In October 2K9, I came across The XX. My dear friend Barbara was coming to visit me in New York and asked me if I wanted to join her at the Williamsburg Ballroom to see the so called The XX band. I said maybe. I never end up going but got the vinyl as a gift from her.
I played the record a million times at my apartment. Never out loud because of "the neighbourg" always very counsciously low. That forced intimacy made me love their songs even more. Back in town, in 2K10 I had the opportunity to buy a couple of last minute tickets from a friend of mine. I was dazed. After all this time I was finally gonna meet them in person. And curiosly in Casa da Musica, one of the coolest places in Porto.
I was expecting a good concert. I was not expecting it to be that good.
What is the formula? Rather that only luck (which is always there) I believe that their sucessfull songs have something to do with the teenager spirit. You almost touch their hopes and dreams as you see them playing. Watching those 3 kids dressed in black with metal clean accessories and with their smooth but sharp voices makes you understand that deep inside you were once like them...you know that you had all those dreams and you feel like you could again.
I was particularly interested in Oliver Sim. It is not that I felt like dating him, quite diferent, I felt I wanted to be him. I envied the way he looks and his mellow moves on stage but most of all I envied his inocent power to transmit his feelings. Romy is just his perfect match. Their voices meet halfway on an enchanted cave in this weirdo place where you can find clean untouched love.
The XX? NOOOOOO... I am so sick of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tomonori...but i didn't went to the concert so it's very difficult for us to know what you felt. XX it's so so...this reminds me another problem, do you wanna know what it is? I think that music today don't have connection to the land. It's hard to find some band or "project" authentic. I'm very reluctant to say this but i could only think in one band that is thruly genuine...Calexico.
ReplyDeleteLOL.
ReplyDeleteThey are disconnected to the land and at some point, nowadays who isn´t? The disconnected land is a very familiar land to most of us.
I guess it is a double-edged sword. One on side, with technology comes the accessibility to music from all over the world. But with influences going and coming from everywhere, creations based on those influences start to create works that are more and more disconnected form the land that it originated form. It's a result of capitalism, and it's evident in almost all divisions of the new arts. I still don't know if this is a good thing or not. Unifying, but also disconnecting at the same time.
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