And good on them for that. (Reminds me of Disco Inferno in a way...)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 28 August 2009 13:34 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm not saying XX covers aren't good just that it's part of a trend which seems to usually not work
it's true that it's an annoying trend which usually does work - what's amazing is that in this case it works superlatively. they've covered 3 originals which i love every single note of, and done them in such a way that it seems totally natural that they should be played like that. that's an incredible thing to have done.
― lex pretend, Friday, 28 August 2009 15:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Just read the P4K review, and this:
The xx didn't need a gestation period, though xx is nuanced, quiet, and surprising enough that you might.
manages to capture exactly what I've been trying to express about this record when trying to sell my friends on it, but about twelve times more eloquently.
― MTLiens (Alex in Montreal), Friday, 28 August 2009 17:12 (fourteen years ago) link
only heard the tubes posted here, but i'm sorta ~almost~ really liking these guys. like its some uncanny valley thing, where it sounds enough ~like~ music i should like, but falls short in some minor and inconspicuous way
― crabRCISE (gbx), Friday, 28 August 2009 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
young marblemouth giants
― jergins, Friday, 28 August 2009 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link
I just wish they'd left all that ropey single-note straight eighth note guitar off the album. Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee. Young people need to be dissuaded from learning from the Bernard Sumner Guitar Method Series (bless, tho).
― cashew and green pea pulao (fields of salmon), Friday, 28 August 2009 19:22 (fourteen years ago) link
try listening with better audio than youtube tbh
― call all destroyer, Friday, 28 August 2009 19:29 (fourteen years ago) link
did so.
― cashew and green pea pulao (fields of salmon), Friday, 28 August 2009 19:30 (fourteen years ago) link
was talking to gbx i guess
― call all destroyer, Friday, 28 August 2009 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
i like this a lot, its use of space is really great & almost reminds me more of sade than any of the r&b references they mention ... like the idea that space between sounds implies sexiness that filling that space would not (things unsaid etc)
a whole lotta restraint shown by some kids who arent more than 19
i do think the affectations of the male singer are kind of a problem, tho. he sounds young, in a bad way, trying to front some confidence he doesnt really have
also found the kyla cover really boring ... a lot of what makes the og work is the way the smoothness of the vocals is balanced by such a muscular groove
― butthurt (deej), Saturday, 29 August 2009 10:11 (fourteen years ago) link
it's funny, when i saw them live i was kind of stunned by the male singer, there was something in his voice that hooked me, maybe it was the same thing that sounds wrong on the record to youse - the girl's voice i've heard before in guitar music with girl vocals, although she's got a great version of it, she has the kind of voice that you fall in love with on a radio, that you want to hold hands with but are terrified of frightening away. But the boy's voice had something strange in it, a tender sort of soulish thing that i couldn't place, that sounded familiar and utterly out of context.
― la belle dame sans serif (c sharp major), Saturday, 29 August 2009 10:24 (fourteen years ago) link
i think any complaint i might make is overrided by the THEY'RE 19 factor, that's just kind of amazing
here's to hoping they manage to be one of those indie bands that get their second record recorded in less than a year hey
― thomp, Saturday, 29 August 2009 10:34 (fourteen years ago) link
This is growing on me a bit. I like the ones with the rumbling dubstep-influenced sub-bass. Maybe they need a bit more menace to go with the fragility.
― Tuncay Stryder (Matt DC), Saturday, 29 August 2009 13:04 (fourteen years ago) link
There's definitely something about them, although they're a bit of a journalistic wet dream in terms of influences, style and age... Love Crystalised, but find the album a little slight. But good point made above, unusual for a bunch of young uns to be making such understated music. It'll probably grow on me.
― Wax Cat, Saturday, 29 August 2009 13:10 (fourteen years ago) link
In my major 'uh duh' moment of the day, turns out I have a promo copy of this album around that I was sent some time back -- but I have no memory of when! I need to clear my mail more often...
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 29 August 2009 20:00 (fourteen years ago) link
listened to this a few times now - not entirely sold. agree with someone upthread who said this seems to have all the elements of music i should like but just falls short somehow. lots of potential though.
― Roz, Saturday, 29 August 2009 20:06 (fourteen years ago) link
― thomp, Saturday, August 29, 2009 5:34 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i dont think this is really that mind blowing & certainly not unprecedented in pop music. how old were tribe called quest when their first album dropped
― butthurt (deej), Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:08 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, is 19 unusually young to be a good songwriter already?
― samosa gibreel, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:16 (fourteen years ago) link
kind of?
― tay zondven (k3vin k.), Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:18 (fourteen years ago) link
they are good songwriters -- whats surprising about them being 19 is more their restraint & the smoother reference pts ppl are making ... its not so much 'skill' that surprises, its that sophisticated sultry mentality i think ... but again im not, like, SHOCKED by this
― butthurt (deej), Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:23 (fourteen years ago) link
I was so prepared to hate this, but it's pretty inoffensive, and whoever has mentioned that the production has a really nice spatial feel is right -- it's a pretty cozy sound. That said: I don't totally dig these affectless, almost-drugged vocals. I guess they do the job w/r/t the sound, but they make each song basically indecipherable from the next, and it's kinda hard to care since it sounds like the vocalists barely care (the entire thing doesn't sound totally different than Bright Eyes circa 2005 on like "Lua," that tired, world-weary cosmopolitanism, and that kind of thing gets dated really quickly).
― Mordy, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:26 (fourteen years ago) link
(Though this "shelter" song is pretty gorgeous in some super-brief moments.)
― Mordy, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Eh, well the early songs on the disc remind me of The Cure. I like it (a lot).
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:32 (fourteen years ago) link
I never liked the Cure much.
― Mordy, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah it's okay but where's the Aaliyah, Missy, and Mariah Carey? Maybe they should work on The Meters.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, August 16, 2009 8:41 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
OTM, btw. There's nothing bouncy or joyous or alive about this music at all -- not that there's anything wrong with that but... Rihanna??
― Mordy, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I didn't dress or look the part, but I was a big Cure fan, back in the day. I kinda sadly felt like 80s revivalism was in it's "dying throes," but it's shown some surprising staying power even as 90s revivalism rumbles on the horizon. Long may 80s revivalism live.
(xp)
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link
its not so much 'skill' that surprises, its that sophisticated sultry mentality i think
yeah i can see that. alot of people who i know that are 19 are brilliant musicians, and a handful are even great songwriters. i think what this band has in abundance is not maturity or sophistocation but patience and precision, in the way they've crafted such a specific style and play it in such a controlled way.
― samosa gibreel, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:46 (fourteen years ago) link
as 90s revivalism rumbles on the horizon
i am afraid of this.
― samosa gibreel, Sunday, 30 August 2009 03:47 (fourteen years ago) link
thats totally already started d00ds
― butthurt (deej), Sunday, 30 August 2009 04:31 (fourteen years ago) link
examples?
― samosa gibreel, Sunday, 30 August 2009 04:33 (fourteen years ago) link
You wouldn't believe how many press releases I'm seeing with lines like "A band that's not afraid to dig out their flannel" and the like. And the bands pretty much all suck.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 30 August 2009 04:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm reminded a bit of the Everything But the Girl records that were more minimal, like their version of "Night and Day" and "The Paris Match". Not a bad thing. Hear the Cure ref too, esp. the stripped down "17 Seconds" era.
― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Sunday, 30 August 2009 05:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I like this. I like that it's not weighed down by its influences, either. The fact that we're struggling to pin down exactly what it sounds like is a good thing, I think.
― my dixie wrecked (Euler), Sunday, 30 August 2009 05:30 (fourteen years ago) link
If the no-nonsense t-shirts and jeans rock of the 90s came back (GBV, Grifters, Pavement) I'd welcome it with open arms over the theatrics and heavy style-over-substance vibe of the 80s that seems to have been going on lately.
This band sounds very good though from what I've heard, regardless of what era they take most of their influence from.
― Evan, Sunday, 30 August 2009 05:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Hi Evan. Do you want that Life Without Buildings album?
― jaymc, Sunday, 30 August 2009 05:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Uh... yes I do! Was going to buy it soon.
― Evan, Sunday, 30 August 2009 06:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Dude's voice reminds me of Tricky at points.
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 30 August 2009 06:18 (fourteen years ago) link
E-mail me (thru webmail), I'll hook you up.
― jaymc, Sunday, 30 August 2009 06:26 (fourteen years ago) link
That Everything But The Girl thing is spot on. I've been trying to put my finger on that particular itch for the last week.
― Doran, Sunday, 30 August 2009 09:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not familiar with EBTG beyond their '90s stuff but the songs upthread definitely reminded me of the Marine Girls in a way so, yeah.
I don't know if I'd like a whole album of this but those two singles are nice, I agree that the arrangements are great.
― Gavin in Leeds, Sunday, 30 August 2009 09:31 (fourteen years ago) link
This record would be perfect if the guy knew how to stfu.
― J4mi3 H4rl3y (Snowballing), Sunday, 30 August 2009 09:33 (fourteen years ago) link
I like this a lot but clearly everyone in the universe has forgotten about COLDER.
― Tim F, Sunday, 30 August 2009 09:51 (fourteen years ago) link
This is so much better than Colder, dude.
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 30 August 2009 13:47 (fourteen years ago) link
So finally listening to this in full and it's great, what's to hate? (All the complaints about the guy's voice upthread are baffling me! This isn't frickin' Wayne Hussey or anything, be thankful for what you got.)
YMG comparisons are a total red herring, the bass is too loud for that. The EBTG comparison does make more sense (the start of "Shelter") but I actually hear a lot of Jesus and Mary Chain circa Darklands in the initial tracks and I'm surprised they haven't been mentioned yet! (Then again the fact that we're throwing around a ton of references is to their credit, I figure.) "Fantasy" might be my favorite in terms of arrangement on first blush.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 30 August 2009 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Really digging this, what they most remind me of is early 90's shoegazer/dream pop band Breathless. But there's plenty of other stuff in the mix, Mezzanine era Massive Attack, Tricky, Felt, even a bit B&S with the interplay between the vocalists. I like the fact that people can't quite put their finger on a sole overriding precursor even if it does sound slightly familiar.
― Old Man of Hoy-ho Silver Lining (Billy Dods), Sunday, 30 August 2009 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Obviously the vocalist sounds nothing like Dominic Appleton.
― Old Man of Hoy-ho Silver Lining (Billy Dods), Sunday, 30 August 2009 14:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh and the Womack and Womack cover rules kthxbye.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 30 August 2009 14:43 (fourteen years ago) link
It's not that the guy has a bad voice or is a bad singer, it's just that whenever he starts singing, he strangely banalizes the whole thing. Still a very good record, though.
― J4mi3 H4rl3y (Snowballing), Sunday, 30 August 2009 14:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I dunno, rather than that the combination of his voice and hers reminds me -- more conceptually than in specific resemblance -- of things like Serge Gainsbourg's calmer duets, something about understated textures. It suits the songs and performances, it doesn't jar.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 30 August 2009 14:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Does anyone know when this is being released in the US?
It's currently $30 import on Amazon, which is insane.
― kshighway, Sunday, 30 August 2009 15:35 (fourteen years ago) link