The XX

[joshuatxuk]

man I have really changed my opinion of the xx since this thread was posted, they are among my favorite bands now

 

really gradually got into their music: after hearing jamie xx's stuff I warmed up to the the xx's debut and by the time coexist dropped I was hooked completely

[jules]

i agree somewhat, but their new one is really dull. really dull.

[Ivan Ooze]

i respect the hustle but johnny and the xx bore me to bloody tears, soo overated and average at best

why they keep playing them on the radio, i have no idea, they can' even sing, sorry
 

[doublename]

I loved them when they came out, but this new shit is soporific, mane. 

[hayhook]

 

"Actually kind of like the xx

some great remixes floating around. the matthew dear version of vcr is ace

 

because they are so minimal originally, they are perfect for rework

 

would love to hear a watmm xx remix album."

 

^this

[Lada Laika]

I adored their debut when it came out and still return to it now and then, but Coexist fell flat for me. Only listened to the new one once and it didn't really hook me, but I already like it better than their last one. Thinking it might be a grower. 

[Suffocate Peon]

I'm not trying to be malicious, but this is a band I can't even come close to understanding.

 

They have an insanely high amount of praise behind them, but I can't for the life of me understand the appeal.

 

Again, not trying to provoke anyone or ruin anyone's enjoyment (I hate when people do that), but is there a way of looking at this band that I'm not doing?

 

Did you try listening to them while playing Call of Duty: World at War Zombies online? You might not think it, but they really go well together.

 

Other people reckon the xx are good sex music, but try zombies first.

[Suffocate Peon]

 

i really enjoyed their album this year. you don't have to make complicated music to make enjoyable music... there's as much evidence of that in idm as there is in indie so don't be ignorant. regarding animal collective, i can totally understanding not liking them /hating them but to say they're worthless is just stupid. really incredible band, wonderful sound. kind of like folk music mixed with acid, what with all the melting transitions and stuff. for those still getting hard ons for what you think is "complexity", animal collective does a lot of cool stuff changing time signature (specifically jumping from 3 to 4). this yields all kinds of amazingly cool effects. melodically and harmonically they're amazing! i think the idm understanding of simplicity/complexity is totally off. it's more based on how much glitchy shit is thrown on top as opposed to what goes into the music. the beach boys had incredible harmonies and melodies, while sounding poppy as i'll get out. a group like autechre (who i love) has a whole slew of songs that are every bit as good, but much less complex than some of the simple pop stuff you guys tend to trash -- it doesn't make it less good.

but the musical element most non-synth/electronic groups seem to totally forget is timbre. Ae (for example) has an understanding of how powerful different tones and textures when used correctly become. I have yet to come across a group in pop/rock/indie that understands this idea and that it's just as important as rhythm or melody and harmony. When you combine this advanced understanding of timbre and texture to establish a feel and tone of a track with THE most complex rhythms and great melodies it's hard to then switch over to a band like The XX or Animal Collective with out it just sounding so pedestrian.

 

I feel the problem is that AC want to feel like they're making complex or somewhat intellectual music. Which is why they are successful. They make listeners feel like they are doing something intellectual and stimulating with out really asking a lot of questions. The music is just complex enough for the layman to say "wow they're really complex"

 

I have nothing against pop outfits as long as they don't try and tell the world of how great and complex their music is. Groups like Queen and ABBA never had any qualms about how silly their music was. Their music never tried to be anything other that enjoyable, listenable pop. And that's why it's good.

 

Because when you try to claim that ANY pop music outfit makes complex intellectual music, you will fail when compared someone like a Xenakis, or an Ayler, or even Ae.

 

animal collective are just a bunch of douches

 

 

No one says Animal Collective are intellectual, do they? I've never thought of them as complex either. Just take an unusual approach to music and twist into pop. Beach Boys on acid sums them up, but i just love how, like Venetian Snares, they made noise, and then over time eeked out pop songs from the purity of creating chaos, and I think that's what gave their music such originality and creativity. I spent nearly as much time being fascinated by their unusual music and use of their voices as I did wrapping my head around Venetian Snares.

 

I love bands that when you hear them you don't see four ordinary guys playing their instruments, bands that create a sound that's so far removed from the act of making it, they're so absorbed and fully engrossed in the soundscape they're creating that it's all consuming when you listen to it. And i think their music has that enduring quality, as does Autechre's (though they're obviously in a galaxy of their own in that regard). AC sound exactly like a bunch of wild feral kids alone in the woods, dancing around a campfire Lord of The Flies style. Painting With wasn't good, but stuff like The Purple Bottle, listening to it again now, where on earth does something like that come from? It's incomparable to anything else I've heard, they really take you somewhere, they're never a bunch of dull lads from Baltimore, they're transcendent. And I don't really get this from many bands. Fleet Foxes is another. Painting With didn't have this quality, so it is rare, this magical, innocent childlike wonder and joy, like they're discovering the tracks themselves as you listen, so effortless and natural with it. I don't know of any band that sound anything like their early stuff. I've heard a terrible rip off, and it was ..terrible. I read a pitchfork article ages ago, other bands picking their favourite ablums for the year i think it was. Strawberry Jam came up a lot, and the esteem at which they're held surprised me, band after band heaping praise on them, Deerhunter were one, like they are to the other bands the most creative brilliant band, in the same way Radiohead are admired by everyone.

 

I think they're genuinely incredible, genuinely special. Centipede Hz is their masterpiece too. People will catch up eventually. Also hearing Brother Sport live was so fucking good.

[dr lopez]

lol I wrote that in high school still agree. AC fans r annoying

 

 

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[Suffocate Peon]

lol I wrote that in high school still agree. AC fans r annoying

 

 

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What bands do you like?

[DavieAddison]

lol I wrote that in high school still agree. AC fans r annoying

 

 

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Good to see you haven't grown up since then. You seem to be projecting. You argue that Animal Collective and their fans are pretentious douches while acting like a pretentious douche yourself. I don't think they think their music is complex or intellectual, they seem like four down to earth guys who genuinely enjoy making the music they want to make. And of course some fans are going to act like elitist pricks because they think they have superior taste, just like you do when you say they're bad because they're not as complex as Autechre or other artists you like. Most people are able to enjoy music even if it doesn't sound complex or give them a false sense of superiority. 

[dr lopez]

i didn't say AC fans are pretentious douches - they're just annoying.

 

The down to earth argument seems actually more problematic an argument than "they are trying for something and not quite reaching it" which is what i was saying seven years ago. "They're just humble dudes who make music, that's all" is blatantly anti-intellectual and reductionist in a kind of sad way. It's basically a corollary of "I'm not interested in engaging in the possibilities of this music as anything beyond its sound and its immediate emotional impact on me." No thought is given to the fact that these musicians themselves are almost certainly creating this music as an intellectual evocation, representational or abstract or otherwise - and that it might be interesting or fun to some listeners to try and engage with the music in that respect. The "just humble guys, that's it" assertion might have *some* place on a Chris Thile message board or something, where the focus is clearly on supreme technical musicianship and the cultural tradition of folk music, but saying that on watmm, a forum that deals with highly abstract and complex electronic music, is a bit ridiculous because a lot of us enjoy discussing "what the music means or does" beyond just "sick beats, bro." or "hey drop it! who cares it's just music and they're having fun!" 

 

If this kind of thinking labels me a "pretentious douche" - then so be it - I will take it in stride. Just know that critical analysis is just as essential to fully understand the beauty of music as it is for any other art form. Simply relying on an immediate emotional response and then shutting down conversation with "they're just simple guys" is missing a lot of the picture.

 

Anyway a reclarification: AC are not a horrible group, completely destitute of music ability. Far from it. They seem completely average, kind of like the Shins but with some filtered found sounds added etc. "Psychedelic lyrics" and "trippy synth moments" but working 100% inside the indie, white people music oeuvre of the 00s-10s. Which is totally fine it's just kind of boring and pretty unoriginal. I never feel like I hear any "point of view" or how AC feels about *anything* - fuck it, even "pitchfork critical darling" LCD Soundsystem has an attitude, as annoying as it is.

 

Which brings me to my final problem with serious AC fans - and how obsessed they are with this band, and how they make "uplifting, magical music" that "soars into abstract sound collage flawlessly" and "really makes you think about the fragility of the pop music structure" or some shit like that. AC fans are like a midwestern christian kid who tells you he's "actually really into spicy indian food" but then he always orders chicken tikka masala medium hot.

 

bye

 

lol I wrote that in high school still agree. AC fans r annoying


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What bands do you like?

 

steely dan

[hello spiral]

Anyway a reclarification: AC are not a horrible group, completely destitute of music ability. Far from it. They seem completely average, kind of like the Shins but with some filtered found sounds added etc. "Psychedelic lyrics" and "trippy synth moments" but working 100% inside the indie, white people music oeuvre of the 00s-10s. Which is totally fine it's just kind of boring and pretty unoriginal. I never feel like I hear any "point of view" or how AC feels about *anything* - fuck it, even "pitchfork critical darling" LCD Soundsystem has an attitude, as annoying as it is.

 

Which brings me to my final problem with serious AC fans - and how obsessed they are with this band, and how they make "uplifting, magical music" that "soars into abstract sound collage flawlessly" and "really makes you think about the fragility of the pop music structure" or some shit like that. AC fans are like a midwestern christian kid who tells you he's "actually really into spicy indian food" but then he always orders chicken tikka masala medium hot.

 

bye

 

 

Damn, this is exactly how I feel about BoC fans. Well done.