within me a lunatic sings

my favourite band in the whole world

Wednesday, 30 May 2012 at 21:45

You've applied the pressure

To have me crystallized

And you've got the faith

That I could bring paradise

Under the pale blue painted metal of Putney Bridge, beside the Thames in west London, is a tiny black and red door. Oliver Sim, a teenager with a high, oily quiff, dressed in black clothes and gold chains, leads me towards it. "This is our studio," he says shyly, as trains rattle overhead. "It's a bit noisy, isn't it? You can hear the trains when we record here, but we leave them in."

Oliver is one of two singers in the xx, a band of four teenagers – two boys and two girls – who write bleakly minimal songs that are darkly romantic. Their name is not meant to suggest chromosomes or kisses, but mysterious marks. Their eponymous debut album, musically and lyrically, carries traces of bands that they love (Pixies, the Kills) and bands they never knew until older fans started making comparisons (Young Marble Giants, the Cocteau Twins). Almost inevitably for a band from south-west London, they also studied music at the Elliott school, the Putney comprehensive that also nurtured the experimental bents of Hot Chip, Kieran Hebden, Adem and Burial.

Inside the door, we find Romy Madley-Croft, the xx's sweet-natured, soft-spoken female singer, Baria Qureshi, their guitarist and keyboard-player, and Jamie Smith, their babyfaced master of beats and their album's producer. The four have known each other for years. Sim and Madley-Croft have been best friends since they were toddlers; Qureshi got to know them in their early teens; while Smith came along after passing his mixtapes around the schoolyard. As musicians, they don't only bond over eerie indie or rock, either; they also adore hip-hop and R&B. Sim is obsessed with Aaliyah, for instance, whose track, Hot Like Fire, was one of their early covers, while Madley-Croft adores the odd moment of Mariah Carey.

What connects the different kinds of music they like? "Their atmospheres, I think," says Madley-Croft, thoughtfully. "And their simplicity, too", says Sim, smiling. "I think a simplicity of a sound or a lyric, or the simplicity of a connection you have with a song, is often what makes it, if it's pop, or it's not."

After seeing the band's early gigs, Caius Pawson of Young Turks, an imprint of XL, gave them this room to rehearse and record. By this point, they had just finished school and spent their nights writing strange songs after days working at Costa Coffee and Uniqlo. Working by night gave their music its peculiar, dark quality, says Madley-Croft. "Night-time puts you in a weird world. When you're nearly falling asleep, odd thoughts start to come out." She mentions Blood Red Moon, the B-side to the band's new single, Basic Space, and its lyrics about eyes turning yellow and skin turning blue. She recorded it sitting under her duvet at home, on her computer, at four in the morning, trying not to disturb her parents, and listening to the police sirens that survive in the final recording.

The band's album was produced at night, too, in the garage of XL's Notting Hill headquarters. Even more eerily, burglars broke in one night, their spree cut short when Smith emerged from his soundproofed room, completely oblivious, to see shadows in ski-masks running away. The LP that showcases his ghostly, Martin Hannett-like production style also led to two interesting developments – Madley-Croft's parents hearing her sing for the first time, and her starting to write together with Sim in the same room. It's a consequence of their shyness that these things didn't happen before, she says. "Now, though, it's good."

By the time their debut album comes out, all the band members will have turned 20, giving the name the xx an extra level of significance. That's struck them, too. "It's a bit funny," says Sim, "it feels like we're growing up a bit. We're starting to write about our own experiences, and look at each other more carefully." Another train rattles overhead, as he tries, ever so sweetly, to find his words. "But this is where it all comes from, I suppose. From that noise above, to the quietness of us. It's simple, really."

article from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/13/xx-teen-band

It's just Jamie, Oliver and Romy now. Baria Qureshi was allegedly kicked out, but that's okay she was my least favourite because she just didn't even do anything. I just love this band so much, I just do I really do. I had their album in my music for SO LONG and I never played their full album. Now I did. I'm stuck. Their music connected with me like none other and they have this ethereal, sensual quality to their music that I just want to play it all throughout my life (which I do, pretty much, now even when I'm falling asleep I play their album on repeat) I decided that I want to have sex one day with The xx playing in the background, I want to smoke one say with The xx playing in the background, I want to take my O level exams with The xx playing in the background. If I could marry any 3 people, it would be them. I love them so, so much you have no idea. My ultimate life goal is to make a cover of any of their songs (my favourites being Island and Crystalised) but the only thing holding me back is the fact that I'm terrible on the guitar, and I feel ashamed if I have to play their music and screw it up. So I'm going to be really, really, really sweet to Lidiya and see if she can do me this favour. Fingers and toes crossed hehehehe. So excited for their next album coming out soon in the later part of this year, can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy, as well as their debut which I love so dearly.

I now also understand how some people say that their favourite bands have saved their lives, and how they would cry upon meeting them.

Why am I not perfect

Saturday, 19 May 2012 at 00:08

“I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.”

Literally, I am at this point in my life where it is pretty much straightforward: make, or break.

This is a risk I am willing to take.
有时，困住我们的只是我们自己。