The XX

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

young marblemouth giants

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).

try listening with better audio than youtube tbh

did so.

was talking to gbx i guess

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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...

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.

i think any complaint i might make is overrided by the THEY'RE 19 factor, that's just kind of amazing

― 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

yeah, is 19 unusually young to be a good songwriter already?

kind of?

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

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).

(Though this "shelter" song is pretty gorgeous in some super-brief moments.)

Eh, well the early songs on the disc remind me of The Cure. I like it (a lot).

I never liked the Cure much.

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??

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)

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.

as 90s revivalism rumbles on the horizon

i am afraid of this.

thats totally already started d00ds

examples?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hi Evan. Do you want that Life Without Buildings album?

Uh... yes I do! Was going to buy it soon.

Dude's voice reminds me of Tricky at points.

E-mail me (thru webmail), I'll hook you up.

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.

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.

This record would be perfect if the guy knew how to stfu.

I like this a lot but clearly everyone in the universe has forgotten about COLDER.

This is so much better than Colder, dude.

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.

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.

Obviously the vocalist sounds nothing like Dominic Appleton.

Oh and the Womack and Womack cover rules kthxbye.

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.

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.

Does anyone know when this is being released in the US?

It's currently $30 import on Amazon, which is insane.

No idea if you mean the physical disc. But, fwiw, the XX is now on eMusic in the U.S. market.

Thanks, Daniel. I'm on the lookout for the physical disc, but I might just have to go for Amazonmp3 or something.

Does anyone know when this is being released in the US?

xxis scheduled to be released on October 20th in North America.