cytania Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 What a strange act. I think they were 'ambient dub' but that would suggest too much. The XX play songs that feel like Intros to something much larger but just as you think a hypnotic or crashing section is due... the 'song' just ends. I felt like I was being teased. There was movement but we never went anywhere. If music were sex this was tantric. Haven't felt this cheated since those Genesis albums stuffed with incomplete song ideas but real Genesis fans call those classics and I looked at the huge crowd The XX had drawn and realised I just didn't get it. But thousands do, so I must be an old fart... Oh and the way they dance... Gob-smacked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I've not seen this yet , but have enjoyed them on other shows before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apa Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='cytania' timestamp='1372658628' post='2128110'] What a strange act. I think they were 'ambient dub' but that would suggest too much. The XX play songs that feel like Intros to something much larger but just as you think a hypnotic or crashing section is due... the 'song' just ends. I felt like I was being teased. There was movement but we never went anywhere. If music were sex this was tantric. Haven't felt this cheated since those Genesis albums stuffed with incomplete song ideas but real Genesis fans call those classics and I looked at the huge crowd The XX had drawn and realised I just didn't get it. But thousands do, so I must be an old fart... Oh and the way they dance... Gob-smacked. [/quote] +1 on all this. The Cowboy Junkies did it so much better and I didn't like them either. Theres minimalist then theres....... well...... Everything but the girl on Mogadon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cytania Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 I'm wondering if large sections of the huge crowd they drew also feel like I do. Anyone recall acts at Glastonbury who for whatever reason didn't get a crowd? Feel like if somehow I blackmailed Mr.Eavis into putting performance artists eating imaginary bacon naked on stage someone would still be clapping along :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbaby Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='apa' timestamp='1372660568' post='2128128'] Everything but the girl on Mogadon. [/quote] Lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrene Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Everytime a Glastonbury audience member sings along with The xx, a Shoreditch hipster spills an espresso. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrene Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Plus, singing in tune is so unhip. Songs in the key of Xb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gust0o Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='Cyrene' timestamp='1372664377' post='2128162'] Everytime a Glastonbury audience member sings along with The xx, a Shoreditch hipster spills an espresso. [/quote] Haha, I like this. I didn't think they were much, though I know a lot of that is the style they effect and my own appreciation of that style - it's not my cup of tea, so perhaps no wonder I was underwhelmed! I thought they would have been in a tent, playing a smaller crowd - something a little more intimate, where the vibe might have worked better. But hey. They won a Mercury award, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrene Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 To be honest, i like their albums. Just find them mildly amusing; possibly a result of exposure to Brick Lane by bike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 They're not a terrible band by any means, but like you I always feel a bit teased by their music, there's hints of great stuff that I love but it's always fleeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stag Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I just dont get the point of it... like others have said here theres clearly something there thats intriguing but as songs they just dont stand up. I like the woman's voice too, very Tracey Thorn-esque. A very very weird choice to have to end a festival on - particuarly since the Smashing Pumpkins were before them on the lineup and would have finished it significantly better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Everyone has their own criteria for judging music. I didn't catch The XX but what I've heard in the past I quite liked. The most annoying act for me was Maverick Sabre, I found myself becoming angry and turned the c*** off. I find lyrics are important to understand a band, but how many people listen to lyrics? Not that many I suspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Just dull really imho. Critically acclaimed I know but I didnt get it either like earlier posters. Could of been due to the usual beeb sound but I couldn't hear the bass. or was he just holding it for show? Like the hipster spills expresso quote, :-) very funny & also prob why I dont "get" them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I was genuinely surprised by them and actually quite enjoyed them. The super short songs that just seemed to stop as they were setting a mood seemed a bit odd at first but once I got te hang of what they were doing they seemed to work. The strange posturings of the bass man made me smile too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I tried to watch as much footage on the festival as I could, but I couldn't stay interested in this act.. Nothing there..as far as I could tell... so I have no idea how they could headline. I wasn't knocked out with Womack either... and I toggled between the channels to try and stay with it...but at least they didn't keep me up ..either of them.. Sunday night smacked of the fest knew people would start the long drive home early and that was reflected in the acts not really being 'headline'..IMO..?? So, for me..a bit of a anti-climax..but then I was back home watching it on tele.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingus Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I love Bobby Womack as a songwriter and artist in his own right and have done for many years , but I'm not sure that he's really best suited to being a festival act , or indeed that his greatest strength is playing live at all . His real talents are as a singer , guitarist and writer . He is a thoughtful man with great depth of feeling in his music and it doesn't neccesarilly follow that his live performances will be equally as enthralling as his recorded work , just like any act . If you were going to see Bobby Womack live much better in a more intimate setting , I expect As for The XX , like so many bands nowadays , it's all external drama and posturing with no real content to the music , either intellectual or emotional . Everything is melodrama and image , but there is nothing of any real substance behind it except misty - eyed narcissism . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1372688410' post='2128574'] I love Bobby Womack as a songwriter and artist in his own right and have done for many years , but I'm not sure that he's really best suited to being a festival act , or indeed that his greatest strength is playing live at all . His real talents are as a singer , guitarist and writer . He is a thoughtful man with great depth of feeling in his music and it doesn't neccesarilly follow that his live performances will be equally as enthralling as his recorded work , just like any act . If you were going to see Bobby Womack live much better in a more intimate setting , I expect [b]As for The XX , like so many bands nowadays , it's all external drama and posturing with no real content to the music , either intellectual or emotional . Everything is melodrama and image , but there is nothing of any real substance behind it except misty - eyed narcissism .[/b] [/quote] Certainly not how they've come across in interviews, and their lyrics are interesting and a lot of people seem to understand them. I think it's very easy to ascribe these attributes to bands without knowing their background, and in the next breath, the Beatles were genuises and we seem to forget their highly narcissistic image and poppy little ditties like Love Me Do. I wish we still had a music culture and and industry that supported artistic DEVELOPMENT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingus Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1372689490' post='2128595'] Certainly not how they've come across in interviews, and their lyrics are interesting and a lot of people seem to understand them. I think it's very easy to ascribe these attributes to bands without knowing their background, and in the next breath, the Beatles were genuises and we seem to forget their highly narcissistic image and poppy little ditties like Love Me Do. I wish we still had a music culture and and industry that supported artistic DEVELOPMENT. [/quote] I think a big part of the problem is that there are too many acts , not all of whom really have that much to offer . Could XX sit down and play you a song ? I really don't know the answer to that question . This years flavour of the month will soon be discarded in favour of next years musical saviour , who will doubtless be some "credible " act who capture the zeitgeist of the hour in Hoxton and Shoreditch . Music , like any other industry , is about selling a product to make a profit . It only suited record companies to develop talent over the long -term when that was profitable . In most cases , that approach isn't profitable any more , so it has been abandoned . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 You sound bitter. Could Kraftwerk sit you down and play you a number? I partially accept your second point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingus Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 (edited) [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1372690900' post='2128633'] You sound bitter. Could Kraftwerk sit you down and play you a number? I partially accept your second point. [/quote] I have nothing to be bitter about , I'm just realistic . Most bands are dealing in the Emporers New Clothes . The wider public want that , and the music industry encourage it in every way possible because it fascilitates sales . Never underestimate the power of novelty . The only alternative would be for people to actually listen to music and think about what they had heard , and if they did that then why would they be endlessly preoccupied with new music ? There is just as much validity in old music , but the emphasis is always on the quest for what has supposedly so far eluded us . If these "artists " can't come up with anything new ( many can't ) then they are encouraged to reuse the old and present it as their own creation . There's nothing inherently wrong in that - I love that band Rival Sons , but they should be paying half their royalties to Led Zeppelin and at least some of the remaining half to Humble Pie - but that's what is happening , nevertheless , for better or worse . And I like to think the Kraftwerk could sit down ( well , more like stand up actually ) and play me a song in this kind of a fashion : [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkTQsOQLEeU[/media] Edited July 2, 2013 by Dingus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Saw them on iplayer. The lighting was good. 2 songs was enough. Sort of arty pop i guess. Not my bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1372674113' post='2128296'] Maverick Sabre, I found myself becoming angry and turned the c*** off. [/quote] You just made me laugh in front of strangers , whilst reading this on my phone , especially as you just pulled me up for a misinterpreted comment I made on the Mumford thread , seriously though it's cheered me up Hoping to catch up with the X x on iplayer later, I've really enjoyed them before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushers Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 i had to check them out after reading this, i watched for a few minutes then went to light the bbq and was thinking to myself these guys bore me and sound like the smashing pumkins turns out it was the smashing pumkins on iplayer before the xx i FFW throught the boredom to hear the xx and i wish i hadnt bothered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [quote name='lojo' timestamp='1372700852' post='2128809'] You just made me laugh in front of strangers , whilst reading this on my phone , especially as you just pulled me up for a misinterpreted comment I made on the Mumford thread , seriously though it's cheered me up Hoping to catch up with the X x on iplayer later, I've really enjoyed them before [/quote] Sorry about the other thread, I wasn't singling you out mate, it was the 'Jeremy' quote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAOxCqSxRD0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAOxCqSxRD0[/url] I can't help but think of this when I listen to their first album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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