Catching up on my letter writing

[koganbot]

Dear male dudes in the Black Eyed Peas,

There is only one person in your group who can sing, and you are not she.

Sincerely,

A Fan


Dear male singer dude in the xx,

There may not be anyone in your group who can sing, but if there were, it would most assuredly never be you.

Sincerely,

Frank

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

But no one listens to The xx for liveliness, songiness or fun! As I've said elsewhere, you have to already value certain qualities to appreciate them - stillness, minimalism, mood, stylisation - but if you're into all of those, which I am, The xx hit the sweet spot. I get why their album could seem samey or whatever, but I also know that - having ignored the hype for a while and with few expectations - when I finally heard them I was pretty awestruck.

Dude's voice is a lot better live than on record, where it acts as a really effective counterpoint to Romy's voice; like Cassie, neither of them will win any singing competitions but it works perfectly for what they're doing. xx will assuredly be in my top 10 for 09.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

stillness, minimalism, mood, stylisation

You're right that these usually aren't the primary things I'm listening for, but I can be won over on them -- I still think Pantha du Prince's album is one of my faves from the decade. Unfortunately for xx I would need to listen to the album again pretty intently to describe what it is about their atmospherics that don't do much for me, which is usually why I distance myself from convos about them (haven't listened enough to speak with any certainty on the subject).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing about The xx to me is that, notwithstanding the fact that I get why people might not like them, they've received plaudits from across the entire spectrum of critics. That happens pretty rarely, rarely enough that I think this is one of their strongest defences (when talking about the music isn't enough).

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Cumulative advantage or hivemind?