xx

“XX” by the xx (2009) Never heard this album or heard of this group. Minimalist, airy, intentionally lazy, anti-energy vocals, with mechanical bass & drum—not a vehicle for any display of talent, but a cool enough sound. Lyrics rather plain. Guitar work very plain. Kind of a lazy New Wave—like putting Eurythmics and Edie Brickell in a dark room and piping in opium smoke. This album is okay for background music (though it wouldn’t boost production) or to lower my blood pressure. Not the kind of music that would bring an emotional response out of me. I could write more, but I don’t seem to have the energy. 2/5

“Like two shy teenagers, eyes cast downward, awkwardly talking to the ground.”

X-tremely dull

Man we sure did like boring albums in the early 2010s

Oh man did it take a couple listens to appreciate this album. This is FANTASTIC!!! Shhhhh…too loud for this album…(soft voice) it’s fantastic. The first couple times through there was a lot of (train) background noise. The subdued nature of this album is best admired in a quiet setting. The minimalist arrangements are just as, if not more, powerful for what is not there as much as for what is there. The most impactful part of the understated approach is that the parts that would seem “normal” in other music appear conspicuous, emphatic, and flamboyant. And here lies the genius. There is something notable about the vocals that I just couldn’t quite put my finger on. Enter Wikipedia where I saw that some critics describe them as singing not together, but past each other. Building upon that, I have a different take. To me it feels like they are in adjoining studios singing out windows that face the same direction. Close to each other, but separate, yet projecting in the same direction. I could go on and on about all the songs, but I will take a subdued approach and just state that this album is incredible. What a gem!

Not to my taste, this is for lonely middle class girls from the later 2000s.

Intro is an absolute classic track, rest of the album is good too but just pales in comparison to that opening

Due to an accident with the play button, I actually started listening to This Old Tune by James Kant. I was thinking to myself "Hey, I never realised the xx did this! This is cool!". Unfortunately, I realised that I was listening to the wrong thing fairly quickly and actually started listening to the xx and all I can say it's probably one of the less dismal albums to be released between 2002 and 2010. Did I object? No. Would I recommended it to a friend? No. Would I rather be listening to Hugo Kant? Yes. I mean, it's not bad. But it just kind of exists.

I liked the use of ambience and space but it was very lacking in dynamics and excitement.

Oh my god this album is so shit. I get how it was popular in 2009 but fuck these songs are so uninspired and bland and tasteless. The bass player is sounds like they’re half asleep why do they take up so much space in the arrangements. The intro is cool but the rest is just wank. What the hell.

An absolute masterpiece of stripped-down, subdued indie pop. The platonic ideal of the genre.

XX, XXX XXXX X XXX XX XXXX. XXXX XX XXXXX X XXX, XXX XX XXXXXXX X XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX XX XXXX XXXX. XX XXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXX X XX XXXXXX? XXXX XX XXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX X XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXX? XXX XXXX XXXXX, XXX! XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXX.

Damn this shit boring as fuck lol

Utterly unremarkable.

Lovely production, the soundscape is wonderful. It's a pleasure to listen to at night with the stereo loud and my eyes closed!

Ughh. Minimalistic? Yes. Boring? Yes. Will I listen again? No. 2

I've been doing this project for about three weeks now, and this is the first album I didn't particularly like. On paper it seems like something I would enjoy, but I just didn't feel it. The spare compositions on this album are sometimes lovely, with nice, simple foregrounded guitar. But the beats are dated and the vocals really kill it for me. Croft and Sims sound just as bored to be singing these songs as I felt listening to them. Favorite song: Don't really have one. Night Time is probably the most tolerable.

Absolutely love this album. Heard it many times before, I'm guessing I'm probably gonna go 4/5. Shit, maybe a 5. Some absolute bangers. Hmm maybe a 4. Shame I can't do a 4.5. Damn, maybe a 5. Not sure

Ugh, I can't believe I'm about to do this for my first review.... BUT, I was way UP on xx early. I drove 3 hours to see them play a little college show in Columbus, OH with Nosaj Thing. It was astounding. Mo'fuckers are solid gold as far as I'm concerned.

Cool vibe and some decent singles but feels very of it’s year

Normally when II do this rating I feel obligated, as a critic, to use that sort of objective theory to justify my ratings. It makes sense for two reasons: One is that just saying "I liked/ disllked this" and just a number has little to no meaning to the reader, and two, there is value in learning about the artists and musicians and understanding their place in history as a part of being part of this human world and it is niice to know, if one diid not, about why and how a particualar musician might have a place (at what I call) the head table. With XX I have to admit it matters less the story and more how this band, this genre, these artists just touch my soul. Often this musiic is just pure emotion for me. I can't explain it, but perhaps sometimes that is OK too! Just like that kind of movie that you like for no apparent reason other than it feels just like a pleasure to watch, I love love LOVE this band!

I already love this album, so still love it. Very chill, coherent, and a great duet

This and hot chip kick started my love of electronic music. One of the best album opening tracks

Bedroom indie for your love and aftercare needs.

Ok I have been putting off listening to a bunch of albums bc im judging based on artist name/album cover and im just totally confused and wrong. I thought this was going to be super screamy and I could not be more wrong. I love indie pop but this is kindve underwhelming. Like its not bad and I kinda like it but it feels like the sort of thing thats only on the list bc the British guy that made the list is British

Calming enough, but dissapointed by the lack of progression. Not a lot happens all album long.

Not for me. Same sounds across the entire album. Hits/singles are neat

Honestly think I'd rather listen to Autobahn again, this was just so plain.

this album preceded by massive attack—it’s sexy album week!

One of the most beautiful albums of all time, my middle school soundtrack

30th June 2022 Listened while working from home in the office. Went to the oak in the evening. One of the seminal albums of my generation, I remember when it came out and people just went nuts for it. Will always remember watching them at glasto as the sun went down.

Ich hab es gestern Abend auf einer Autofahrt zur späten Dämmerung von Bestwig nach Soest gehört und brooo hab ich es in dem Moment gefühlt. Jetzt gerade hört es sich nur nach vier Sternen an, aber gestern Abend waren es locker fünf und damit gehe ich auch.

"Atmospheric English indie pop" is my vibe. I've heard Intro before but the rest was new to me. Good chill music for working to.

Really consistent, coherent body of work. Nice vibe, clean sounds. A beautiful compromise between simple & interesting

xx This passed me by a bit when it came out, although I do know some of it as I remember it being played a lot in my old office. They do have one trick, but it’s a superbly enjoyable trick, the atmosphere they create with relatively minimal instrumentation is very appealing. Elements of indie, new wave and electronica all tied up with a reverb bow and sung over with almost sheepish, melancholic vocals, kind of directed at each other but also seemingly not quite communicating very well. It never veers too far from that template, but I don’t think it needs to when the overall feel is so immersive, it’s a great headphone listen, a great work listen and, I imagine, a great darkened room listen or a great motorway at 3am as headlights flash by listen. I’m guessing Intro or Stars are ones for Paul’s trains at dusk playlist? Not sure it quite gets to 5 but its easily a high 4 ✖️✖️✖️✖️ Playlist submission: VCR

This was kinda neat. Airy, dreamy, ethereal. I wonder why I haven't heard of these guys.

This is good. Has like a Thievery Corporation or Massive Attack kind of feel. I like the co-lead singer approach. Very chill sound. Their general sound is kind of moody so when they so a more upbeat song it has a strange effect. This is the first band that has been a revelation to me in a positive way. I would listen to another album.

Somehow I had only ever heard the introduction track to this album? Bonkers. It's a very cool and beautiful album, I love bands with multiple vocalists and love the callbacks from the intro throughout the album. I won't lie though I did get a little fatigued by the end with the songs blending together.

This is not a great album but I did like it. A bit background music a bit mood music, I heard bits and pieces of a lot of music in it which came before. I don't see it as breaking new ground unless its in the way it was made. And I must say the clacky rhythm that runs throughout is tiring and unsubstantial. Probably 2.6.

When I refreshed this page to see xx, it received a couple of black eyes for the band name and the album title, on paper a minimalist post-punk flex - with notes of Malevich from the cover art à la mode - but only marginally less gauche than Elon Musk’s branding. The Ex did your name better. So did Kiss. Another black eye after reading that they dismissed their keyboardist in shady circumstances evoked Argus after a pub brawl. But the record’s smart, distinctive, a record collector’s record perhaps, but it has heart and song-shapes that linger, and a dive bar smokiness that distinguishes it from the fragments of post-punk revival that I remember from their contemporaries. (Simon, consider this a probable spoiler for whenever Interpol inevitably skulk into our day.) Baby vomit - actual baby vomit - left me with only one playthrough, so I can’t say if these impressions will endure, but this was a pleasant surprise.

I remember when all my hip friends listened to this album. It's just too...inoffensive for me I guess? Not the biggest fan.

I can't say it's bad, but i def can't say it's good neither. The masterpiece of this album is the intro for a simple reason, no one is singing out of tune on it. The music itself is good, the lyrics talk to me but i've heard better talented whispering singers.

No combination of words strike more fear into the heart of a man than "English Indie Pop".

The xx, curing insomnia since 2009.

Bang average.

This should be brilliant. But it’s not. Cover art. 5/5 love it

I thought this is ok, then I thought no its terrible, then I had a biscuit, then I fell asleep, then i woke and had another biscuit, then i thought what would happen if you gave a monkey a flamethrower, then the album finished and i was happy again.

One of the best albums ever

I checked last.fm and I've listened to this album almost 100 times in my life (mostly from high school and college) and it still holds up. The xx taught me how valuable pace and sparsity can be in an album. When you aren't layering instrumentation, even silence starts to sound like an instrument. Every single song on this album is a 5/5 for me, and unless you start blending songs from Coexist into the track list, you would never want to shuffle the album. Now back onto my soap box about how too many of these albums are too long: this xx album is 38 minutes; 3 years later, they release their 2nd album which is 37 minutes; another 5 years goes by, and they release a 39min album. In 8 years, the xx didn't waste a single second of my time. That's the blue print for all these albums that are over 60 minutes with filler junk songs. I understand why Katy Perry is writing garbage songs to fill up space between her singles on albums, but why are these 1001 top albums trying to fill up so much space? Anyway, this is a 5

Sometimes less is more.

Amazing album, blew me away upon its release.

What a beautiful record. It always takes me back to a specific time and place. This is the record that opened the floodgates and inspired many other acts from Phantogram to London Grammar.

Fantastic. All time fave

Banger

One of my favorite albums. Reminds me of studying in college.

This album - you're sitting in a dark, ambient cocktail lounge on a pleather couch in "insert cool city here". A 23 year old with a lip piercing is DJing on their MacBook Pro that their parents bought them. A woman sitting next to you, who smells like perfume, cigarettes and vodka, is telling you about her families candle business in Ohio. This is the album playing. 5 stars.

Love this album

Non stop classic bangers

one of my all-time favs, love this record

Quiet and romantic, a surprise favorite

Album is great, but the last songs idk i think I dont get them

I audibly screamed when it was generated. It was ON REPEAT during the panini. Beautiful memories

Alright I know I'm an easy 5 but this is one of my favorite albums of all time. Yeah, I know this is like, top three defining albums of my high school years, but it still holds up as a sadboy masterpiece. Jamie XX's production is impossibly clean through every inch of this album, with songs sounding crisp and new and some, like Night Time, building to a climax that sounds incredible. This is one of those albums I both love and am confident belongs on this list, a masterpiece of sad indie that shaped the 2010s and propelled the career of one of the best producers of the 2010s. Also, I mean, this album has 0 skips. Not one skip on it, its incredible.

5/5. A duo vocal arrangement over some minimalist and laid back beats is the album. And it works really well. It does have an undertone of generic folk pop duo but it skirts by and it is all due to Jamie XX great production and beats. He makes it sound less like indie pop and more electronic R&B. Romy is clearly the better collaborator but even still, each song is just so strong yet so quiet. The album doesn't overstay it's welcome and comes and goes like a meditative moment. Best Song: Crystalized, Islands, Shelter, Intro

Entirely different new genre of music that im getting into and this was the beautiful intro.

like being on romantic space drugs

Some of the most recognizable tracks ever. Never knew the band!

Soundtrack to being a tumblr indie white girl in 2009 but in the best possible way. Flawless record.

If you want your kid to end up in a successful indie-electro outfit, you could do worse than enrolling them at the Elliott School in London. This unassuming institution has produced Hot Chip, Burial, and, crucially for this review, The xx. When xx dropped in 2009, I had just experienced the unexpected—yet entirely predictable—breakup of my long-standing relationship. Fitting, then, that this album’s hushed, spacious aesthetic was everywhere, soundtracking introspection in dimly lit bedrooms and late-night bus rides. xx is defined by its stark, deliberate use of silence, creating an atmosphere where every note, every breath, feels weighty. Jamie xx was just 19 when he produced it, his style subtle but essential—blending R&B rhythms, post-punk guitars, and electronic textures into something deeply intimate and nocturnal. The magic lies in the interplay between Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim. Their hushed, almost whispered delivery feels less like a performance and more like a conversation—like they’re singing to each other as much as to the listener. That intimacy carries through on tracks like Crystalised, with its sharp, interlocking melodies, or Islands, a deceptively simple track that spirals into obsession. VCR feels almost lo-fi in its nostalgia, while Infinity stretches heartbreak across an aching, reverberating riff. And then there’s Intro—so omnipresent in film, TV, and sports montages that it’s become a cultural touchstone. More than just a snapshot of 2009, xx laid the groundwork for a wave of artists blending indie, electronica, and R&B minimalism—James Blake, London Grammar, even mainstream acts adopting its quiet-loud dynamics. While many indie albums of that era have faded, xx still holds up. It’s a mood, a moment, and, for me, a memory.

The beauty of this album lies in its simplicity and its effortlessness. What is present on this album that is lacking in the follow-up albums is the sense of no expectations and freedom to create without the knowledge that this would become one of the most important albums to come out at the end of the Naughts. The album has a sense of nostalgia (see - VCR) whilst all the same sounding new and fresh. Not a simple feat.

I feel the ocean, the wind. Makes me feel ethereal.

Really like this a lot!

Superb.

This album has been stripped back to its simplest sound in the best way possible. Every note and beat feels like its inclusion was considered in depth. The resulting sound is spacey and eerie and the vocals are amazing.

This is a fantastic album. The tone of guitars across the album incredible, simple, effective 5 stars

Guilty pleasure music. I know exactly what it’s gonna sound like and what the lyrics will be because it’s 00’s indie pop, but I can’t help it. I liked it. It’s not actually a 5, but I enjoyed too much of it. Standouts: Intro, VCR, Crystallised, Islands, Heart Skipped A Beat, Shelter, and Nighttime.

5 stars

It's giving cozy dark indie rock and I love it!

Classic - still think of it as a recent album and one of the few current artists that I follow - turns out it came out in 2009...

This has been a favourite of mine since it's release. I love the sparse nature of the album, and Romi's voice is a thing of beauty.

Melodic, beautiful, haunting.

The definition of a vibe - lush but restrained, almost understated but so exacting in the message and its delivery. Wild to think this is from 2009 - the influences are clearly everywhere in pop and dance music, but this album still sounds so fresh. It's strange how this can be so fresh and be so nostalgic at the same time. I was not aware of this album in 2009, and really only discovered The xx following Jamie xx's solo project, so I don't even have true nostalgia associated with the music, it just curates that feeling so well. I don't know if there's a deep longing in the music or if there's a deep understanding of the simple aspects of love and longing.

Another timeless classic

The instruments on this album were beautifully paced and composed. Worth a dedicated slow listen through on this one.

Eines meiner Lieblingsalben, könnte ich durchgehend hören. vor allem Intro, crystalised, Islands, Heart skipped a beat.

fairly short and concise, well put-together, and not exactly the type of music I'd ordinarily listen to. I had heard this one before and I do enjoy it, thought it was something I wouldn't want to come back to, but I was pleasantly surprised the second time around. There's not a moment on this album I didn't enjoy this time around.

Loved this when it was new and again now. Wonderful atmospheric album. Electronic beats, surf guitar, whispered vocals - I don't know why it works, but it does.

Some of the best writing and study and chilling music out there.

5/5 A masterpiece album, almost unique in its genre. Intro is an iconic song

great album and im listening to the whole discography now

Ganz geils Album!!!! Es vo de wenige wohni wirklech scho s ganze Album glost han. The XX hed mech jetzt au scho über en längeri Ziit musikalisch begleitet und immer wieder überzügt. Daher kristalisierte sich die erste 5 Sterlini use!

All killer no filler. First two tracks are nostalgic to me growing up in the UK. Love the blend of pop, indie and electronic, it all works so well. Romy’s guitar sounds very summery so works well with those genres.

The Original Era Tumblr Girl™️ in me adores this record because it reminds me of being a moody, brooding teenage queer (who was very, very, very in the closet) who chain-smoked unfiltered cigarettes in the parking lot of the combination Taco Bell/Kentucky Fried Chicken in her hometown and romanticized everything she touched. The adult in me also adores this record, but I think that's because it's just a fucking amazing record.

This album was released right before I started my first year of university. Picture this: I'm 17, confused, directionless, and deeply, deeply uncool. This album was released and its iconic "x" was all over Tumblr. Listening to this album made me feel extremely cool, because the xx and this album have always felt extremely cool to me. (As if that's how it works.) I'm a millennial who grew up listening to music through the radio and then by buying singles from iTunes (lol), so at the time I mainly consumed my music through my own playlists, rather than through albums. (This is still mostly the case outside of listening to albums for this project.) xx was one of the first albums that I listened to as an *album* because it's such a slick, cohesive set of tracks. I hadn't listened to this album in a while, but I still love it. It's dreamy, atmospheric, melancholic, minimalist indie pop-rock that I've always thought is perfection. Yeah, it's a bit dull at times and sometimes Romy and Oliver are just kinda singing in a bored and disinterested way *at* each other rather than together, but I don't care. It's one of the albums that got me into seeking out more indie pop/rock and expanding my music tastes - I don't think I would've gotten into The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, etc. without it. Favourite tracks: Intro, VCR, Night Time

Played this with the expectation of trashing it in review and moving on (like many others have), and ended up playing it over and over. Beautiful, ethereal, mesmerising, it's probably been the most surprising album of this project so far for me. It's getting five stars and going in my tidal library.

To this day, The XX have a unique sound - a great album.

Fine piece of work, down tempo, moody atmospheric album. The Intro is now an iconic piece of music. Launched a great musical career for both Jamie Xx & Romy. Deservedly winning the Mercury in 2010.

An excellent album, reminded me of London Grammar's debut album, although I think this album was released before LG's

One I've listened to loads so probably a bit unfair to judge against albums I've only listened to once but a belter non the less.

Brutal