The XX

Yeah, I think Low is a huge (and largely unacknowledged) influence here...

I said upthread that they reminded me of Insides X Colder.

― Tim F, Wednesday, 9 December 2009 02:08 (14 hours ago) Bookmark

Also Circlesquare maybe?

Ahem:

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, September 2, 2009 9:25 AM

huh they didn't remind me of low at all

oops sorry mattdc

This record is what I hoped the Young Marble Giants would sound like. When I finally got around to hearing that "classic" it left me cold. This is far better.

^insane

^^^

Low tend to harmonize much more often - like, almost constantly. The sense of intimacy is somewhat similar.

Further ahems:

Maybe some Bizarro World version of Low where they don't harmonise, and Alan can't sing...

― Bill A, Wednesday, September 2, 2009 10:20 PM (3 months ago)

As long as people keep repping for this lot, I'll keep hating.

you could say low, but that only makes as much sense as young marble giants and the cowboy junkies' trinity sessions. that is, pin-drop quiet, maximum loveliness, lots of space & reverb, a taste for understatement that perversely makes high drama of every nuance.

main difference IS the set of reference points and function. this is built around post-punk, r&b, disco and yeah maybe reflects dubstep. don't hear any of that in low, who rise more from doomy country & folk, vaguely gothic ambient stuff, and slowcore. so while the XX's fragile, silvery hush resembles lots of other "fragile, silvery hush" bands, it doesn't make them the same as.

actually, low = an entirely career built around liking the trinity sessions makes much more sense to me than the idea that either have anything to do with this.

"entire career" ahem

i dunno. i'm not saying it SOUNDS exactly like low, but i hear some in it, and frankly i could just as easily see low being a band these kids like as young marble giants, low is way more well known.

yeah, not saying that there isn't a similarity or that influence is unlikely, just that i don't see any "LOW WITH BAD SINGING HA!" kinda copycat thing going on.

Also Circlesquare maybe?

― Neil S, Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:53 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

ayo anyone digging this should def check out the really really good Circlesquare album from earlier this year 'songs about dancing and drugs' you will like it

finally got round to hearing this. no idea if anyone else feels similar as i cant scroll through this thread right now, but i like the dreaminess of what they do, but it does become a bit one-note after a while, and oddly a bit depthless. almost too wilfully mono-dreamy. as if they can do something else too but chose not to for some reason. at times im sure it sounded like the girl was almost going to giggle from all the straight faced oh so sincere innocence/sweetness. i like the idea of a band like this doing hot like fire and the cover is interesting but its so fucking coy in how it removes all traces of sex and suggestiveness from the song. pretty weird. i am going to keep listening to it but theres something a bit pastichey about what it does with its dream poppy showgazy influences, something missing. all perfectly executed, just not much gravitas to it.

*shoegazy

sudden vision of a shoegaze night on American Idol, kids belting out "Head On" and "Feed Me With Your Kiss" Broadway style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jte8gzCKsYs

kinda wish they capitalized "XX" tbh

xx is just smaller XX

In the New Yorker, SFJ excellent on The xx:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2010/01/25/100125crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=all

The article makes them sound not commercial...this is the reason I hate this group, they sound too packaged. There are any number of lesser known groups that do the lazy singing and minimalism but they don't sound as expen$ive.

pls name names

cozen beat me to it, genuinely curious.

prinzhorn dance school?

so inauthentic...so 'packaged'

i really like that piece. i sorta suspect i like it because he had to write about them from a position of dislike at some level

i love the idea of sfj storming out of an xx show "unexpectedly cross"

"Madley Croft and Sim exchange lyrics on iChat, and never discuss what they mean."

ugh. Makes me dislike this band more than I already do. I find it so unbelievably cheesy

why's that cheesy?

how dare people communicate via the internet this is an outrage

AN OUTRAGE

SERIOUS LYRICS MAY ONLY BE TRANSMITTED VIA CARRIER PIGEON

i still use telegraph tbh

prinzhorn dance school?

These guys are like The Fall Redux, and the xx are nothing like 'em.

It's not about "authenticity", it's about bad recording that doesn't do any justice to the chops of the singers. They are talented singers but they don't sound HUMAN. Also they sound so high school talent show, no distinctive personality. This has nothing to do with ideology, and I have no "authenticity" fetish, sometimes the recording doesn't fit the style of music.

how should they have been recorded?

Like, someone upthread mentioned the Cowboy Junkies, at least their records have a sense of naturalism to them. People are being sold a bunch of rubbish here, I am afraid, the reviews and marketing are manipulative like I'm supposed to "feel" something when listening to derivative high school talent.

w/humanity

so bummed to have been lied to, thx for getting these dang scales off my eyes

they're beat happening with all the noise sucked out & rough edges sanded off so that the space is pristine. variations on the same aesthetic choice imo.

u s steel i really don't think most people are having the same experience you are with this record.

I don't disrespect people for liking it, it is an appealing style, it's just that I think the press aren't doing their job if they don't realize how many artists are currently mining the same turf and have been for about ten years.

pls name names

― I think ur a probotector (cozen), Monday, January 25, 2010 8:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

cozen beat me to it, genuinely curious.

― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, January 25, 2010 8:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

For example, I have a subscription to emusic where every day I find twenty-two bands with this style. They are so ubiquitous it is impossible to name names. Why is it so important to you?

Try Colder or, as someone mentioned above, The Chromatics, both better groups. What rock are you living under if you don't realize the eighties thing is too influential right now?

what a disaster for humanity, and the press

wow dude pretty amazing you find 22 bands/day with this style yet can't remember their names well enough to type them out to me. a little concerned for you tbh.

on a related note, i fucking listen to the chromatics and have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

As a journalist, you are supposed to do research as part of your job, not just repeat what some marketing department tells you.

You would think "I'm just not feeling it" would be inoffensive criticism. As for the Chromatics, I am not the one who mentioned them upthread.

I am sorry, perhaps if you get defensive enough on this thread you can convince me of the emotional power of The XX. You want people to do you favors for free, you could be nicer about it.

lol honestly i was genuinely curious as to what bands you considered to be similar to this one. i care fuck all whether you like them or not.

but please carry on being a complete dick and not engaging with people who are trying to engage with you, i'm going to bed.

i don't think anyone really cares if u s steel is convinced of the emotional power of the xx, gotta say