Pick of the Week #49: The XX

The XX are of one the biggest, if not the biggest, acts to emerge from the blog-o-sphere this year. Last year we had Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, and this year we have The XX. And while the three acts sound very different, the common thread between them, as I see it, is that they have all carved out their own very unique sound.

For B.I. that sound was sort of an encompassing, straining, falsetto; for F.F. it was the big, choral harmonies; for the XX it almost seems like their trademark is the empty space, the silence between notes, the cryptic electric guitar, and the drum claps that subtly guide the pace of their songs.

I think the thing that is the most impressive about the debut album from The XX, XX, is just how simple the album is. The guitar riffs sound like I could've written them (note: I played the guitar for approximately 1 month in eighth grade before I quit), the vocals are more laid back - they don't ever really jump out at you, and the beats certainly aren't anything that's going to make Kanye, Dre, or 9th Wonder worry, but the whole, in this case, is certainly greater than the sum of it's parts.

In a way, it's almost hypnotizing, which may sound like a little bit of a back-handed complement, but I mean it in a good way. As Liz pointed out, the beats on everyone of the songs sound roughly the same, there's some sort of variation on the guitar riff, but it's not super different, and the vocals sort of hover in the empty spaces kind of like two people trying to make small talk at a party. The further you get in to XX the more it feels like you just sort of get in to some sort of drug induced rhythm, and by the time you think of doing something else the album is over. And when it's over, like any good drug induced trance, you want more...

[mp3] The XX - Crystalized

Oh, and congratulastions to Ryan O. for winning the passes to the Ketch Harbour Wolves show tonight at El Mocambo in T.O..



Pick of the Week #1: Ketch Harbour Wolves
Pick of the Week #2: Rah Rah
Pick of the Week #3: Glasvegas/Animal Collective
Pick of the Week #4: Bruce Peninsula
Pick of the Week #5: The Antlers
Pick of the Week #6: The Darcys
Pick of the Week #7: Ohbijou (Swift Feet for Troubling Times)
Pick of the Week #8: Gentlemen Husbands
Pick of the Week #9: Chris Whitley
Pick of the Week #10: Alela Diane
Pick of the Week #11: K'naan
Pick of the Week #12: TOR/Sufjan Stevens
Pick of the Week #13: Timber Timbre
Pick of the Week #14: Justis
Pick of the Week #15: Hibiscus & Rosehips Compilation
Pick of the Week #16: Patrick Watson
Pick of the Week #17: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers
Pick of the Week #18: The Liptonians
Pick of the Week #19: Sunparlour Players
Pick of the Week #20: Black Hat Brigade
Pick of the Week #21: Howie Beck
Pick of the Week #22: Pink Mountaintops
Pick of the Week #23: Still Life Still
Pick of the Week #24: Hayden
Pick of the Week #25: Snailhouse
Pick of the Week #26: Dog Day
Pick of the Week #27: Ohbijou (Beacons)
Pick of the Week #28: Dog is Blue
Pick of the Week #29: Parkas
Pick of the Week #30: The Wooden Sky
Pick of the Week #31: Bowerbirds
Pick of the Week #32: Miss Maya
Pick of the Week #33: Ben Folds Presents ...
Pick of the Week #34: Mantis
Pick of the Week #35: Diamond Rings
Pick of the Week #36: The Wilderness of Manitoba
Pick of the Week #37: Asher Roth
Pick of the Week #38: Julie Doiron
Pick of the Week #39: Chad VanGaalen
Pick of the Week #40: That's the Spirit
Pick of the Week #41: The Ghost is Dancing
Pick of the Week #42: Dan Mangan
Pick of the Week #43: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Pick of the Week #44: Said the Whale
Pick of the Week #45: Noah and the Whale
Pick of the Week #46: Mos Def
Pick of the Week #47: The Acorn
Pick of the Week #48: Evening Hymns