“I called the album In Colour,” Jamie xx told us, “as a reference to the fact that everyone thinks the xx is very dark, because we all wear black, and we’re very melancholy. But actually, this is quite a colorful record.”
His debut solo album truly is fun, a stunning collection of songs that blends dance music styles like rave, house, and U.K. garage with a pop sensibility. There are anthemic choruses ("Loud Places"), steel drums ("Obvs"), and even a surprising summer smash with Young Thug and dancehall artist Popcaan ("I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)").
Already well known for crafting the xx’s gloomy, spare pop sound, Jamie xx steps out into the spotlight with In Colour. This is the music that moves him.
Alex Gardner is the managing editor of Pigeons and Planes. Follow him @TheConstant_G.
Song to relax to
Answer: Love Sculpture “Blues Helping”
“The largest section of my own record collection is ’60s and ’70s soul. This is my dad’s, a blues record from the ’60s, but one with white teenagers singing it. It’s good to listen to late at night, when drinking whisky.”
Song he’s most proud of making
Answer: Radiohead “Bloom (Jamie xx Rework Part 3)”
“This was a step up for me at that point [in my career]. I entered a new realm of making dance music. Thom Yorke sent me a nice email asking me to do it, and then I got to meet him when we played Boiler Room together. The pressure was on for that one, but I felt so honored to be able to do it.”
Album that made him want to start producing
Answer: Burial, Burial
“The obvious one is Burial. Anybody who’s producing that hears Burial wants to make a track that sounds like Burial. Unfortunately, that happens a lot, and a lot of people make music that sounds like bad Burial!”
Favorite song with steel drums
Answer: Steel An’ Skin “Afro Punk Reggae Dub”
“It’s from an album recorded in the ’70s, in West London, as part of a project by a community center, and they use loads of steel pans on it. Honest Jons Records rereleased it a few years ago with a documentary about the whole project. It’s really cool.”
U.K. garage track he can’t stop playing
Answer: DJ Zinc “138 Trek”
“It works every time. I first heard it at the club Plastic People in London, listening to Zinc DJing. I found a VIP mix of it in the Notting Hill Exchange [second-hand record store in London] about eight years ago, and I still play it. I played it in my last DJ set. It’s such a banger.”
Album that inspired him while recording In Colour
Answer: Walls, Walls
“There were a few, but the self-titled Walls album inspired some of the oldest tracks on my own album. It wasn’t the sort of music I was listening to at the time. I was listening to a lot of dance music, and then I listened to that and it made me want to make something that wasn’t only dance music.”
Track that encompasses everything he loves about U.K. rave culture
Answer: Jamie xx “All Under One Roof Raving”
“That’s what I wanted to do when I made the track. I was listening to a lot of music that made me think about U.K. rave culture, but there wasn’t something that encapsulated it completely, because there are just so many levels, so many genres, and so many different things that go into creating it. It’s my love letter to U.K. rave culture.”
Favorite song from his label, XL Recordings
Answer: Roy Davis Jr. f/ Peven Everett “Gabriel”
“It’s massive. I don’t listen to any music that doesn’t feel at least slightly human and organic. I don’t like the sound of just a drum machine and a synth. It has to sound original and have the human touch about it, just like this.”
Go-to song for DJing
Answer: Bileo “You Can Win”
“I’ve been playing this every time I DJ recently. Actually I stole it from [producer and DJ] Floating Points. You can’t help but dance when you hear it; it’s this modern soul song from the early ’80s. Massive tune.”
Song that makes him excited about dance music
Answer: C.P.I. “Proceso (Barnt Remix)”
“Barnt is making simple but also completely original techno. If you listen to it on headphones you’d be completely bored, but as soon as you play it out on a massive soundsystem you can’t help but love it. Everybody goes crazy.”
