| THE XX - Laneway Festival 2010 Artist |
| Written by Elle Hunt |
| Tuesday, 26 January 2010 11:13 |
 Well, by ‘nowhere’, we really mean Elliott School - a foundation college and talent hotbed that’s given rise to such bright young things as Burial, as well as members of Hot Chip, Four Tet, and The Maccabees. Having said that, rarely have its graduates achieved such enormous and immediate fame as the xx did following the release of their self-titled debut in August of 2009. Reviewers both online and in print gave the album almost uniformly positive write-ups (one critic even went so far as to dub it “almost perfect”), and Pitchfork named the group the best new artist of 2009 in their annual readers’ poll. Now, the xx make their way to New Zealand to perform at the 2010 Laneway Festival, held in Britomart Square in Auckland next month. And it will be a show of firsts: not only is it held on the first of February, it will also be the band’s debut show in this country, and the first time Laneway has ever been held on this side of the Tasman. Without a doubt, the xx’s instant impact was because – as ‘NME’ put it – “the xx are one of those few bands that can claim – accurately – that they sound like no-one else around”. In a world where very little is ever considered to be ‘too much’, their distinctive blend of ethereal and minimalist electronica stands out in its simplicity and its subtlety. Although the xx recorded their debut as a quartet - now, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie Smith are its sole members, keyboardist Baria Qureshi having left the group at the end of last year due to the pressure of their busy touring schedule. The band combines a rock edge and attitude with an R&B-inspired attention to rhythm and sensuality – a result of their wide array of influences, which range from Aaliyah (their cover of ‘Hot Like Fire’ has received rave reviews) and The Cure. Consequently, ‘XX’ is a great album to make out to: the gentle exchange of the band’s vocalists, Madley Croft and Sim, sounds like an intimate conversation between two lovers, and it’s got an undeniably nocturnal atmosphere that’s as striking as it is gentle: check out tracks ‘Heart Skipped a Beat’ and ‘Crystalised’.  Indeed, Smith is considered to be quite the technological whiz: both his ‘Space Bass’ remix of the xx track ‘Basic Space’, and his take on fellow Laneway star Florence + The Machine’s ‘You’ve Got The Love’, were well-received by listeners: indeed, the xx interpretation of ‘You’ve Got The Love’ is just as beautiful as Florence’s single, although in an undeniably different way. We wonder – would a live, on-stage collaboration between these two acts at Laneway be too much to hope for? Certainly, the xx aren’t your typical outdoor-music-festival fodder. They’re not a bouncy, moshpit-inducing, guitar-pop band like Hockey – and they won’t incite the sweaty dance that Girl Talk did at the Big Day Out. And yet, they should be at the top of the list of your reasons to make the trip to Auckland for New Zealand’s very first Laneway, as their modest music is known for coming alive when performed. Besides, if the xx’s success so far is anything to go by, they may prove to be one of the best bands of this decade: can you afford to miss their first New Zealand show? Catch THE XX live at Laneway Festival at 4:15PM on the Tyler Street Stage. Click HERE for the full Laneway timetable. |
