The XX

Coexist

I thought it only fair, since I’ve been so openly obnoxious towards the The XX in my short writing career, to try make things right and see if I can change my opinion of them, so I reset the hipster gauge to zero and got stuck into their latest offering ‘Coexist.’

I’m 30 seconds into first track 'Angels' and my skin is crawling from my bones. I’ve heard more happen in live renditions of John Cage’s 4.33. I’m all for post-anything but I just cant get past that feeling they are just being lazy as fuck with the instruments and vocals. Don’t get me wrong, the production throughout is unbelievable, the clarity and spatial awareness on the entire album are second to none. But that’s not really enough to merit greatness, because it needs the full package. You wouldn’t go to the cinema and compliment a shit film by telling everyone how comfy your seat was. It all just seems like one huge experiment in how great marketing, clever PR and the creation of a brand and not a band can make idiots buy anything they are told to by the big dogs.

I read in one review, I think it was the Sun newspaper, that The XX ‘Defined Dubstep’. Seriously, what the fuck are they paying these people to form outlandish statements like that? Who in their right fucking mind would ever think that The XX defined anything, ever. Yes, music is objective and all, and there is probably some fuckin jumper cunt somewhere sat in a cold bath of water with his jeans on trying to shrink them even tighter who would rate this the album of the year. Well I’m telling you now that jumper cunt is wrong; it’s a fucking carbon copy of their previous excuse for an album. Nothing new, nothing exciting, no twitchy neck hairs and certainly nothing memorable after a first listen. The only thing from the entire album that made me think ‘ooh that’s nice’ was that little feedback sound from 'Missing'. OK, we get it, you got a reverb unit, you don’t have to use it on everything.

The steel drum sound on 'Reunion' sounds fucking horrendous and doesn’t fit at all. Does a steel drum fit in any music that isn’t from the Caribbean? No. Its mildly rescued by the nice driving beat that follows it, so not all is lost. The problem with this review is I have to keep re-listening to the album as I’m writing this because lets face it, I’d do better recalling the changes in a drone track. Boring force-fed shite, I can’t listen to it anymore.

#Albums #Experimental #Honch #Pop #The XX #Young Turks