One should not judge The xx by their looks, for these emo kids can surely make a hell of good music. Listening to Oliver Sim’s dreamy voice will make any girl swoon; and combined with Romy Madley Croft’s equally beautiful voice and the disco-esque drumbeats, their music is love, passion, and heartaches all together. The songs in their debut are well-written, but surely the best in the lot is “Heart Skipped A Beat”.
While listening to it, one is taken back to the time when he or she is walking alone and thinking of knocking on a former lover’s front door. Lines in the refrain that tell The more I see, I understand / But sometimes, I still need you are painfully true that they smack right in the heart, grips it, and crushes it; considering that anyone who has been through a break-up may have thought or even uttered these words. One may have the capacity to move on, but the shared love and memories of the past can never be forgotten, much like what this song tells.
– Janina Vistan
Everything in The xx’s debut demands another listen. The songs are remarkably polished, sexy in their minimalism, stripped beautifully in their bare skins, revealing a brilliance that is bound to be called classic in no time. “Heart Skipped A Beat” is somewhere in the middle of the record; yet it could just be anywhere to fill the the most beautiful love gap. It sounds like two lovers singing faraway, their words so close, their promises spoken under their breath—so intimate they’re like having an intercourse, seducing, clapping, sharing their love. Us voyeurs can only wish not be caught peeping, or else we turn into stone. A gem most likely, after being touched by this song.
– Richard Bolisay
Summer’s got nothing on me. I don’t do crowds so I rarely hit the beach. I don’t drive so road trips are nothing much more than a slightly gay, a little suicidal fantasy. Still, in those rare afternoons when it’s too hot to complain about the heat, I play Clazziquai’s “Back in Time”. Summer’s when I get down with sloth, and the track’s lazy trance, with a whiff of the salty Ibiza riff but held back by Alex’s syrupy Korean-English mumbling, is perfectly indifferent. The house beats threaten to burst, always a second shy from exploding. A static promise. Not excitable but giddy, the possibility more promising than what can possibly happen.
Chad and Jeremy’s “A Summer Song” is a folk-pop classic that you probably first heard while watching Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. The lyrics of the song speak of quiet moments spent reminiscing about relationships from long ago. While many summer songs are marketed to an adolescent crowd and thus offer nothing but superficial lyrics and a fun melody to dance to, Chad and Jeremy’s elegiac approach to the theme of summer is refreshing. Whereas summer is usually associated with the optimistic potential for young love, “A Summer Song” is about the aftermath of those adolescent romances. Like any good summer song, it is hopeful of the new adventures that the season will bring, but the tinge of disappointment, of looking back at our mistakes and wishing we were better people, permeates through even the most optimistic of lyrics. Even within the warm embrace of the sun heartache is never too far off.
There is a tendency to equate summer with happiness and freedom, even though in a tropical country like the Philippines, summer means suffering through endless days of oppressive heat—but never mind that. So when I think about happiness and freedom and general optimism, I think of “Mr. Blue Sky”, admittedly in part because of all the pop culture connotations it carries with it (Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind among many others comes to mind). It’s a song that never fails, quite simply put, to bring on the happy. With a steady rhythm that beckons you to move, excitedly like a child, jumping up and down to the beat, in celebration of all things light and sunny and hopeful and everything else that only a clear blue sky brings.
Summer is the time for love. And you were my first.
Who doesn’t love a classic Aerosmith song? I have to be biased here since I haven’t seen the music video of “Crazy” in full, and it is an unconsciously significant factor that makes this song all the more brilliant.
Not only Westlife can do a rendition of this classic. Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl also managed to do so on their own.
There’s something vintage about this track that makes it perfect for summer road trips and pool parties. Although it does not mention anything related to summer (except for the “sun” in its title), hearing the song makes me think of a pool party in broad daylight with drunk guys pushing each other into the pool. Unless you understand Japanese, you would not think it’s another passionate love song.
Ask about summer music, certainly the first thing that hits me is Bonnie Bailey’s “Ever After”. At first listen, we all think it is Kylie Minogue, only to be proven wrong. Mine was on a random beach some years back, and from then on, I was helplessly hooked. People start playing it anywhere: in the supermarket, in a random bar at night, while on public transport; and suddenly, the sun’s in my face, my toes are under the warm sand, the place I’m in smells of the sea, and there are hordes of faceless bikini-clad girls dancing barefoot all around. (Yes, sometimes my mind’s a happy place.)
By not singing like British icons John Lennon and Paul Weller, Clem Castro is at his best. “The Sight of love” is an interesting collaboration between The Camerawalls and Turbo Goth’s vocalist Sarah Gaugler. Clem still does the unusual accent, yet his singing compensates with Sarah’s sexy voice to the point of not noticing her, at first, while singing the second verse. Though I never had a pinch of what Turbo Goth sounds like, I kind of felt like falling in love with Sarah’s voice.
Hang the DJ 