Tag: The Xx

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Music

The XX – Reconsider (Exempt / Henry Greenwork Edit)

Remember me, I’m the one that’s back from over
Time’s gone by and I’m still so far from over
You reappeared like you had never been gone
I lose composure
You’re touching me like you have no desire for closure

Reconsider

Did you lie awake like I did
I stayed up ’til the stars didn’t recognise me
So long
I waited so long
Now you don’t see the skies that I do
My sun becomes your moon
For a familiar love
I am familiar love”

I am currently sitting in a dark hotel room on the outskirts of Delhi, India. The last familiar voice I heard was over a broken Skype call and the last familiar words I read were the lyrics to this song. The XX have a haunting way of capturing moments like that. The voice of the singer (Romy) is ghostlike, with these lyrics echoing the corridors in my head.

There is something about being stripped of your familiar place, familiar people to let you see what lonely is and even when you think it gone, it emerges in those dark rooms. Echoing in your head. It is arguably that ability to conjure those thoughts as to why the XX have such a cult following. Coming from the depths of England, they create the music pretty girls with their cigarettes dance around to in their panties, not sure if the words in those lyrics are cuts or a relief.

In this case, it is relief. We never want to feel alone. I think it is true we listen to lonely music to feel that less. I had a dream last night, the kind where you have to tell yourself in your dream it is not real. But the whole city feels like that. Waking up and seeing a new world, an alien planet. Sitting in a car today I was toted around the city visiting schools and temples I had only seen in travel books. Seeing people, cows in the streets, monkeys were swinging around the trees as we waited for the Prime Minister of India to pass so the roads would clear. The 100 degree Fahrenheit heat covering my well covered body. Alien places are always an experience as you have that “Inception” moment, where you, everything is normal, but then you notice something off and then you realise you are the only English voice you have heard in three days.

I like this place and this song on repeat in the room. It is the good lonely when the lyrics are a safe place and a familiar story. I think everyone should take a trip to an alien planet. I recommend India.

The XX – Reconsider (Exempt / Henry Green Rework)

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Music

Jamie XX – Sleep Sound

Ca fait depuis septembre que j’ai déménagé à la ville de Mexico DF. Depuis Juin 2012 on est au quatrième déménagement.

Ca fait quatre pays, quatre villes et deux continents en deux ans. C’est quoi ce bordel ? Et après on dit qu’on devrait jamais oublier ces racines.

Ce n’est pas donne, c’est sure. Nonobstant, s’il existe un moyen dont je retrouve mon enfance, de recréer mon début: la douceur du sommeil.

Quand je dors, je pense à rien et je pense à tout.
Je mange sans le besoin de chier.
Je baise des femmes fatales sans visage.
J’écoute de la musique de cosmonaute et je me balance dans les étoiles.

Certes, je ne sais plus d’où je proviens. Certes, je n’arrive pas à préciser mes racines. Mais au contraire à ce qu’on pense, ceci ne me limite guerre ; j’ai la liberté de rêver avec les yeux ouverts.

Jamie XX – Sleep Sound

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Music Remixes

The xx – Sunset (Jamie xx Edit)

Sunsetxx

 

I don’t know what it is about The xx but they keep delivering singles and re-edits that I cannot stop listening to. The minimalist style allows for other artists to come in and fool around, but what I appreciate the most about this band is their willingness to play around with their own stuff. One lesson I learned in art school is that no work is ever completely finished. This can be a burden to some (me being one) it is also a freedom. An idea has a beginning point, but its end is infinite. Ideas evolve and grow as they progress. You can reach what feels like the end of a project, but really you’ve reached a point in the idea where you and it need to rest. This idea works sonically as well and The xx certainly aren’t afraid to breathe new life into their already lush tracks.

I always thought it was sad
the way we act like strangers.
After all that we had
we act like we had never met.”

This morning I had a conversation with of my best friends. We went back and forth relishing in the truth they had just discovered. A veil had been lifted on a (now) one-sided relationship and liberated vibes were pulsing. This track is a conversation between two ex-lovers and their perspective on the failed relationship. Oliver Sim and Romy Croft exchange verses with words of regret and a little dash of shame. Croft, it seems, is like my best friend – hoping that something will come about again…that they’ll somehow rekindle the flame. Her perspective, however, sees beyond the blind hope and knows that what’s done is done. Now it’s mere frustration towards the relationship, for who wants to see a person they’ve had history with and feel inadequate?

Jamie xx’s re-vamp of this track spins it into a melodic dance tune. While the story unfolds xx provides a beat that makes it okay to let go and shake it all off. There should be celebration in finding truth, no matter how unfortunate it may be.

The xx – Sunset (Jamie xx Edit)

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Music Remixes

The XX – VCR (Four Tet Remix)

 

There are a lot of things always happening for everyone at any given moment, so it may come as no surprise to all of you when I say that there’s a lot happening in my life right now. Would it make you feel better if I said that this song was taking up a majority of my attention? Because nine minutes of glory and build are all too hard to forget, and when the layers build like they do here, you simply have to indulge and let go for an uninhibited amount of time. That’s the nature of Four Tet in general, I think. It gives me great joy to know that I’ve really fallen into this warped hole of an entirely new genre of electronic music, something I’ve always appreciated but not to the level I’m at right now. I think it has something to do with craving a sound that represents the emergence of newness to our generation and time. That is to say, each era has its sound — whether it’s rock ‘n’ roll, punk, hip-hop, ’90s hip-hop (very different), etc. and I’d like to think that the sound that I’m really proud to say has emerged from a gifted group of musicians and electronic/tech geeks (in the sweetest, most positive way possible), is something along the lines of this song.

Vocal layering, building sounds, synths, machine produced drums, spacey futuristic tribal sounds…these musicians have a lot to take credit for, and they deserve our thanks.

I’m writing this post from the safety of my warm bed and apartment because as I’ve been warned, it’s sub-30 degrees in NYC today and that is just not going to fly with me for the time being. Regardless, when I go outside, this will be the song I listen to in order to remain grounded and composed. I urge you to do the same.

The XX – VCR (Four Tet Remix)

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Music

The XX – Sunset (Libations & Oscillations Bootleg)

If you were on the fence at all regarding The xx‘s second release Coexist, two things could push your opinion to the favoring side: experiencing them live, and absorbing this Sunset remix.

As performers, The xx have a successful live show down pat.  I still can’t shake the stunning visuals and sonic precision I witnessed.   As the closing act for this year’s remote and easily enjoyable Treasure Island Music Festival in the Bay Area, the UK minimal electro-pop trifecta (Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, producer Jamie XX) provided the tens of thousands of Treasure Island visitors with an aural climax to a weekend that included EMPT favorites like Tycho, Toro Y Moi, Divine Fits, and more.  Who was headlining? The xx. Oh sure, there were doubts.  You could hear comments in the air; people love the band but weren’t sure if they could pull off the climax that was needed to top off a weekend of high energy acts.  The xx surely put to rest any trepidation, proving themselves a worthy headliner by blowing the crowd away.  They were comfortably straddling the line between melancholy and energetic. Witnessing their interpretation of Sunset in a live setting was a reintroduction to a friend I’d met before, and I enjoyed the song’s company in a brand new context.  Sometimes, it takes seeing the band communicate their song to you live to gain a full appreciation of it.

Then we have this entrapping  remix.  By spreading Jamie xx’s two-step beat over the majority of the composition including the empty spaces left behind by the original, Austin producers Libations & Oscillations prep Sunset for its venture onto the dance floor.  Personally, I’d accept its industrial groove and would move willingly.  Dropping modest new-age piano riffs and synth pads gently into the mix, they graduate it to a wider space, lifting it closer to the atmosphere just as Felix Baumgartner descends in the opposite direction.

The XX – Sunset (Libations & Oscillations Bootleg)

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Music

The XX – Intro (KO Remix)

This track is so sexy, and there is a crazy energy about it that just resonates through your whole body. The track really speaks for itself to be honest. It has that end of the world anthem, life flashing before your eyes, those blissful minutes right after the most amazing sex you have ever had.

I love what KO aka: Kyle O’Shea does with this track, he doesn’t take away anything from it but just adds the right amount of his own flavor.  Speeding it up, droppin’ some hip-hop flavor, then slowin’ it down, KO’s trap-style production on this track is flawless if you ask me.  His use of synths and some quick rap vocals scarcely thrown in really kicks this track up.  Pretty impressive stuff coming from a young and fresh 20 year old from Baltimore.  Check out more of KO’s music and remix’s at his Soundcloud.

This remix is definitely going to be my anthem for the week but the original always blows me away and this video by this filmaker and photographer Alexander Jorgensen really creates an imaginative view on life with it’s use of symbolisms:

The energy of this track is really great for putting things into perspective, you create your own story without all the vocals telling you one.  For me this takes all the craziness that’s been going on and really lays it out for me to carefully ride with.  Life is definitely a ride whether it’s slow or fast it’s like you are at a theme park jumping from one ride to the other not knowing exactly what you are about to experience, sometimes that’s scary and you want to know everything before it happens but I am really learning day by day that you cannot live life trying to figure out everything before it happens…

Clearly this is a great track to start off the week and lay all your cards out on the table, and seriously just enjoy the ride!

The XX – Intro (KO Remix)

Categories
Music Remixes

The xx – Fiction (Synapson Remix)

It’s that time of day where the sky’s filling with purple, the air gets a little crisper, and the 9-5er’s are piling into their cars, cabs, subways, and hopping onto their bikes to shake off their day. Happy Hour is in high gear and the weekend is inching closer and closer. I’m sitting at my studio desk a mile from my apartment with a huge list of to-do’s glaring at me, yet all I want to do is sit for a bit; zone out and let things go. Thankfully I brought my laptop to the studio today for it holds my whole music trajectory and this track hasn’t made it onto my already full iPod. With my headphones on, the commotion and distractions of the other people here don’t exist. This track is playing and all I see are mouths moving but I can’t hear their words. My imagination takes over as the lush sounds of The xx and Synapson’s brilliant additions wash through my body. I imagine all the people leaving work; millions of tiny people robotically following their daily motions and the city grid. This bird’s eye view lends some perspective to this banal act and with this track as my soundtrack, it all feels calm.

Calm is what this track emotes. Despite the lyrical longing and frustration over a lover, the lazy guitar slides and staccato picking keeps the song upright. Jamie xx’s hushed monotone is soothing; haunting. There’s a sense of desperation throughout the track (perhaps it’s the keyboard chords or dropped beat towards the end), but the drum beat keeps the song grounded. It’s a sedative track that lends a sense of bliss to detachment. I can’t wait to put this track on my iPod and walk through the city streets and just let go for a couple blocks or twenty.

This is a musical space you want to fall into before the weekend begins. It’s the sonic calm before the storm. Go find your little corner of the world, relax, and slip into this track. Debauchery can wait.

The xx – Fiction (Synapson Remix)

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Music

Divine Fits – My Love Is Real

So my father is hip. He’s thrown around the term “with it” a couple of times and I’ve caught him reading Gawker and Jezebel while a used and abused Wall Street Journal sits wrinkled in front of him at his desk. He’s not one of those other dads, he’s a cool dad (Mean Girls reference anyone? eh eh?). I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve been introduced to many a new artist from him over the past couple of years. I remember one morning waking up while being home for the holidays and hearing Animal Collective playing from the family room. Confused, I went to find the source and there was my father sitting in his reading chair with the paper listening to a band I associated with my Mary Jane lovin’roommate at the time. He then informed me that not only had he just purchased the new Animal Collective album, but he had also downloaded The xx’s freshman album and Fever Ray’s. I hadn’t even downloaded these artists yet. I was dumbfounded and embarrassed for myself. Needless to say my dad earned some points in my book that day. Since then we’ve been exchanging music and emerging artists are often a source of conversation between us. Today I’d like to introduce you to a band my dad suggested I listen to this past week, the Divine Fits.

A side project while their respective bands are spending time away from the studio, Divine Fits is Britt Daniel of Spoon and Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Sam Brown. Formed earlier this year, the Fits are already many critics artists to watch. Their sound is reminiscent of the member’s previous bands: guitars and low-fi synths come together to make an urgent plunge into the alternate minimalist rock world. Boeckner’s odd blend of falsetto and spoken song on the album’s introductory track is blunt and a little off-putting considering he’s crooning “My love is real until it stops.” This bluntness, however, mimics the band’s acoustics. A simple kick-drum and synth bass rhythm carries us flatline through the song while light keyboard sounds give the track its playfulness. I found myself saying “yes, yes, yes” after this track cut off and immediately went into the second. Nothing the Fits do is overdone, showy, or unnecessary.

It’s all very tongue and cheek with the Divine Fits. In all honesty, this track and the rest of the album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, is one of the best things I’ve heard all year. As much as I love the member’s previous bands, I’m crossing my fingers that this project keeps its momentum. Their sonic formula is right on target; tightly packaged and promptly delivered. Here’s to hoping they don’t end as abruptly as this track does.

Divine Fits – My Love Is Real

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Music

The xx – Chained

 

There’s always two sides to every love story; whether we like it or not. Before I continue any further, it should be very clear how biased I am towards The xx as they are one of my favourite bands. So please excuse my probably biased but honest post.

As I was saying, about the two sides to every love story.. It just so happens that no one believes the truth but their own truth (at least in my humble opinion). And sometimes -ironically- when people have just been freed from a relationship they remain chained to a feeling or their ‘truth’. Sometimes we ask if we held the other person too close or didn’t let them breathe and we do so with a rhetoric tone as we hope there’s a chance the other person doesn’t answer even though we asked.

“I watched you breathe in
And I wish you’d stop
Only for long enough
Long enough”

The worst realisation is to acknowledge how two people that were once so close, could be asking themselves these questions. It just proves how -without noticing- we can grow apart as fast as we attract each other.

“Winged or chained
I ask you
Would you have stayed
Did I hold you too tight
Did I not let enough light in”

Oliver and Romy tell this story with their usual unique blend of simple vocals and melodies; this time in a bit more upbeat and almost danceable rendition than their first single Angels. It sounds like a typical xx tune in the bassline, guitar riffs and the cataclysmic drum work except for the subtle influence of a couple new musical elements that set this album apart when you appreciate it as a whole. As the sophomore release of their new album, Chained has been expected with much anticipation.

The xx – Chained
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Music

The Xx – Night Time (MegaMan & Panic City Remix)

First of all, this is remix is pure bliss and not the ignorant kind. MegaMan & Panic city have masterfully crafted a beautiful instrumental full atmospheric pads, classic XX guitars and rhythms sure to keep any music lovers interest. The arrangement is tailored around Baria Qureshi’s dreamy voice and there’s no attempt to grab your attention with technique because it’s all done with a grace and style that puts the song above all else. In the age of endless techniques, tricks and producer showmanship it’s refreshing to hear producers who stay true to the song. Anyways, this jam speaks for itself so if you’re like me and won’t be falling asleep anytime soon this is the track for you, enjoy.

The Xx – Night Time (MegaMan & Panic City Remix)