The XX consists of 4 twenty-somethings from London and they’ve cooked up a critically acclaimed self titled debut by adding as much doom and gloom to cast a shadow on their glorious youth.
The album begins bright, like in VCR, but in a very swift turn of events, the lights are dimmed and a veil descends, until you are left with nothing but you, the music and dark thoughts.
Crystallized, the standout track of the album, is a parred down anecdote of trembling young hearts, while Basic Space kicks in with a surprisingly levitating R & B groove. But before you are mistakened, this is not the typical teenage suicidal fanfare. You’ll be adequately seduced by the thick, sombre basslines and choked by an effervescent haze of love, loss, sex and confusion.
This, is also a really short review, because I’m already drifting in and out of conciousness. Got to go to bed. Here’s me signing off with the final song of the night and leaving you alone with your melancholic inclinations.
I’m very tempted to write a one word review for this album, but because the music itself is not that bad, I’ll attempt to elaborate my lack of feelings for the New Moon soundtrack.
Unlike most albums, this one comes with an expiry date, by which I mean you should wire it with C-4 explosives to prevent yourself from even getting close to the thing from 20th November onwards. I’ll be explaining about why you absolutely need to do that later on.
The album is a piece of work, which is a given when you’ve got indie giants like Thom Yorke, Death Cab for a Cutie, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Lykke Li and St Vincent at the helm, but a grossly overrated one at that. Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage” lends a good pulse to the album and starts it off like a rush of blood to the head. But the real shiner is Seawolf’s The Violet Hour, a swift bass driven melody that lets loose fumes of woozy young love.
Which I guess, is the part of the movie where Edward Cullen’s hairless chest starts to glitter.
That is why if you find that you like the album, be warned that things would turn sour once the movie hits the big screens on the 20th of November. The reason it is called a soundtrack is plainly because they would be using the music for scenes in the movie. Perhaps Bella would be seeking comfort in Jacobs abdominal muscles while Lykke Li muses about possibilities. Perhaps Edward Cullen would be grooming his manly eyebrows to the tune of Grizzly Bear’s slow life.
Its going to be heartbreaking, and you best prepare yourself for it.
Its sad news when Pitchfork proudly declares that you are no longer relevant, but my guess is that Julian Casablancas is not gonna shed any tears for that.
I had somewhat expected Phrazes for the Young to be a disappointment, and though I was not proven wrong, I’m really liking the way “11th dimension” is making me dance (much to the horror of anyone around me). It reminds me of the time when I was a teenager who spent half her time chasing after the Strokes’s steadfast rhythms. From the trepidation of the wobbling base beats to the keyboard slamming in the intro, there’s no brakes in sight and you’re sent off on an exciting retro roller coaster ride. “ALL TIME HIGH!”, is what I really want to say after hearing the song.
Does that mean the end for another Strokes album? I hope not. Even shoulder pads are back in fashion, so I guess anything is possible, right?
For what its worth, Julian Casablancas is still the sexiest skinny jeans wearing pavement kisser I’d ever known. (case evidence)
Miike Snow = good mood = fantastic weekend ahead. “Song for no one” (off their new album ANIMAL) is such a trippy gem it had me tapping my feet in no time. Every beat and rhythm is so tightly knitted it feels like it’ll burst into several kinds of awesome. They’ve also uped the complexity of electronic music, mixing in nagging, persistent keyboards with rolling guitars and funky percussion, creating a sound that is as enveloping as a digital fortress, a place which little boys build to hide in so they could dream about their bright futures.
Here’s to you, a song for no one because it was made for everyone. Have yourself a great weekend ahead.
.….More or less, that is the Doppler Effect, most famously used to come to the conclusion that the universe is expanding, since no matter which way a radar is pointing, it detects a redshift, the visual manifestation of wavelengths bouncing off a receding source. That had been a surprise: the universe, in every direction, was leaving us (and apparently looking beige while doing so.) I’m not sure if it’s wrong or silly to feel more sad and lonely on account of such facts like the universe’s expansion, but somehow I do feel that way….
I’m sure by now, you’ve heard from somewhere or someone, raving reviews of Declaration of Dependence. The new album from the folks who’ve been missing for a little more than 5 years sounds exactly like where they left off a little more than 5 years ago. If you’re a long time fan like me, it’s mostly a blessing. They didn’t change at all, and it works due to the long disappearance. The new material invokes a powerful sense of nostalgia, like bumping into an old friend and suddenly wondering what’s he up to during all those years of seperation, then consequently thinking that maybe your life would have been just that much better if he had been around all the time.
The duo have a habit of constructing their songs to be cavernous and empty at the beginning, then slowly filling up the void with a stray harmony or two, followed by an entire choir of melodies and sounds, which are never to the point of being a prodigal mess, but still somehow manages to work up a little tempest that will stir your emotions raw. Imagine sitting in a dark room, the guitar harmonics like candles litting up, the strings like another hand in your own, and the delicate vocals bouncing off each other in perfect resonance, casting a warm glow on the face of someone who’s been smiling reassuringly at you.
So cheers to dependence. For we’re all somehow alone in the dark until we learn to depend on someone else.
