I would go chronologically; the first album is the foundation and the 2nd and 3rd are extremes swinging in either direction from it; I feel like you get more out of the choices made on the later albums if you contrast them with how the first was put together.
― (The caption: “fine dining.”) (DJP), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 14:53 (seven years ago) link
latest favourites are : "Lips", "Violent Noise" and "Replica".I think by the end of the week I'll love the whole album !So far, there's only "Test Me" that's unclear to me. And "Dangerous" is OK but doesn't seem to have a big potential to grow on me.
― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 15:42 (seven years ago) link
I get the feeling that Romy has been listening a lot to The Studio and to Robert Smith's guitar playing - I hear a lot of familiar six-string bass riffs
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:56 (seven years ago) link
You're right, but he's used those tunings since the debut.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:57 (seven years ago) link
this is extremely corny wow
― marcos, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:07 (seven years ago) link
first ilm event album of 2017
― niels, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
i've had the chorus to "say something loving" stuck in my head for a week
― monotony, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 22:19 (seven years ago) link
feelings abt coexist itt so confused
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=222iz7UY_6E
― schlump, Thursday, 19 January 2017 00:04 (seven years ago) link
Sunset (Jamie XX remix) is tops as well
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Thursday, 19 January 2017 00:12 (seven years ago) link
reunion, sunset, missing, & swept away from coexist are all great
brave for you & performance are definitely the weaker tracks on the new one
― ufo, Thursday, 19 January 2017 01:24 (seven years ago) link
don't really get the hate for "performance" or "brave for you" - i wouldn't call the latter a heartbroken whisper at all, it's virtually an inspirational x factor powerballad (and all the better for it) albeit xx'ed down obviously. i love how direct the lyrics are on this, they're on the nose but somehow not too much (this band, all about the tightrope walk). sequencing is impeccable imo - makes "on hold" sound like such a release. the final track is a bit of a nothingy wisp i guess
― lex pretend, Thursday, 19 January 2017 11:19 (seven years ago) link
I feel like 'i dare you' is kind of this album's thesis statement
― KevRus, Friday, 20 January 2017 06:38 (seven years ago) link
Played some of these (three songs actually: hold on, replica and say something loving) early at a big event of 400 people in one of my bars today. Noone seemed to mind but noone seemed impressed either or came by to ask what I was playing - I played the new Jens Lekman song, as a contrast, and two different guys asked me what it was. When I play something off the debut every now and then (favorite plays are 'intro' 'Islands' or 'Shelter') I still get people asking me about them. My point is that these songs don't seem to bother anyone but they also fail to generare interest in newcomers.
Nothing particularly interesting in my post just wanted to share my social experiments with these songs so far.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Friday, 20 January 2017 08:56 (seven years ago) link
The use of David Lang on Lips is so great.
― Frederik B, Friday, 20 January 2017 09:30 (seven years ago) link
Say Something Loving is so easily the best thing they've ever done it's not even funny. i don't usually like them much but that's amazing.
― piscesx, Friday, 20 January 2017 11:54 (seven years ago) link
yeh i've had that song stuck in my head for days
― nxd, Friday, 20 January 2017 12:00 (seven years ago) link
The final track is not particularly memorable or developed but as an atmospheric piece to close the album, it's fine (funny that in the quietus review that generally destroyed the album, that final track is one of the few salvable tracks...).http://thequietus.com/articles/21551-the-xx-i-see-you-review
so, the only track I don't particularly like now is "Dangerous". I skip it most of the times.It's ok and not a dud though. a kind of club banger. maybe I'll warm up to it later.All the rest is good or, mostly, great.
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 20 January 2017 12:19 (seven years ago) link
Dangerous felt a little clunky at first but it's grown on me
― ufo, Friday, 20 January 2017 13:07 (seven years ago) link
Loving the closing one-two hit of Dare You / Test Me
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 20 January 2017 13:20 (seven years ago) link
I think the first thing that hit me on the album was the "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know" part. so good.There are so many little touches and beautiful moments on the record.And the funny thing is that I don't even like the male singer's voice ! he's pretty poor, borderline incompetent and out of place on an otherwise beautifully crafted record.
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 20 January 2017 14:40 (seven years ago) link
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx)
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 20 January 2017 14:58 (seven years ago) link
I kind of dismissed these guys back in the day, but stumbled upon it this morning and it's damn near prefect for what I was after (the first album). Was Graham Sutton anything to do with it? It might just be the limpid guitar lines, but it's really reminding me of Bark Psychosis.
― Sunn O))) Brother Where Art Thou? (Chinaski), Saturday, 21 January 2017 11:32 (seven years ago) link
I quite liked the debut and thought the second album had its moments, but I can't hear anything good in this at all. Imo their voices feel unbelievably grating now and the melodies beyond generic. I really don't get it, which I was not expecting based on all the hype.
― tangenttangent, Sunday, 22 January 2017 14:47 (seven years ago) link
this new album sucks
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 January 2017 21:05 (seven years ago) link
I'm not invested in this album one way or the other ('Performance' and 'Replica' have really nice hooks, but a lot of these sound too much like they were made to be on a Grey's Anatomy episode), but it's an interesting Rorschach test.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 23 January 2017 21:13 (seven years ago) link
I'm at the point where I am actively offended by yet another album of 80s synth pop sounds
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 January 2017 21:16 (seven years ago) link
Was in a hipsterish bar on Saturday working/writing. They put on the new album, which had given me little pleasure listening to it on my own, but there it worked. Everyone was enjoying it. I saw an odd group of twelve 60+ year olds who'd just come from the theater tapping their feet to it and making things among themselves less awkars. And I enjoyed hearing it in a social setting way more than alone at home, too.
Moka, your crowd is prob too cool for school :)
― Eine Kleine Nakh Musik (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 23 January 2017 21:16 (seven years ago) link
I'm not hearing much 80s synth pop in here at all? Lot of other bands have exhausted that well but this all sounds pretty new and fresh to me
― Evan R, Monday, 23 January 2017 21:21 (seven years ago) link
honestly my first point of comparison was the Thompson Twins
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 January 2017 21:29 (seven years ago) link
initial reaction, whatever
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 January 2017 21:30 (seven years ago) link
"I Dare You" has a similar beat to Chromatics "The Page"
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Monday, 23 January 2017 21:39 (seven years ago) link
Nearly all of it sounds like 80's post-punk to me. Even the ones that also sounds 100% like post-dubstep indie-rock, samples pop and neo-classical, or sounds more like r'n'b. I think it's impressive.
― Frederik B, Monday, 23 January 2017 22:09 (seven years ago) link
LBI: Hahaha yeah probably. It helps having three different sorts of bars to test music socially it's fun. Of course the XX seem more fitting for restaurants or cafes than a bar.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Monday, 23 January 2017 22:38 (seven years ago) link
Someone requested a spotify playlist. It's a private collaborative playlist so if I'm not around and someone wants to edit feel free to do so.
https://open.spotify.com/user/moteldemoka/playlist/18mDKKVGcU8NMzOqiZfho5
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Monday, 23 January 2017 22:45 (seven years ago) link
oops wrong thread
i've always found this band a slog at album length, but there are some nice moments. not 80s
― flopson, Monday, 23 January 2017 22:46 (seven years ago) link
The only tune which inspires nothing has no eighties signifiers: "Brave For You," and it reminds me of the pretty, vacant stasis of Beach House.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 03:24 (seven years ago) link
ugh no, Beach House are imperial, suspended in the ether, whereas "Brave for You" is much more mundane and self absorbed (and I feel a bit shitty knowing its origin, but I like what I like).
― attention vampire (MatthewK), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 03:28 (seven years ago) link
Have yet to hear the album but I read the Pitchfork profile where they mentioned they will be doing a mashup of Shelter and Gosh on their tour, which is hard to imagine sounding good
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 05:44 (seven years ago) link
https://youtu.be/GfuNovSeCiw they did the Shelter/Gosh mashup on a radio session and yeah it doesn't work that well. the Night Time/Swept Away/Shelter medley they were doing last tour worked much better
― ufo, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 05:55 (seven years ago) link
you may not like it, but "Brave For You" is an extremely obvious Beach House rip
― Number None, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 07:43 (seven years ago) link
As I anticipated, I now like all the songs (although I could do without "Dangerous" and start the album directly with the 1-2-3 punch "Say Something Loving"/"Lips"/"Violent Noise"."Performance" is a kind of closing song midway, like "Test Me" for the other half (and the whole album). Both songs follow 4 more upbeat songs.It's a great album with mostly great songs.That said, my only criticism may be that it's a bit slight and lacks some depth. There's a feeling of listening to a compilation of great tracks more than a cohesive whole.
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 10:15 (seven years ago) link
i like the length
― nxd, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 10:19 (seven years ago) link
yeah, me too, the length is not a problem.It's one of the rare albums that I don't find too long !But I don't know, there's something unsatisfactory about it.
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 10:31 (seven years ago) link
Oh no no -- I want short albums, the shorter the better
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 11:25 (seven years ago) link
anywhere ~30 mins for my drive to and from work is good for me haha
― nxd, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 11:29 (seven years ago) link
ah yeah, I think my ideal album would be around 10 tracks and 40min !
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 11:47 (seven years ago) link
when I see something with 17 tracks over 80min, I cringe.The 90s were a nightmare for me !
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 11:49 (seven years ago) link
Number None my apologies, I stuck out as much of Brave for You as I could stand and agree it's lifting from Beach House. RMS's voice is so unsuited to the form though.
― attention vampire (MatthewK), Friday, 27 January 2017 21:42 (seven years ago) link
Great remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eIYIqcqtqw
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Thursday, 13 April 2017 22:10 (six years ago) link