April "28th" - Letter "X" = The xx

When I decided to dedicate the A-Z Blogging Challenge to musical artists, I made a checklist on my phone for each day and letter.  I think I typed in The xx first because it's only obvious they'd be the best Letter "X" band ever.  C'mon, they have a double "x" as their band name! But besides them seeming obvious (I could have chosen XTC too), I really wanted to write about The xx because everyone does need to know about them if they don't know them already.

The xx are a British trio labeled as "Indie Pop".  I find this description to be incredibly misleading.  For one, they're not "pop" in the traditional sense of the word at all. Secondly, that label cannot even describe their music when you take into account the electronica mixing with guitars and bass underneath super chill, sexy vocals.  It's understated in the best way possible. 

It doesn't need to scream or get in your face for you to "get it". However, I may be biased on that because it DID take a lot of people time to "get it" (including Mr. O).  The xx gained a lot of buzz in Spring of 2009.  People were really anticipating who this new band was that critics were going gaga over.  When their debut album, xx, came out, I instantly gravitated to it.  However, a lot of blogs and "music people" I respected were "bored" by the album.  Pretty Much Amazing gave it a horrid review. I was shocked.  Then something strange happened.  It took awhile, but slowly these horrid reviews were being rethought, and even retracted (as is evident in the PMA original review). PMA swallowed their pride and admitted they were wrong on their first review.  They blamed the musical climate at the time with artists such as Animal Collective or Passion Pit dominating the indie landscape with high-energy ADD inducing electronica for making The xx seem "forgettable" upon first listen.  However, an appreciation was born and no one could really refute the claims that the band was here for good.

I have seen The xx once live.  They played a not sold out show at The Variety Playhouse.  No video recording was allowed, but I snuck in a few videos (of the opening acts and a couple from The xx).  Of course I did get caught and was told to turn off my recording.  BOO.  It's hard for the band to seem that exciting live because their mood is so unassuming, yet, the music was still great and their voices were like liquid velvet.