The xx have released a vinyl edition of their debut album. Not only does the vinyl album carry an extra remix by US techno/house/electro hotshot Matthew Dear, it has been released to coincide with an exhibition inspired by the xx's debut. The show opened on Friday in London.
Titled
xx: A Sculpture of the Album, the exhibition is the creation of Saam Farahmand. It's an interesting concept, in which each member of the band is represented by a "visual unit".
To wit... "Music videos are a 2D visual interpretation of a song," Farahmand told
Fact Magazine. "We are interested in creating spaces that exist as a 3D physical interpretation of a song or an album, and that is what we have created for the album xx. It shares sensibilities with art installations but it should not be considered in this context – it is in essence a physical music video, a looping shrine to the album that you cannot compress, send or turn off."
"We have to understand that these pop up ‘rooms’ and ’spaces’ should and will become as commonplace as music videos," he continues, "bridging the gap until we have the technology to ’stream’ a 3D experience through our home computer as if it was a Youtube clip. The xx are the perfect ambassadors for the medium. Their music is mesmerising, and deeply physically affecting."
Some images of the exhibition have popped up on the
Creative Review blog. For now, us folks will just have to be content with seeing the band in the flesh when they tour Australia later this month.
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Speaking of which.... there will be extra Laneway tickets on sale this Tuesday (12th) and next Tuesday (19th) at 9am for the Melbourne show. They will be on sale through the
Laneway website. Don't snooze on this again.
Word has it there will also be another international act added to the festival this week. Tips?