hairy Posted 19 August 2009 Share Posted 19 August 2009 Track List: 1. Intro 2. VCR 3. Crystalised 4. Islands 5. Heart Skipped A Beat 6. Fantasy 7. Shelter 8. Basic Space 9. Infinity 10. Night Time 11. Stars Bonus Disc Track List: 1. Do You Mind? 2. Hot Like Fire 3. Teardrops Download Link "You immediately sense you're listening to something seductively special" - The Guardian "The XX are very good. Sophisticated influences that belie their youth, but emphasis their talent, combine to create a coherent mish mash of skeletal 80s indie, 90s rnb duets and 00s nostalgic hindsight. Effortlessly and almost impossibly cool" - Artrocker "This debut record aches with longing and melancholy and sonic innovation. This foursome literally sound like no-one else around" - The Fly "one of 2009's most unique debuts...drawing together eclectic materials from avant-garde hip-hop to R&B to pure pop" – NME Striving for mood is futile. If your intentions are in any way transparent, you’re going to fail. Contrive downbeat miserablism in your music and it’ll come off as studied, inauthentic, indulgent. Aim for the stars with the word ‘epic’ in the back of your mind and you’ve made the last Maccabees album. Lots of artists that shoot for ‘atmospheric’ end up with overwrought pretension, style over substance. What The XX have feels chanced upon, and precious. There’s a singular bleakness to their debut album, which sounds like it’s been made by moonlight by a grim team of introverts, half-drunk and lonely. Listening to it with the level of attention it demands gives you a sickly jealous feeling at the intimacy, like reading other people’s love letters. It’s a waste of time looking for big hooks or moments of release, but absorbed properly this becomes quietly transcendent. Somehow, its songs are welcoming despite their insularity. There are four people in the band but this is a couple’s album. The twin vocals of Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim trade understated rich vowels, their dialogue the rope that binds 11 malnourished songs together. Romy carries all the drama with her tiny tics and unavoidably Great Voice. Oliver’s gentle croon is dangerously close to the vegan sex therapist vibe of Fujiya & Miyagi, but mostly agreeable. They are insanely well-matched, complementing and answering one another as they saunter around the bare minimum backing of their band. The obvious reference point for this quiet, understated style is Young Marble Giants, but The XX have a couple of other tricks up their sleeve. The ace is the dreamy, ultra-reverbed guitars of Romy and Baria Quershi, nailed for perfect pathos every time we hear them. Jamie Smith’s sampler and drum work adds tiny lines of detail and makes tantalising occasional use of arse-tickling sub-bass rumbles. Every instrument is played with a glorious unselfishness, an element of healthy disinterest. Misleadingly bold instrumental opener 'Intro' introduces The XX’s somnabulant groove with an ominous, Knife-like organ thrum and cloudsurfing guitars. There are background hints of broken electric squall on ‘Night Time’ where suddenly fluent guitars probe an ascending staircase of notes. These guitars are universally lovely, with riffs and licks just thoughtful enough to show the beautiful tone isn't being milked or overly relied upon. The much touted R&B influence only really materialises on ‘Basic Space’’s busy drum programming. Instead, The XX sound closer to (dirty word alert) trip hop, especially on the elegiacally tasteful of ‘Shelter’. This album will be soundtracking a lot of bad, earnest sex. ‘Infinity’ feels like a reprise of places we've already seen, but the crystalline cracks marking time are a typically inspired addition. The yearning guitars finally reach long-threatened Chris Isaak ‘Wicked Game’ territory before a thrilling build to a level of loudness unmatched elsewhere on the album. ‘Shelter’ is a centrepiece of sorts, with Romy’s voice more exposed than at any other point. “Maybe I had said something that was wrong / can I make it better with the lights turned off?” she sighs, like a wounded goth. The music isn’t matched by equally adept lyrics. The frank first words on the album come on ‘VCR’: "You used to have all the answers" which is immediately undermined by the emotional dead-end of the following line: "and you, you still have them too". There’s a similarly uninspired summer / winter pairing later in the song, but the occasional clumsiness with words is countered by the utterly beguiling mix of voices over their skeletal backing. Mostly, it's tremendously touching. Songs are relentlessly second person with everything addressed to an unknowable 'you'. There’s a sense of overwhelming infatuation during ‘Basic Space’: "I think I'm losing where you end and I begin" confesses Romy before unfurling a suffocating manifesto of "setting us in stone / piece by piece before I'm alone / airtight before we break / keep it in, keep us safe." All too predictably, my best listen of XX to date came last week at midnight on a dark Devon road, with only the occasional twin glare of white in the other lane punctuating a journey into nothingness. I was immersed and quiet, and that’s when this collection of miniature songs excels. They’re not magnificently written, with unspeakably beautiful melodies, and virtuoso instrumental performances, but they have an intangible spook. The XX know when to tense, when to relax. It’s instinctive. It could be because they’ve known each other for years, it could be luck that this combination of four people is somehow tuned to one another and can create something so clear, so fluent. It’s pointless speculating about it. It’s here and it’s almost perfect. - Drowned In Sound 9/10 Hope there is no problem with sharing this here but I think its a gem of an album Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finchy Posted 19 August 2009 Share Posted 19 August 2009 Burial & Portishead Sounds good, nice one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe. Posted 19 August 2009 Share Posted 19 August 2009 Thanks for the link hairy. You can imagine the kind of thing coming up in the search engines as I've previously tried to find this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted 20 August 2009 Share Posted 20 August 2009 you could have posted this earlier!! I downloaded if for real money about 40mins before you posted it!! very good album though me likes it very much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James. Posted 20 August 2009 Share Posted 20 August 2009 I really, really can't wait to hear this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairy Posted 20 August 2009 Author Share Posted 20 August 2009 you could have posted this earlier!! I downloaded if for real money about 40mins before you posted it!! very good album though me likes it very much Sorry. The lawn needed mowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe. Posted 20 August 2009 Share Posted 20 August 2009 I really like this. I had no idea what to expect beforehand, and I still have no idea what to make of it now, except from the fact I enjoyed it. I think this will probably be even more of a grower too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico Posted 20 August 2009 Share Posted 20 August 2009 There is a free track available for download on itunes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James. Posted 21 August 2009 Share Posted 21 August 2009 This is stunning. It's been a long time since an album blew me away on first listen but this one really did. Must say though I'm not convinced they're really a cross between Burial and Portishead. There are hints throughout, in particular in Fantasy which has that beautiful Burial-esque sub bass rumbling through it, but overall I think they sound completely unique. hairy you've discovered an absolute beauty - thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flynny Posted 22 August 2009 Share Posted 22 August 2009 Been listening for about 5 minutes, liking this a lot so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flynny Posted 22 August 2009 Share Posted 22 August 2009 Going again, this is great, I absolutely love Islands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe. Posted 22 August 2009 Share Posted 22 August 2009 I'm liking Night Time at the moment. Love the bassline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finchy Posted 22 August 2009 Share Posted 22 August 2009 Not sure about the Burial comparison. But this is a cracker, it's a fantastic sound they've got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AoWW Posted 23 August 2009 Share Posted 23 August 2009 Oh.......... wow............... Sublime. Only my first listen but I'm lost in it. Thanks, Hairy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James. Posted 23 August 2009 Share Posted 23 August 2009 I love this album. Was listening to it at about 6am this morning after getting back from a night out. Fabulous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AoWW Posted 23 August 2009 Share Posted 23 August 2009 It's got me in tears - absolutely touched a nerve. Amazing album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flynny Posted 23 August 2009 Share Posted 23 August 2009 Been on on the computer a lot and is now on the ipod, it is actually brilliant, potential crossover stuff too why isn't this "out there"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Smuts Posted 28 August 2009 Share Posted 28 August 2009 I've been banging on about these for ages but as soon as Hairy mentions them they are the best band in the world. Scandal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairy Posted 28 August 2009 Author Share Posted 28 August 2009 I've been banging on about these for ages but as soon as Hairy mentions them they are the best band in the world.Scandal! I just gave members a chance to grab the album because I thought it worth the effort. No ones trying to steel your thunder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James. Posted 28 August 2009 Share Posted 28 August 2009 I've been banging on about these for ages but as soon as Hairy mentions them they are the best band in the world.Scandal! You like them? Shit. I've gone off them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miquel The Work Geordie Posted 28 August 2009 Share Posted 28 August 2009 I've been banging on about these for ages but as soon as Hairy mentions them they are the best band in the world.Scandal! One sentence in the "Bands you like but no one has heard of" thread hardly consitutes "banging on". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Smuts Posted 28 August 2009 Share Posted 28 August 2009 I just gave members a chance to grab the album because I thought it worth the effort. No ones trying to steel your thunder. I'm only kidding, just think it's funny as this is normally the response i'd get from liking a band: You like them? Shit. I've gone off them. One sentence in the "Bands you like but no one has heard of" thread hardly consitutes "banging on". One sentence twice is all i searched for. I'm sure if you checked the old 'what are you listening too' threads you'd find plenty in there as well. But no one gives a shit about what music i listen to anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unabomber Posted 28 August 2009 Share Posted 28 August 2009 The D/L has gone Having to listen on Spotify but the adverts are seriously annoying me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez of Mahrez Posted 28 August 2009 Share Posted 28 August 2009 I'm only kidding, just think it's funny as this is normally the response i'd get from liking a band:One sentence twice is all i searched for. I'm sure if you checked the old 'what are you listening too' threads you'd find plenty in there as well. But no one gives a shit about what music i listen to anyway. Thinking of you at this difficult time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Prussian Posted 3 September 2009 Share Posted 3 September 2009 Really like the album. Good shout by whomever mentioned them first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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