The XX

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jamie's solo single is really good

http://pitchfork.com/news/40241-listen-debut-solo-track-from-the-xxs-jamie-smith/

yeah i dig this - great loop

seriously, this is great

it's like... dubstep + the flair of hercules & love affair

this is the only album ever where i've experienced the dinner party cliche in actual reality

I was at a private beach bar thingy in Nice a few weeks ago and they played this and Sade's greatest hits on rotation several times, it worked perfectly. The background music cliche works because it actually does make for great background music.

If we're gonna play "compare to other feted indie stuff" I'd probably talk about Gayngs and How To Dress Well rather than Sleigh Bells - the former two actually sounding like how The XX press releases et. al. read.

still havent heard how to dress well!

dont know if that really needed an exclamation mark

Had the brief opportunity to interact with Romy from XX; still unsure of the gender of Romy from XX

that's not very nice

solo single sounds like something oneman would play. its okay i suppose. reminds me of hot chips production for kano recently - a tiny bit anemic.

do like the xx album, mainly musically though as i find their vocals a bit lacking in gravitas. they sound a bit too young.

do like the xx album, mainly musically though as i find their vocals a bit lacking in gravitas. they sound a bit too young.

?? the vocals are the best bit.

no the best bits are the minimalism of the production/songs, the clarity of the sonics, and the guitar tone. well i do love how R&B the girl sounds, but i tended to find that all that ache in their voices doesnt quite hit home for me.

what are how to dress well?

i heard a gayngs youtube and thought it as reprehensible as the band description on paper (bon iver and other indie losers "do" r&b, JUST WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR, because actual r&b artists doing r&b is obviously inadequate, why is no one devoting that much time and praise to fantasia and k. michelle?)

re: xx,i agree that the arrangements and rigorous aesthetic are as crucial to their quality as the vocals, but they're both so wrapped up in each other that i don't know how you can separate them really - romy's voice is amazing in or out of context i guess, though oliver's is probably only good as a subdued counterpoint to romy and the arrangements.

they're nice people btw. did i mention that they came to my r&b club night? last thing i saw was romy schmoozing ikonika as we were clearing up.

i did spend half the album wondering what it would be like if aaliyah was singing it though i dont think that would actually result in a better album

but i like how theyve absorbed ideas of minimalism and spare song construction (the actual *music* is barely there on this, its not just the production) from R&B and dubstep etc so totally - thats what attracts me to them more than the slightly inept singing (i do like it, dont get me wrong, but im not yet totally convinced that they totally achieve that sense of engulfing lovelorn emotion that theyre obviously really striving for, not like someone like say, bilinda butcher for example)

jamie has a new song that he made himself, it sounds a bit like dubstep

there's a video of the XX covering "Show Me Love" by Robin S. which sort of sums up everything i can't stand about them

like, where are the robin s's and alison moyets of today? why must every new band be some awkward whispery flock of baby egrets?

are you saying you prefer a flock of seagulls to the XX?

Lex you won't like How To Dress Well.

i heard a gayngs youtube and thought it as reprehensible as the band description on paper (bon iver and other indie losers "do" r&b, JUST WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR, because actual r&b artists doing r&b is obviously inadequate, why is no one devoting that much time and praise to fantasia and k. michelle?)

This is how the XX were sold by a lot of people initially, and it wasn't until I was able to push that bs out of my mind that I could start to like them.

i did spend half the album wondering what it would be like if aaliyah was singing it though i dont think that would actually result in a better album

See what i mean.

like, where are the robin s's and alison moyets of today? why must every new band be some awkward whispery flock of baby egrets?

I dunno, Florence has a "big" voice but it's not to the good.

i'm guessing the robin s's and alison moyets of today aren't to be found in new indie bands! (new robin s = katy b, not really familiar w/moyet but someone like florence maybe, so be careful what you wish for.)

i'll take the xx's vocals over that almost aggressive inability to sing usually exhibited in hyped indie bands like vampire weekend and wavves and whoever.

ha xp re florence

Eh, Florence is all right

also, dude in Vampire Weekend sings very well

new robin s = katy b

I love katy b but I can't decipher this comparison at all sorry lex!

haha yeah i was wondering if i just hadnt heard the right katy b songs or what

is there even that much to compare? big voiced diva on current dance beats. you could sub anyone you feel like in for katy b.

vampire weekend dude YELPS. it's totally insufferable. ugh i'd forgotten how much i hate them.

Not so much on the second album

Robin S taps in (though subtly) to that big-chested gospel tradition like every good house diva. Katy B's much more R&B - modern R&B. A lot cooler (as in temperature) IMO.

Whereas someone like Egypt sounds a lot more like Robin S, I reckon.

Your general point is correct though: if Tracer isn't hearing modern day equivs of Robin S it's because he's not listening to the right stuff.

and because big-chested gospel/house divas don't get in the charts now

"See what i mean."

yeah. i hate R&B. you got me. :|

whos that girl who sings on hey hey? shes more like a new robin s than katy b.

*makes obligatory Robin S/the xxl "joke"*

yeah. i hate R&B. you got me. :|

I meant unnecessary comparisons of the music with R&B.

but the girl from the xx's vocals *are* totally R&B influenced. though at times she seems to remind me of a (much) less foghorny adele in terms of white/british R&B-influenced singers not singing R&B, still not sure why.

i did spend half the album wondering what it would be like if aaliyah was singing it though i dont think that would actually result in a better album

Aaliyah's obviously a "better" singer [technically speaking] but she'd overpower the somber arrangements to high hell. It wouldn't work. (Likewise, there's no point in ever having a Timbaland/xx pairing; it wouldn't work, obviously.)

Btw Florence = zzzzzzzz

if Tracer isn't hearing modern day equivs of Robin S it's because he's not listening to the right stuff.

guilty as charged i guess!

thought how to dress well was just some more chillwave, people were bigging him up as lo-fi r&b (as if that's really bigging him up anyway)

florences voice is just horrible caterwhauling (though ive not heard the album, just the singles, and that godawful song with dizzee)

i realized i kinda like the one florence song i've heard on the radio :\

The first time I heard her, I thought she was terrible.

However, I thought she was kind of great on the VMAs.

IMO half of the appeal of the vocals on the XX's album is the delivery. If it was more confident or mature then it'd lose part of the tenuousness that I feel holds the songs together.

tenous is a good word. tentative too.

*tenuous

Yeah I mean you guys can check out that shakira cover upthread for a taste of what they would sound like with more forceful vocals

ok ok look there are plenty of ethereal, enfeebled vocalists i like - for the sake of argument - but come on, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0IfecPU-Hw

is just.. i mean, i know it's a shitty recording but it reminds of of those "eric clapton shreds" videos where a famous guitarist has been overdubbed with amateur noodling. like.. just.. what?

haha

i dont know if im meant to laugh at that robin s cover or not

its good they have an aesthetic but not everything should be made to fit it

i agree in that i think they should knock the 'we loooove dance music btw' covers on the head (esp. as they keep covering pretty unfuckwithable/untoppable anthems). it's not what attracts or interests me about them (or any other bands who do it).

as a different thing from just incorporating that influence into your sound generally

^^^which they do well

but yeah, i do not want to hear them fucking up any more songs like show me love (or worse, people actually thinking they are improving them)

Agree the Robyn cover is utter shit.

Admittedly I think their aesthetic works GREAT for some cover versions (e.g., that Womack & Womack tune) but this one's a dud.

Agree the Robyn cover is utter shit.

lol

if i didnt know it was actually them id have thought it was an xx piss take

wonder what theyre gonna sound like when they stop delivering all their songs in the same way

Why lol? xp