The xx - Crystalised
5/6/202626 min
The xx formed in 2005, when they were still in high school. They signed to the UK label XL Recordings, and put out their first album in 2009. It won the prestigious Mercury Prize, and was named one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and more. Since then, the Guardian has named it one of the best albums of the 21st century. This year, the three band members, Romy Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie xx played together as The xx for the first time in 8 years. I spoke to them in between the weekends at Coachella, where they were opening their sets with the song “Crystalised.” It’s the first song they ever released, back in April 2009, when the lineup also included Baria Qureshi on guitar. I spoke to Romy, Jamie and Oliver, here at my studio, about how they first found each other, and how they made “Crystalised.”
For more info, visit songexploder.net/the-xx.
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First 90 secondsHrishikesh Hirway· Host0:00
You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Hrishikesh Hirway. Let me tell you about one of my favorite podcasts in the world, How Did This Get Made? It is so funny, and it is just one of the best film discussion podcasts, talking about some of the very worst movies. It's hosted by the comedians Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas, all of whom I adore individually and then together they're just a magic combination. And they'll also have guests on sometimes, like Seth Rogen and Adam Scott and Nicole Byer, and I just love the show. I listen to it when I'm at the gym, which is a terrible idea because sometimes I'll be in the middle of some exercise and in the middle of a crowded space and I burst out laughing and I look like a complete psychopath, but it's worth it. Check out How Did This Get Made if you love talking about or hearing about just terrible [laughs] cringe-worthy movies that are so bad they're good. Check out How Did This Get Made today. Thanks to Gusto for supporting Song Exploder. This show pretty unexpectedly turned into a small business a little while ago, and Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. They've got options for every business