Today was a very strange day. I spent the majority of the sun-lit hours in a fluorescent-lit office and somehow, my soul not only survived but seemingly flourished, gaining in confidence and happiness throughout as I watched numberless sweaty faces panting it out at the Fitness First across the skyline. I know that I’m not really qualified to suggest this but I get the sense (from my part-time occupation at least) that working in an office can serve not only to deaden the outside world to you (which I recommend is the propaganda of corporations who want you to believe that life is better off inside their four walls) but in fact, to make stepping out into the atmosphere an even more tangibly brilliant experience. No, I am not on drugs. This is what straight eight-hour days do to you.
The xx is a quartet of Londoner teens who make very inspired music. Having worked with the ubiquitous Diplo in the past, they rustled up some courage to produce their own debut ‘xx’ which was released little over a week ago. To give you some measure of hype, the group was included on NME’s (the terminal hypists’) Future 50 of 2009 (placing at number 6 in the good company of La Roux, Dizzee Rascal and Animal Collective) and is supporting it girl of the moment Florence and The Machine on her forthcoming British tour. Just by placing the band within the context of these massive indie names, you can tell that they’re destined for big things.
Big things not immediately apparent on this, what I reckon is one of the best (among a reputable flotilla) of tracks off their smashing debut. I use the word ‘smashing’ merely to give you a sense of geographical location – can’t you just feel you’re at Shepherd’s Bush? What we get on ‘Basic Space’ is Romy Croft’s woozy lyrics having a bit of a love tussle with those of colleague Oliver Sim. The result is a sort of rhythmic vocal samba – pared back enough to be fresh but funky enough to be constantly engaging. The minimalist sound – a lot of tracks sound like the mixer has dropped a couple of the key threads – comes courtesy of the group’s Mac onto which most of their first LP effort was recorded. I found it jarring at first but slowly grew to enjoy the pregnant pauses and subtle changes in instrumentality that punctuate The xx’s work. It’s not like much else out there (what with influences listed as: Rihanna to The Cure, Missy Elliott to Chromatics, Pixies to Mariah Carey)
but it’s out there and I like.
The xx – Basic Space
5 Comments:
[...] one to generally jump on the bandwagon of hype unless something is legitimately good – hello The XX, not you Grizzly Bear). But still, if you give just a couple of the tracks on their Myspace a [...]
[...] longing into something that’s halfway between my favourite downtempo acts of the last year, The xx and Fink. But the difference between him and both of those acts is that his voice is a [...]
[...] Doc McKinney and Illangelo – kept things under wraps so long. Downcast in the same manner as The xx, hyper-sexualised in the same manner as Childish Gambino and boasting the pipes of D’Angelo, [...]
[...] It’s just taken over my life. Somehow, a real appreciation for the sparsity of a couple of xx tracks evolved into a genuine interest in James Blake’s strange and eery soundscapes which [...]
[...] rolls out of the bridge back into the hook again are great hi-octane stuff. It’s probably all The xx’s [...]
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