The xx
xx

A Norman Records recommendation (14th August 2009)

	Description:	CD on Young Turks - CHEAPER COPIES!
	Format:	CD
	Genre:	Indie Rock
	Label:	Young Turks
	Price:	£7.29
	Availability:	despatched in 1 working day

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Average staff rating: four-stars.png
Based on 1 review(s).

Rating: 4
...according to our Business Lady on 13 August 2009.

The XX have been plaguing me with their never-ending slew of seven inch singles marked with a massive die-cut X on the front. I'm trying to file the buggers away in our mammoth stock room and I can't tell the diference between each release! Infuriating! Man, if pressing plants were offering the die-cut service back in the mid eighties all the straight edge bands would have had the coolest covers! You'd know an edge single when you saw one! Would have been sweet. The XX ain't no edgers but the folks at XL must be pretty confident about them cause they've cut X's into a lot of card in preperation for the release of 'XX'. The press release hints at post-dubsteppery but thats a load of tosh as far as I can tell, this can only be described as well executed modern minimalist pop music done in style. It reminds me of the laid back Hot Chip (who I believe have done some production work for the group along with Burial and Kieren Hebden) stuff from the last LP. It's super minimal!! Thats all I can say really. If you like ultra clean, super produced minimalist electronic pop driven by ambition then this will suit you just right. Expect to see X's cut out of stuff all over the place this summer.

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Rating: 5
...according to stuart on 10 September 2009.

showing a maturity beyond their years (they seriously look like the sort of yoof that would usually be hurling chips around the local shopping centre) and making some beautifully clean and clear cut music - full of soul and feeling and emotion, reminiscent of portishead or slow tricky and massive attack tunes but with an indie pop edge and ear, this band are destined for greatness based on the evidence of this debut. capturing and seting a mood with Intro before they let you bobble through with them.

the only issue with the album is that a couple of times i wondered if i was hearing the same song again - so it does in places lack a bit of distinction but it is all good. and a new and interesting sound and approach - that has wowed the festivals this summer of 2009! holding an entire audience captive and holding their breath and what is being produced in front of them is quite a sight to behold!

and yes - there are X's everywhere!

Sound clips for xx by The xx (CD, Young Turks, YT031CD, £7.29)

What their label says...

London, summer, 2009: The xx arrive with their debut album ‘xx’ – a whole new
sound of love, loss and longing. The xx are four kids who formed at London’s Elliot
School in 2005, the south west comprehensive that produced the likes of dubstep
enigma Burial, Hot Chip, and Fourtet's Kieren Hebden: But alone The xx stand,
not only in the singularity of their influences and sound, but in the universal
resonance of their music.

Gingerly dodging the storm cloud of hype hysteria that plagues seemingly every other
new buzz act of the moment, Romy Madley Croft (lead vocals, guitar), Oliver Sim
(lead vocals, bass), Baria Qureshi (keyboards, guitar) and Jamie Smith (beats,
samples) are edging into our hearts. Their unique make-up is a second nature
marriage of 2009’s urban / guitar tribes, in one corner fluttering new wave
inspired reverberation, in the other, plumes of textured, post-dubstep subbass
and figuratively, their defining core of rich R&B vocal textures.

Their debut album ‘xx’ is released on XL Recording’s bleeding edge Young Turks
imprint (Holy Fuck, Gang Gang Dance, El Guincho). Eschewing big name
producers and studios, ‘xx’ sees Jamie continuing in the producer role he’s asserted
since The xx’s conception, tweaking and refining the band’s beautifully crafted songs
into a debut record that’s utterly contemporary and undeniably timeless.

Having recently toured with The Big Pink and Micachu & The Shapes, The xx will
play a handful of highly anticipated shows throughout the summer.

“Perfect… Melancholic pop at its tip top” – i-D; “Confoundingly

Tracklisting:

Intro * VCR * Crystalised * Islands *
Heart Skipped A Beat * Fantasy * Shelter *
Basic Space * Infinity * Night Time * Stars