ctrl f teardrops
― butthurt (deej), Tuesday, 1 September 2009 04:09 (fourteen years ago) link
lol
― cutty, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 12:29 (fourteen years ago) link
from Pitchfork:
The xx:
09-05 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic09-06 London, England - Offset Festival09-17 Bristol, England - O2 Academy *09-18 Bournemouth, England - O2 Academy *09-20 Birmingham, England - O2 Academy *09-21 Leeds, England - O2 Academy *09-22 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC *09-24 Newcastle, England - O2 Academy *09-25 Manchester, England - O2 Academy *09-27 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire *09-28 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire *09-29 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire *10-01 Bristol, England - Cooler10-02 Oxford, England - Jericho Tavern10-03 Newcastle, England - Cluny10-04 Manchester, England - Deaf Institute10-05 Glasgow, Scotland - Captain's Rest10-06 Liverpool, England - Korova10-07 Nottingham, England - Bodega10-13 Berlin, Germany - Lido10-14 Hamburg, Germany - Gruner Jager10-15 Cologne, Germany - Luxor10-16 Munich, Germany - 59 to 111-19 Austin, TX - The Mohawk #11-20 San Diego, CA - Casbah #11-23 San Francisco, CA - The Independent #11-24 Sacramento, CA - Sacramento State University #11-25 Portland, OR - Doug Fir #11-26 Vancouver, British Columbia - Venue #11-27 Seattle, WA - Neumo's #11-30 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club #12-01 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge #12-02 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix #12-03 Montreal, Quebec - Les Saints #12-05 New York, NY - Webster Hall #
* with Florence and the Machine# with Friendly Fires
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 02:50 (fourteen years ago) link
so far no Los Angeles dates?
they do have two days open when in California however.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 02:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I was gonna say, all too tempting a gap.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 03:12 (fourteen years ago) link
gotta say, i'm really happy i got to see them in such a small venue the other week. a converted church hall w/tiny capacity. the perfect venue for them.
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 08:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I'll be seeing them in a c.200 capacity venue - just the job.
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 08:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah that M Ward song with Lucinda Williams from his last album popped into my mind when listening to a couple of these tracks - not really the arrangement but the combination of voices.
The other thing this reminded me of was LOW - who evidently aren't as fashionable a touchstone as, I dunno, dubstep or whatever.
― Tuncay Stryder (Matt DC), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 09:25 (fourteen years ago) link
The dubstep mentions don't really make any sense to me; it's minimalist indie with some deep bass and pop touches.
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 09:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Perhaps Colder crossed with Insides to be really precise about it.
thats a mouth-watering description! i've just been listening to it, a bit low-key to come to any decisoin about it yet. dont hear too much Insides though (and i LOVE insides, no breathy bjorkesque vocals and head spinning dreampop guitar)
― Michael B, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 13:05 (fourteen years ago) link
The xx?
More like the zz, right?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Wrong, this is a pretty nice album; quiet, contemplative, competent and simple. It won't be my favorite of the year but I'm glad I grabbed it as it's provides a nice contrast to the varying flavors of bombast I've been wallowing in (mostly Bat For Lashes and Telefon Tel Aviv).
― a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine (HI DERE), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
10-04 Manchester, England - Deaf Institute
...must resist obvious joke...
― Peinlich Manoeuvre (NickB), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
dan, you're not listening to the first telefon tel aviv album then? 'cause that is seriously the most soothing album of all-time.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 21:45 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm listening to the last Telefon Tel Aviv album; I'll get to the first one eventually.
― a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine (HI DERE), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 21:47 (fourteen years ago) link
it's incredible but very different from the stuff with vocals (which i haven't listened to very much)
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 21:54 (fourteen years ago) link
The other thing this reminded me of was LOW
Maybe some Bizarro World version of Low where they don't harmonise, and Alan can't sing...
Still feel like the grinch on this - it's ok when he's keeping shtum, but the songs and arrangements are so pedestrian. And the whole "they're so clever, just 19" stuff is bollocks - there's rafts of artists who've done *amazing* stuff when in the flush of youth.
― Bill A, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 22:20 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, but few of them have quite coincided with being feted by the uk indie press in this decade, i think is a part of the thing, there
― thomp, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 22:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I can't believe somebody already made the "The ZZ" joke :'(
― balearific, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 22:41 (fourteen years ago) link
It had to be said.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 22:53 (fourteen years ago) link
She is a much better singer than he is but I really, really, really dig their New Order-influenced minimalism.
― cherokee flux (HI DERE), Thursday, 3 September 2009 20:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i always know i can count on dan not to be all "hes not a bad singer because he sounds just like [bad singer from another indie band]"
― butthurt (deej), Friday, 4 September 2009 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Not sure how that follows...?
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 4 September 2009 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
i dont understand it either! im agreeing with dan
― butthurt (deej), Friday, 4 September 2009 00:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh right, I had missed the 'not' in your first post and I'm all "Wait, what?"
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 4 September 2009 00:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm usually skeptical about bands citing influences 'from pixies to mariah carey blah blah blah', but this is really good
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Friday, 4 September 2009 13:50 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah digging the tautness of it
― Gigolo Grasiento (baaderonixx), Friday, 4 September 2009 13:52 (fourteen years ago) link
On the homepage of Cokemachineglow.com, the subtitle for their review of this record reads: "RIYL: divisiveness, Hegelian dialectics, vague hostility, red eye Greyhound trips."
― kshighway, Saturday, 5 September 2009 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
^^ Winning subtitle
― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 5 September 2009 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
having avoided their recorded music, will be seeing these guys live tomorrow, yay for free festival tickets! i'm sure i'll be able to conjure a suitably damning/awed verdict.
― They are known for contracting the ugliest players, like Kuyt (country matters), Saturday, 5 September 2009 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
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'.
― Old Man of Hoy-ho Silver Lining (Billy Dods), Sunday, 6 September 2009 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
when or how did jeff stelling talk about this?
― I for one welcome this new Nazi ILX (Local Garda), Sunday, 6 September 2009 15:18 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/06/recrod-doctor-jeff-stelling
― N1ck (Upt0eleven), Sunday, 6 September 2009 15:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Recrod?
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 6 September 2009 15:33 (fourteen years ago) link
jeff stelling's words pretty much sum up my feelings about what i just saw
― kevision questler (country matters), Sunday, 6 September 2009 23:37 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― lucas, Sunday, 6 September 2009 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
these guys are good music for when I don't feel like hearing music at all. I mean this as a compliment
― flowers for algernod (The Reverend), Monday, 7 September 2009 05:41 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^ 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.
― Tuncay Stryder (Matt DC), Monday, 7 September 2009 08:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Good way of putting it.
― flowers for algernod (The Reverend), Monday, 7 September 2009 08:39 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― kevision questler (country matters), Monday, 7 September 2009 18:13 (fourteen years ago) link
'infinity' is ok in a bland ham-sandwich way
― kevision questler (country matters), Monday, 7 September 2009 18:14 (fourteen years ago) link
so is the rest of the album, and boy they do bland soooo good.
― samosa gibreel, Monday, 7 September 2009 18:32 (fourteen years ago) link
different shades of grey: there is tedious bland and there is interesting bland. the xx belong to the latter.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 7 September 2009 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― ❊❁❄❆❇❃✴❈colinda❈✴❃❇❆❄❁❊ (I know, right?), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 01:38 (fourteen years ago) link
or as this utube comment puts it:
TasselToff (9 hours ago) 0 ReplyI love Oliver Sim <3 He's sooooo hot!!!!And the music is amazing, I love how chilled it is, yet soo meaningful!!! Dutty!
― ❊❁❄❆❇❃✴❈colinda❈✴❃❇❆❄❁❊ (I know, right?), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
hmm...this is one of those ILX things that sort of fascinate me, like i am totally mystified by the love for this.
― President Emeritus, Fancy Chord Club (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Freak.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
haha yeah i guess.
they sound like a local band.
― President Emeritus, Fancy Chord Club (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 02:20 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― super-gay-crazy bitch-made devil-racist beast-mode swag (The Reverend), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 02:20 (fourteen years ago) link