The xx

One Liner: Lovely indie pop that switches between groove and sorrow.
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, indie electronic, dream pop, electronic rock 
Spotify Says Similar To: Foals and Metronomy
Home: London

Poster Position: 2
Slot: Friday, 8:15p

Thoughts:  I remember discussing this band a few times previously, including in a review of their most recent album, 2017's I See You.  I also recall making fun of the fact that their top song is an instrumental introductory track called, wait for it, "Intro," but then yesterday I see an article stating that "Intro" is the greatest, most important song of all time.  They really do argue that it is "one of the greatest songs of all time."  GTFOH.  The reasons offered in the article:

1. "The fact is, "Intro" has been on a mix you once made, because the song makes you feel alive."  Again, GTFOH.  You know what else was on a mix I once made? The fucking Spin Doctors.  Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do I Do It For You," for crying out loud.  I wish I still had all of the mix tapes I gave to girls, because I bet even more cringeworthy stuff is on there that I can't recall right now.  Point one in this argument is shit.  Is "More than Words" one of the greatest songs of all time?  No.  Just no.
2. "Rihanna samples "Intro" throughout her 2012 song "Drunk on Love.""  You know what else Rihanna sampled?  Avril damn Lavigne (on "Cheers (Drink to That)"), the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme song, and flipping Korn.  Don't try to tell me that being sampled by Rihanna should lend your 2 minute instrumental a special gravitas in the history of mankind.
3. YouTubers have created a "seamless edit lasting 2:45 hours" or another that lasts ten hours.  Yes, because a song gets infinitely better when you drill it into your head like a Guantanamo-style torture session.
4. "Soon after the world caught on to the short but mighty track, it was notably everywhere. It was used in the 2010 comedy/drama It's Kind Of A Funny Story during a drawing scene."  This one actually seems to hold water, as Wikipedia mentions a bunch of other places (that are significantly more well known than that one movie) it was used.  But so what?  Again, the Spin Doctors had "Two Princes" all over the place back in the day, including in feature movies "So I Married an Axe Murderer," "Love and Other Drugs," and "Sesame Street."
5. "It's the definition of "epic minimalism": A song that feels only mightier and more massive for the scarcity of musical elements actually present in its construction."  Here is the worst point of all five.  "Dude, silence is totally mighty because the musical instruments used in it is like, scarce, bro."  All of the xx songs are pretty low on ornamentation and excess.  This just makes no sense to me.

The fact is, its actually a pretty great song.  I enjoy it too.  But to add it to the pantheon of greatest songs of all time is just dumb.  Here, give it a shot, with its 199.7 million streams.

That is the two hour and forty five minute version, so just let it roll and see if you want to die after an hour.  It really is a great groove.  And that is the best part of these tunes overall, the groove.  The album opener for the most recent album, 2017's I See You, is a track called "Dangerous" that fires out as a horn-laced groove that makes me want to shimmy around at my desk.  Then, "Say Something Loving" is more of a slow burner of traded verses and echo-ey instrumentation.  The hit from that new album, which isn't as popular as multiple tracks from the two older albums, is "On Hold," with 65.1 million streams.

Filmed in and about Marfa, I had some good commentary on that in my prior review of the new album. Suffice it to say that the transformation of Marfa from no-wheresville West Texas to the kind of place that a dream pop group of Brits would want to film their video is just damn weird.

The interesting thing is that their first album appears to be the most popular, in terms of number of listens.  Oh shit.  In the three hours since I started writing this post, the streams for "Intro" went from 199.7 million streams to 200.2!  Half a million streams today?  Was this the most popular eclipse soundtrack song for the entire world?  So crazy.  Anyway, the numbers are like this:

• 2009's XX: 
• 619 million streams total (ish, I rounded down on each number) 
• avg. per song: 56.3 million
• Hi: 200.2 million; Lo: 24.2 million
• 2012's Coexist:
• 342 million streams total
• 31.1 million avg. per song
• Hi: 108 million; Lo: 13 million
• 2017's I See You:
• 189 million streams total
• 18.9 million avg. per song
• Hi: 65 million; Lo: 7 million.

Obviously, XX has been out longer, so people could listen more, but even if you took out the greatest song ever, that first album would still be the tops.  Not sure that any of this matters, I just found it interesting, I guess because my Twitter feed made it sound like Jesus was back when these guys put out their new album, and I didn't even know who they were.  Lets do something from that second album.  Here is "Angels," with 108.1 million streams.

Damn, son.  Put that shit on a mixtape and you're gonna be swimming in ass.  Screw the "Intro" tune, when she sings about "being as in love with you as I am," I feel like she means it.  And so will the ladies.

This band reminds of the Cure in their sound, as though Sarah McLaughlin fronted a new super version of that band once Robert Smith heads off to clown school.  I think it is mainly the guitar work on these songs, kind of plucky in a way that reminds me of the Cure.  Like on "Crystalised," which sounds like Alt-J, the Cure, and Sarah hooked up to do a quiet practice session for a benefit concert to help puppies.

The band won the Mercury Prize for 2010, for that debut album (which I just talked about with Skepta, it is the top album of the year for the UK and Ireland).  Pretty impressive.  Two of the members (the two who aren't Jamie xx), Romy Croft and Oliver Sim (which are such very Brit names) were apparently raised as friends from birth and independently started making music before deciding to go in together on it with a girl-boy group.  They originally just sang over a computer drumtrack, but early fan Jamie Smith came on board to make electronic tracks for them to sing over.  Jamie Smith became Jamie xx, who does solo music on the side now, including a well-regarded album in 2015 (In Colour) that did nothing for me when I reviewed it.  From reading a few interviews, the band members seem endearingly awkward and introverted, which seems perfect for this brand of chilly, dreamy pop.  Seems like all of the songs on the older two albums could be about love or missing love.  The new album has more bounce and fun to me, and I like it even more, but there are some real beauties on the old ones.

I know I won't go see this show, just because I really want to go see Jay-Z, but I totally would go check them out.  I like the tunes.  You should just go listen to the top ten on Spotify, you'll like it.