Ginnard’s Album of the Month: The xx – XX

*In an attempt to contribute to the ever increasing glory that is BFD I have come up with Ginnard’s Album of the Month.  An album does not have to be recently released in order to make the cut, I just have to have been listening to it a lot for the past 30 days.

The xx – XX

For fans of: Interpol, Blonde Redhead, Cut Copy

Living in New York and taking public transportation every day gives a man a nice handfull of free time.  I have been dieting on a healthy mix of The Stand and The xx for months now.  Normally I get a new album and if I like it I will listen to it for a month or so until it gets replaced by the next album I enjoy.  I have been steadily listening to this album for about six months now and it is still in heavy rotation.  This says a lot from someone that over listens to music as often as I do.

The two aspects of this album that really make it stand out to me are a) the romantic dynamic between the two vocalists and b) the minimalist melodies they produce.  I don’t think there is a single guitar chord on the whole album, it’s entirely single notes.  And who the fuck needs a drummer when you have someone that can press buttons really fast?  Now there are a couple of downer tracks on the album (i.e. Fantasy, Infinity), but they are easily overlooked.  The xx are not the kind of band I would want to see at an outdoor summer festival (which they are playing all over Europe) or at a huge venue (playing the United Palace in NY in October) but in a cramped, sweaty, dark basement with seizure inducing lights.