The xx | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Atmospheric English indie pop group the xx formed in London around the talents of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Baria Qureshi, and Jamie Smith, when the bandmembers were still in high school. Captivating and cool, the group cites influences that run the gamut from R&B; (Aaliyah and Rihanna) to classic alternative rock (the Cure and the Pixies). Built around the duel vocals of Croft and Sim, the groups signature brand of moody, soulful indie rock first appeared on the public radar in early 2009 with the single "Crystalised," which created a huge buzz among critics and fans alike. The xx released their self-titled debut LP in July of that year in the U.K.; it was released in the U.S. the following month. Late that year, Qureshi was no longer part of the group; the rest of the xx released a statement via NME saying this was due to "personal differences." During 2010, the live dates continued, including spots at several high-profile summer festivals, and in September, their album won Britains coveted Mercury Prize. Meanwhile, Smith worked with Gil Scott-Heron on the remix album Were New Here (in turn spawning the Drake song "Take Care," which sampled the pairs "Ill Take Care of U"). In mid-2012, a pair of singles, "Angels" and "Chained," heralded the release of the groups second album, Coexist, that September. The following year, the bands song "Together" appeared on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmanns film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The xx began working on their third album in 2014, and recorded in locales as varied as Marfa, Texas, London, Reykjavik, and Los Angeles. Jamie xxs solo debut In Colour, which featured contributions from Sim and Croft, arrived in 2015. Late in 2016, the single "On Hold" introduced the more energetic, eclectic direction of I See You, which was released in January 2017. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 10 Title: FACT Mix 70: The xx Released: 2009-07-31 Tracks: 1 Duration: 30:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 FACT Mix 70: The xx (30:27) |
 | Album: 2 of 10 Title: xx Released: 2009-08-14 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:38 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Intro (02:07) 2 VCR (02:57) 3 Crystalised (03:22) 4 Islands (02:41) 5 Heart Skipped a Beat (04:02) 6 Fantasy (02:38) 7 Shelter (04:30) 8 Basic Space (03:08) 9 Infinity (05:13) 10 Night Time (03:36) 11 Stars (04:22) |
| xx : Allmusic album Review : Debuts as fully formed and confident as the xxs self-titled first album are rare, but then, there is very little that is typical about this band or their music. Their influences are wide-ranging -- traces of post-punk, dream pop, dubstep, indie pop, and R&B pop up at any given moment -- but are focused into songs that are as simple as they are unique and mysterious. These tracks are so sleek, theyre practically sculptural, and they boast impeccably groomed arrangements. The beats pulse rather than crash; the guitars are artfully picked and plucked; and the vocals rarely rise above a wistful sigh. This restraint and sophistication make the fact that the xxs members were barely in their twenties when they recorded the album all the more impressive; artists twice their age would be proud to call the maturity and confidence that flow seemingly effortlessly through the xx their own. Even their song titles are the perfect mix of concise and evocative: "Stars," "Shelter," "Night Time" (actually, all of their songs could be named this -- theyre that intimate and sleepily cool). The moody, monochromatic sound the xx sets forth on "Intro" is lovely enough, but its how the band subtly shifts and tweaks it on each track that makes the album truly special. "VCR"s innocent guitars hint at the bands fondness for Young Marble Giants radically simple indie pop, while "Infinity" leans more heavily on their post-punk roots, and "Heart Skips a Beat" underscores its name with wittily fractured rhythms. And while singers Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim sound good on their solo turns (Sim particularly shines on the spacious "Fantasy"), together theyre truly inspired -- the aloof sensuality they generate makes romantic intrigue actually intriguing again. "Crystalised" might be one of the more intense songs here, but it still carries the confessional quality of a conversation between lovers, reaffirming what "heart-to-heart" really means. The standout "Basic Space" takes Croft and Sims push-pull chemistry in an even more pop direction, but its still awash in subtly fascinating details like its exotically rolling beat and Durutti Column-esque guitars. While the bands subtlety and consistency threaten to work against them at times, XX is still a remarkable debut that rewards repeated listens and leaves listeners wanting more. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 10 Title: Islands Released: 2009-10-26 Tracks: 6 Duration: 22:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Do You Mind? (03:37) 2 Islands (Untold remix) (05:17) 3 Islands (The Blue Nile remix) (02:39) 4 Islands (Nosaj Thing remix) (02:36) 5 Islands (Delorean remix) (05:04) 6 Islands (FaltyDL remix) (03:43) |
 | Album: 4 of 10 Title: iTunes Live From SoHo Released: 2010-03-09 Tracks: 5 Duration: 16:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Intro (02:50) 2 Islands (02:47) 3 Fantasy (02:26) 4 Shelter (04:14) 5 Night Time (04:27) |
 | Album: 5 of 10 Title: iTunes Festival: London 2010 Released: 2010-07-20 Tracks: 6 Duration: 23:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Intro (03:17) 2 Crystalised (03:44) 3 Islands (03:06) 4 Shelter (04:39) 5 Do You Mind? (03:44) 6 Night Time (04:41) |
 | Album: 6 of 10 Title: Coexist Released: 2012-09-05 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:14:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Angels (02:51) 2 Chained (02:48) 3 Fiction (02:58) 4 Try (03:16) 5 Reunion (03:58) 6 Sunset (03:39) 7 Missing (03:35) 8 Tides (03:02) 9 Unfold (03:04) 10 Swept Away (05:00) 11 Our Song (03:15) 1 Angels (02:51) 2 Chained (02:48) 3 Fiction (02:58) 4 Try (03:16) 5 Reunion (03:58) 6 Sunset (03:39) 7 Missing (03:35) 8 Tides (03:02) 9 Unfold (03:04) 10 Swept Away (05:00) 11 Our Song (03:15) |
| Coexist : Allmusic album Review : In the years between their debut and Coexist, the xxs sound took on a life of its own, thanks in large part to Drakes hit duet with Rihanna, "Take Care," which sampled Jamie Smiths collaboration with Gil Scott Heron, Were New Here. That single embodied and popularized the xxs aesthetic to such a degree that on first listen, Coexist can sound like demos for a potential follow-up. In turn, these songs lay the trios R&B roots bare, with an extra emphasis on that last word: while second albums are where bands usually add more elements to their sound to keep things interesting, the xx go even darker and sparer than they were on their debut, which was pretty sparse and dark to begin with. On the lovely album opener "Angels," elegantly serpentine guitars -- which recalled the Cure and Durutti Column on xx but are now entirely their own -- echo into spectral shadows, and fragments of beats and melodies hang unresolved in the air, surrounded by vast expanses of nothingness. Any track here makes "Basic Space" or "Crystalised" sound like an Arcade Fire song by comparison, but the xx walk the fine line between minimalism and incomplete-sounding confidently. All that silence throws the albums subtle sounds into sharp relief, highlighting the luminous keyboards and percussion on "Try" and "Tides" undulating bassline more effectively than cranking up the volume on them would have. Coexists barely-there arrangements mean that singers Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft do most of the heavy lifting, but theyre both more than capable of carrying the albums intimacy and humanity. While their solo tracks show how much both of them have grown as singers since xx, Sim in particular has become more polished and emotive, sounding even sadder and more seductive on "Fiction" when he sighs "last night the world was beneath us." However, Coexists heart lies in Sim and Madley Crofts duets. The pair sounds more entwined than ever, and whether theyre close together in Coexists vast spaces, as on "Our Song"s final glimmer of hope, or separated by them, as on "Chained," they share an intimacy that makes listeners feel like theyre eavesdropping. But while theres no question that this album is more accomplished than xx, its also less accessible; these songs just arent as immediate as the bands debut, and at times, these tales of love gone wrong or gone away threaten to become repetitive. Still, there are so many moments of spine-tingling beauty, such as the way "Reunion" blends almost imperceptibly into "Sunset," or Madley Croft and Sims shared sigh on "Unfold," that theyre worth a little patience from the listener. Coexists exploration of isolation and intimacy is demanding and rewarding in its bold subtlety and eloquent simplicity. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 10 Title: Innervisions Remixes Released: 2013-06-10 Tracks: 3 Duration: 22:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Reunion (Âme remix) (08:04) 2 Tides (Dixon remix) (08:02) 3 Fiction (Marcus Worgull remix) (06:46) |
 | Album: 8 of 10 Title: Hivern Remixes Released: 2013-11-11 Tracks: 4 Duration: 25:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Fiction (Marc Piñol remix) (06:33) 2 Reunion (Mistakes Are OK remix) (06:04) 3 Missing (Round remix) (05:48) 4 Swept Away (New Jackson remix) (07:03) |
 | Album: 9 of 10 Title: I See You Released: 2017-01-13 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Dangerous (04:10) 2 Say Something Loving (03:58) 3 Lips (03:20) 4 A Violent Noise (03:47) 5 Performance (04:06) 6 Replica (04:09) 7 Brave for You (04:13) 8 On Hold (03:44) 9 I Dare You (03:53) 10 Test Me (03:55) |
| I See You : Allmusic album Review : In music and love, routine can be deadly. The exquisite stillness of the xxs music was so distinctive and influential that, by the time of Coexist, it felt dangerously close to confining them instead of defining them. Given the half decade between that album and I See You, change wasnt just necessary, it was inevitable. Jamie xxs solo work signaled that something different was on the way, and in retrospect, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sims cameos on In Colour feel like previews for these songs about being musically and romantically bold. I See You unleashes the xxs passion with swifter tempos, fuller arrangements, and a newfound heat in Sim and Crofts vocals on songs like "On Hold," which also showcases Jamie xxs audacious production skills as he turns a snippet of Hall & Oates "I Cant Go for That (No Can Do)" into an irresistibly jittery hook. The bands commitment to taking chances reaps rewards elsewhere: "Dangerous" kicks off I See You with a brass fanfare thats about as far as the xx can get from the plaintive seduction of their early work. Indeed, the albums happiest songs are among the best, whether Sim and Croft are falling in love all over again over contrail guitars on "Say Something Loving" or letting a relentless beat give their flirtation momentum on "I Dare You." When the xx pare back, they do it with purpose, and still find subtle ways to push themselves. In another acts hands, the propulsive self-doubt of "A Violent Noise" would be a club banger, but they opt for simmering tension instead of drops and peaks. Croft shows off her seldom-heard upper register on "Lips" and "Performance," one of several moments on I See You where the bands self-awareness borders on meta. Sometimes, this becomes too literal and repetitive; as enjoyable as the sultry swagger of "Replica" and heartfelt balladry of "Brave for You" are, its hard to shake the feeling that the xx are retracing their steps. Nitpicking aside, the risks they take on this album pay off: I See You is some of their most captivating music since their debut. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 10 Title: Remixes Released: 2018-01-19 Tracks: 10 Duration: 1:07:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 VCR (Four Tet remix) (08:40) 2 Chained (John Talabot and Pional Blinded remix) (08:33) 3 Reconsider (Jamie xx Edit) (05:31) 4 Sunset (Jamie xx Edit) (06:17) 5 Tides (Dixon remix) (08:02) 6 Fiction (Pearson Sound remix) (04:22) 7 Missing (Round remix) (05:48) 8 Reunion (Mistakes Are OK remix) (06:04) 9 A Violent Noise (Four Tet remix) (08:20) 10 On Hold (Jamie xx remix) (06:12) |