: there is tedious bland and there is interesting bland. the xx belong to the latter.

looks like we have a new release date here in America, according to Amazon:

This title will be released on October 6, 2009, on Beggars Xl Recording.

i get the aaliyah thing inasmuch as I can imagine liking her for the same reasons you might like Italians do it better ie detached vocals adrift in beatscapes. Saw them at a festival with really bad sound and thought their whole schtick was The Birthday Party via JAMC (that teardrops cover sounded like Red Right Hand drowning in reverb) and was at first disappointed at the reality. But then I watched the video for Crystalised based on the fact that I saw a photo of the guy and they've made him look like he just wandered out of the Warehouse or something, he's got this streetsmart hot boy swagger thing, and I reallly like his vocals and how they just sit really unhurriedly in those lethargic grooves. I could kinda take or leave the girl, and she's a bit random indie chick sounding and her haircut is hella retarded. Still, I'll be over this in like a week and by then this'll be on a car ad.

or as this utube comment puts it:

TasselToff (9 hours ago) 0 Reply
I love Oliver Sim <3 He's sooooo hot!!!!
And the music is amazing, I love how chilled it is, yet soo meaningful!!! Dutty!

hmm...this is one of those ILX things that sort of fascinate me, like i am totally mystified by the love for this.

Freak.

haha yeah i guess.

they sound like a local band.

xxp I have a very opposite reaction, I think the chick sounds totally cool and the dude is the most dead-sounding person on Earth

"dude you should really come with us friday, our graphic design guy ryan has this band with his girlfriend, they are really cool, really unique, they do a lot cool stuff that mixes rock and more electronica, i totally think you'd dig it, it's really different"

Yeah but your local band would just be doing bad Garbage impressions.

haha Ned otm

hmmm i might take that actually

like i liked what everyone was saying on this thread, and minimalism is dope usually

but i guess to me good minimalism sort of uses the space to suggest something "outside" of what's there, like some sort of magic happens, and it sort of hypnotizes you...but this just seems like...modern rock songs that are unfinished or something.

anyway y'all are digging it and i'm just being a dick so i am over and out.

yeah there's definitely an unfinished-ness about it, that in some songs is just fine or unnoticeable and in others a bit of a drag. unrelatedly they all look really strange and not-how-i-would've-expected, in press photos atleast. where did they put all that attitude when they record this darling little album?

m@tt what do u think of young marble giants?

fwiw i do agree w you to a degree

i kind of think the songs themsevles are pretty hit or miss & theyre getting a lot of love for an aesthetic that is glossing over some so so traXX

think 'shelter' is a banger tho (& yeah the dude's voice sounds totally put-on in an annoying way)

got about half way through the album but i'm afraid to say it hasn't really grabbed me. kind of sounds like the knife, but more deadpan, less european, less melodic and synthy.

In what way does it sound like The Knife?

deadpan vocals, icy drums'n'synths

admittedly i've listened to half the album once, but those were my first impressions.

Are you sure you were listing to The XX and not something completely different?

maybe fever ray?

That's what his description reminded me of as well

I'm not sure 'deadpan' is an adjective I'd ever apply to Karin's vocals either.

i'll go back and listen again... i haven't really got the hang of these slow-lectro groups (chromatics, glass candy). that's more what it reminded me of, but yeah i only gave it a cursory listen so far.

It does actually sound like the Chromatics to be fair.

chromatics are a lot more deliberately blank though - the xx's style is fairly obviously emotional. they're also a lot warmer than the knife.

i like that they're not the sort of band that you'll get after one cursory half-listen.

i'm still a bit wtf @ the lex liking this btw

No, it makes sense if you know The Lex's taste a bit deeper.

No, I mean this sounds like it could go next to the Moderat album on someone's shelf but I'm just surprised he wasn't immediately gung-ho about hating it based on it having guitars in it since it really does sound a lot like the Chromatics and he could barely contain his vitriol over them iirc.

yep and the real mystery is that the dude actually gets paid to write about music

chromatics are alot more melancholic and melodramatic than just "deliberately blank", and if you can't see that the "blankness" is clearly a deliberate part of the xx's mystique, even down to the all black uniforms and sullen photo shoots, then you need to try harder

I didn't like the Chromatics, and I do like the XX. There's some other quality there.

forgive me that burst of vitriol in my first sentence

those who have seen the band live - does drummer dude actually play drums on the pads of his MPC or is it all sequenced?

i just like that they're very quiet a lot of the time. the traded off vocals remind be of the bit at the end of that damien rice song tho :-/

he plays the pads, I think he had a snare and tom too but I was very far back

dude actually gets paid to write about music cos he's good at it: it's not exactly a mystery.

the drummer is super intense! i remember more sequencer-fiddling and button-pressing than hitting pads w/ sticks but he certainly wasn't pressing play and leaving it at that.