The xx: Coexist [2012]

also "Shelter", can't forget that one

yes that was one of your faves, I just said so

"shelter" was one of my faves

also "crystalised", "islands", "infinity", actually the only one on the debut i didn't feel was "basic space"

i don't really hear what's fascinating about the rhythm of "chained" though yeah it is really really thin

just listened again and couldn't tell you a thing about any of the rhythms tbh

they really nail the mood again but...only the mood

I didn't really get Basic Space until I heard the space bass remix of it, and then it was like... ::clicked:: (I don't really feel the whole devotion to Jamie XX's remixes thing, but I do actually think his reinterpretation of their own work was pretty special.)

basically an EP that is "Intro", "Crystalised", "Islands", "Shelter" and "Night Time" encapsulates what I really loved about the first album and what I really want the second one to be, with added syncopation fuckery a la "Chained"

yeah i really loved the space bass remix! it didn't make the original click for me as just replaced the original entirely in my playlist

since their first album i've become way, way less enamoured of jamie xx's production - his solo stuff typifies the most absolutely enervated, dry end of "uk bass" for me; feel like his work with guitar/bass/drums was a lot more distinct and special

kind of O_o that people are piling on the XX for being too 'slight' but w/e

i know slight is their thing but this is...very slight

― lex pretend, Tuesday, August 21, 2012 1:10 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I liked the first record and am listening to this now but I've no problem classifying them as "wonderful minor band."

as someone quipped to me whilst we were watching their stultifying live show recently- they should maybe just change their name to Everything But The Songs

sorta heartbroken over this record :-[

i had very high hopes for this -- "angels" is so good, i really though they were gonna be a band that totally nails their sophomore album but the songs just aren't there... it feels like a VERY long album

as Cronkite said, if we've lost sarge we've lost middle America.

i've only listened twice... maybe in a week i'll feel different

I'm having the exact opposite experience with the album. Loved it on first listen; played it three more times over the day and it still sounds good, so my concern with it is that it will fade fast, like the Beach House album did. I can't say whether the songs are there yet, but the moments seem to be, and a lot of the sentiments on it hit me hard. Excited to listen to it loud during long, dark fall drives to see how it holds up.

i'm liking this is a bit more that i'm listening to it again now

"Missing" is my jam so far.

I liked the first album but didn't really love it until both of:

(a) listening to it on loop in hospital at the tail end of 2009; and
(b) listening to it played on loop at a beach bar I was fond of in Nice in late 2010.

Like, its slightness only revealed its full majesty to me in environments of absolute lassitude (for different reasons) rather than focus.

I didn't really get Basic Space until I heard the space bass remix of it, and then it was like... ::clicked:: (I don't really feel the whole devotion to Jamie XX's remixes thing, but I do actually think his reinterpretation of their own work was pretty special.)

― my god it's full of straw (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Tuesday, August 21, 2012 4:00 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thirded!

I like the OG Basic Space but the Space Bass mix is absolutely the best of Jamie's remixes/productions

BAAASSS

spaaaaace

oliver's vocals on "missing" are really great

I liked the first album but didn't really love it until ...

.. we saw the "Islands" video in our hotel room in Rome.

Good association!

i don't really hear what's fascinating about the rhythm of "chained" though yeah it is really really thin

― lex pretend, Tuesday, August 21, 2012 8:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Once the 'full' beat kicks in there's nothing too special about it. I think the trick is that the drumstick sound the beat starts with is deliberately put in a place within the bar that enhances the effect the of syncopation later in the track.

BTW I meant the BASS DRUM sound.

Has the album grown on you at all, Jordan?

http://pitchfork.com/news/47719-stream-the-xxs-new-album-coexist/

I don't know if I'm used to it now but the drum pattern in "Chained" is no longer deceptive at all, making me wonder if they changed the opening slightly to make it less confusing to the ear

btw "Fiction" is great

man dude really sounds great on this album imo

Has the album grown on you at all, Jordan?

― Evan R, Saturday, August 25, 2012 3:24 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not really, no

i think this is up there w/ the last cut copy album in terms of disappointing follow ups to indie albums that i totally adore

I deleted everything except "Fiction" and "Missing" last week.

the thing I'm really digging about this is that so far the eerie spaciness that makes "Shelter" such a precious song to me is coming up all throughout the first five tracks on this album; "Reunion" in particular is making me super, super happy

well, it was making me super happy until that hitch in the beat came in; why can't Jamie XX program a steady loop?

well okay now that things are building back up I'm loving it again

I do miss the "Intro"/"Crystalised"/"Islands"/"Night Time" mode of these guys on this a little bit; maybe more of that type of thing comes up in later songs but on the whole it really feels like they're emphasizing the aspects of the quieter stuff that I loved on the first album and that makes me super super psyched for its release

also psyched that... Oliver? XX sounds great singing on a lot of this, a lot less groaning on pitch this time around and more of a sense of intention behind his vocal production

irony: the song "Missing" seems to be missing from that stream

oof Romy XX couldn't hear her part on the opening to "Tides"

based on what I've heard so far (up to "Swept Away" aside from the missing "Missing"), I don't really understand why anyone who liked the first album would dislike this

yeah likewise

the songwriting just isn't as strong. plain & simple.

i'm def leaving open the idea that i'll really like or even love this album in six months or whatever but it's not as good as the debut

there's definitely something very one-trick about all the songs on first listen yeah, but for those who want the xx: dinner party 2, this is pretty good

that seems to be exactly wrong based on what I've heard so far (had to turn off the stream for a meeting)

nothing is as good a creation as "Crystalised" or "Islands", but nothing on the first album was as good a creation as "Crystalised" or "Islands" so I'm not really holding that against the second album, plus most of the arrangements even more precise/meticulous than the songs on the first album

I suspect what people are reacting to is the loss of the second guitar?

its realy sad it was a second guitar

lol

it's a bit more diffuse, this record, and it sounds like they're just trying things out and often just dropping the thing that they're trying. i don't think it sounds finished. it's much less focussed than XX.

aside: i kept being reminded of other things too which is fine, obviously - the guitar on fiction makes me think of smalltown boy. swept away makes me think of peking saint by cat power. there are other things but i can't recall them now. they still have a very singular sound.

otm about its tentativeness

tentative is exactly the right word.

you can't really blame them though. it's a huge burden to follow up a small record designed for a small audience that became a (relatively) huge thing. but it seems to me like they had a bit of a crisis of confidence. still, i think it's a good record, it's just not a perfect one (and XX is perfect to me).