The XX

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

Their remix work suggests a few interesting directions they could head from here. I'm very curious to see how much their sound will expand/diversify.

it's a common mistake to be fair, ilxor

this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia2OkrWNmzE

vs this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps2Jc28tQrw

ilxor i'm not sure aaliyah would "overpower" x songs - certainly not the word that comes to mind w/ her

Ahahaha I thought they had butchered the Robyn tune so badly I couldn't even recognize it!! looooooooool

Now I know why I didn't recognize it :(

ilxor EPIC FAIL

yeah shes not fantasia or beyonce or jennifer hudson by any stretch

mentioned her cos shes right at the opp end of rnb singing, one thats much more sensual and understated than blaring in your face

but even she doesnt really do that slightly-try-hard-melancholy/unwavering fragility thing the xx girl does

In the context of R&B, she does. It's interesting seeing Star Search footage of her as a little girl blaring out standards in the typical kid gospel style, to seeing what happened once she got into the studio with R. Kelly and Timbaland.

i still believe aaliyahs melancholy (like idk, her at your best you are love remake) more than the xx girls (ill google her name one day)

Aaliyah could have done a lot with/for "Basic Space."

That "Show Me Love" cover is decent for what it is; obv. the original is light-years better.

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).

don't know that they're selling these as "we loooooove dance music" so much as "we like pop songs" - Show Me Love and Teardrops are both international #1s, Aaliyah is a pop star more than a dance artist, Do You Mind is something that happens to be around at the time - yeah they're all danceable or dance-oriented, but more notable for broad appeal than being ball-achingly trendy or whatnot. the influences they take from r&b production really aren't an indie band trying to cop tricks inna Madchester stylee, but simply part of what they've grown up on and internalised imo.

besides, their Teardrops is great and I like their Do You Mind as much as the original. (don't know the OG Hot Like Fire, and think ppl should hold the fury over Show Me Love until they release it as an A-side duet with Florence in 2-part CD single, rather than tagging onto one of their own songs live in an attempt to fill out their set to headliner length)

read it as club/party music (ie not their home turf) if u prefer - said it before, just a bit (i say BIT) annoyed by it as a thing, partly because it's such a one way street btw i just started imaging them covering propaganda 'duel' lol

yeah but I get the impression it isn't club/party music to them, and definitely not in opposition to them and their turf, but just stuff they like - their home turf I don't think can be defined as gtr-indie? a) they don't sound like other indie bands and b) we barely have enough of their actual material to decide what they do sound like yet...

I'm just surmising from my own listening, rather than any knowledge of their own actual position or opinions. (But the only thing I have seen them say about their sound is that it's defined by their inability and inexperience rather than a deliberate choice to play that way! so maybe if they were more skilled technically they'd be dropping complex dancefloor bangers and we'd call them lame copyists.) but at least with Do You Mind and Teardrops, they seem to have internalised and interpreted the originals into their own style (/level of ability) - there's a lot more musical thought than "ironic indie dude/chick with acoustic guitar covering Britney/NWA."

finally heard their do you mind cover too. HAHA. well its ok and even quite nice until the chorus starts.

don't know the OG Hot Like Fire

omg you should get 2 know it. it's on a pretty classic aaliyah album.

"teardrops" is the best xx cover - "do you mind" and "hot like fire" are decent but space/minimalism/subtlety were already such big hallmarks of the originals that the xx don't add too much.

no its not about space or minimalism, its about them putting everything through their stupid 'dreamy' filter and making it shit. and their hot like fire remake is actually alright, yeah, compared to some of the dreadful others, but it rips out all the sensuality/sexiness of aaliyahs original.

I had a dream the XX released a new album and it was full of really great, slamming choons and I was all "Oh, they're quite good fun actually" and then I woke up and had to go to work.

im discounting any comments lex makes about the xx actually seeing as he is prob trying to court them to come to his night again (obv im also assuming that the xx read ilx but whatevs)

I had a dream that one of them didn't look like Kelly Osbourne, another one didn't look like the bass player from Phish, and the third didn't look like he was going to rob me for meth money, but here we are.

omg you should get 2 know it.

just youtubed but got a remix which seems to have Tim grunting more than Aaliyah singing. p sure I like the xx cover better than this! will check album vers later

Here's a link to a YouTube of the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLvckcTHoqA

that's waay better than the remix. I'm sure that if I'd been familiar with it though, that I'd just like the xx version even more: the Aaliyah delivery of “...kiss ...kiss ...and kiss and kiss and kiss” makes it something of a light fancy, if anything distancing herself in action from the promised passion of the title and verses. The xx’s languorous reading translates it through one of their particular strengths, addressing longing and desire with an adolescent weight that leans more on the feelings themselves, the distraction and discombobulation they engender, than on any specific object of those feelings. (The almost-in-sync delivery of Romy and Oliver is also v effective here.)

The diff is that Aaliyah and company could sing about being scared or lacking confidence and be confident in saying it. The indie/XX version of that, which works well on their own songs, is a fundamental lack of confidence. Not necessarily in the ability to perform music, but in the sentiment expressed.

I don't really read either of them as being scared or lacking confidence! Aaliyah is being a bit playful, telling the dude to wait a bit bcz she'll be ready soon (but she's almost ready); the xx are achingly ready now, but enjoying wallowing in the anticipation caused by delayed gratification.