The xx appears to be a techno group stuck at a shoegaze-fest. Their songs sound just like most dumb dance music, only really laid-back and lifeless. The two leads sing as though their microphones were asleep and they don't want to wake them. The instrumentals are etheral with simplistic melodies. It's less insulting than the typical techno/dance album because it's not overbearing and loud. At the same time it offers so little. If the artists can't seem to be energetic about their music, how can I hope to be inspired by it? I guess I didn't hate it. 2 stars.
So that's the review of the album, and now I have to talk about what I've read about The xx. They are described as an indie-pop band, a designation that continues to drive me nuts. Once a band goes mainstream, don't they cease to be indie-anything? How the fuck does independent music become a genre? Shouldn't indie music be bucking trends, therefore not conform to any genre? I'd rather classify The xx as emo-rock. It's really pretentious in its bleakness and attempt at appealing to those outside the mainstream.
Further, I'm gonna call bullshit on The xx really being a band. Indeed they have a guitarist and a bass player. But instead of a drummer, the third member of the band is responsible for "beats and MPC". I don't care what MPC stands for. "Beats" are meant to be supplied by a drummer if you want to be called a band. Standing over a drum machine and pressing "play" is a poor man's excuse for a musician.
Anyway, the music didn't bother me but everything else I learned did. Screw The xx. This album had no place on a 1,001 albums to hear before I die list and exemplifies the problem with having such a list in the first place. When you try to add new albums you generally just add some hot piece of dreck that got popular because it was new. It would surprise if in 10 years anyone even knew who the fuck The xx was.
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