Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I've Softened Shipwrecks Right From The Start

Internet hype is a weird thing. Bands seem to come out of nowhere to be the next OMFG-this-is-better-than-if-Jesus-played-in-the-Beatles. The XX are one of those bands and who am I not to rave about them? Exactly. So I'm just gonna go ahead and jump on the bandwagon. They are awesome! Like like like... like Jesus featuring Hot Chip doing indie-ish rock with an R'n'B twist. Now strike the Jesus-reference. Better.

I haven't actually heard the full album yet - creatively titled XX - , but judging from reviews then it looks really interesting. Not being one to jump the gun (right) I'm just gonna go out on a limb and claim this to be one of my favorite albums so far this year... sometimes you just know, okay. Presumptious as I clearly am.

I've had a really hard time (read: scratched my head a few times) trying to pick between their two singles/videos so I took an executive decision and now I'm posting both. Yup, that's a class in Decision-Making 101 for you there.

The songs are called Crystallised and Basic Space, and they're minimalistic pieces of indie-pop brilliance. It's bare-bones kind of stuff with no superfluous effects or anything. Timid voices singing deeply intimate lyrics, sterile sampled drums played live and then great warmth from the weaving dual guitar play. Suffice to say that on the evidence of these songs, I like this band. *Hype Alert*

The XX - Crystallised



The XX - Basic Space

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