The Xx

The XX think it would be ''crazy'' to headline Glastonbury.

The band performed before Pyramid Stage headliners Radiohead at this year's event and their set was so well-received, they have been tipped to follow in their footsteps at a future festival but they still can't believe they've come that far.

Speaking to Matt Wilkinson, who was sitting in for Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio, singer and guitarist Romy Croft said: ''A few people have said that, the next step is, the only way you can go is up. I'm stumbling thinking about it because I think that does feel very crazy to me that that's even being talked about for us.

Continue reading: The Xx Think Glastonbury Headline Slot Would Be Crazy

There aren't many weekends of the year that most of the country pray for rain, all except the fortuitous 250,000 people that descend on a farm in Glastonbury as most of the country sit at home and watch with what the twitter hashtag describes as #glastoenvy. There are of course some benefits to being an armchair viewer of Glastonbury Festival. The beer is always cold, the toilets are always clean and set clashes are not a concern. 

So as the likes of David Beckham, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Corbyn all hit Worthy Farm for the weekend, these were the five best sets of Glastonbury 2017 that are well worth re-watching from the comfort of home - accompanied by a great sound system. 

Continue reading: Five Sets From Glastonbury Festival Well Worth Re-Watching

The XX appeared on radio station Beats 1 this week with Zane Lowe, where they took listeners through their new album 'I See You' track by track. They spoke about their new writing methods and how they came to name the album among other things.

The xx unveil their new album 'I See You' today

Third album 'I See You' is now available on Apple Music and follows their latest single 'Say Something Loving'. The band; who are Jamie Smith (aka Jamie xx), Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim; have got a number of live shows lined up from February, including a series of sold out gigs at the O2 Academy in Brixton and Manchester's O2 Apollo, and appearances at the likes of Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Primavera Sound and Shaky Knees Festival.

Continue reading: The XX Explore The Making Of Their Newly Released Album 'I See You'

Every new year brings speculation as to which musical legends might be returning, and which pop heavyweights are due to release a new record. Here are six significant artists who are definitely, or widely expected to be, releasing new music in 2017.

Lorde's new album will surely arrive in 2017

It feels like forever since Lorde broke through into the mainstream at the precociously young age of 16. Indeed, the release of her signature song ‘Royals’ is approaching its fourth anniversary. In the meantime, she's provided the soundtrack to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 and performed a David Bowie tribute at the Brit Awards.

Continue reading: New Albums To Look Forward To In 2017

The XX are a band who have achieved the rare accolade of matching their critical success with a commercial viability after the minimalist electronic strains of 2010’s self-titled record altered the face of popular music forever. Without the prevalence of The XX’s sultry and deeply affecting electro, artists so clearly influenced by their sound would have turned out hugely different than they did today. The likes of James Blake and London Grammar, for instance, would certainly be viewed with wholly different eyes has The XX not impacted so extensively.

Fans can expect a change in direction and mood on the new XX record.

For their upcoming third release, tentatively entitled LP3, the group have decamped from their native London confines to the climes of some fairly unorthodox locations. In-house producer for XL Records Rodaidh McDonald, who previously worked with the band on second album Coexist, has revealed the band has worked on the new record in Texas and there are trips planned to Iceland and France during the coming summer. As the band absorb the sounds of different continents, McDonald has indicated such international influence will greatly affect the direction of the new record. “There are songs which came out of our experiences in New York and Texas that would never have come out in London” he stated, “the colours and the ideas and the moods on some of these songs are just not things you could write in London.”

Continue reading: What Can We Expect From The New XX Album?

With such a ginormous festival site at 900 acres, and plenty of drunken hoardes and muddy puddles to fight through, the simple act of walking from one stage to another can be a difficult task. Throw in a lost mud-sucked welly and inebriated disorientation and you haven't a hope in hell of deftly navigating your way in between acts - even with that overpriced festival lanyard you spent half your first day's budget on.

Glastonbury returns in 2013 after having taking a well needed break in 2012 - the Eavis family, the cows and the grass all had a rest whilst the portaloos and crowd barriers were in London for the Olympics. The festival this year marks it's revival with an exciting line-up, including The Rolling Stones, Mumford & Sons, Arctic Monkeys, Chic feat. Nile Rodgers, Chase and Status, and Public Enemy.

However, with all star-packed line-ups comes inevitable clashes: fan of both Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds AND Smashing Pumpkins? Too bad - they're both on around 20:30 on the Sunday with a good half mile hike between stages, meaning you'll have to forego one sullen frontman for another.

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival 2013: Your Guide To The Biggest Clashes!

Excitement mounts as a sampler for the Great Gatsby soundtrack has been released online. Fans of Jay Z and Beyonce may find themselves disappointed though, as neither of their tracks are included on the sampler. Beyonce covers Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ and jay Z also performs ‘$100 Bill’ for the soundtrack, though neither are present in the online selection.

Of course, they’ll be wanting to leave fans hungry to hear the two tracks that are clearly going to be the most highly anticipated of the lot. A press release revealed some of the treats that are in store and the detail of the work that went into compiling the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s reimagining of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, set in 1922. “Jay Z (with collaborator and the film’s executive music consultant Jeymes Samuel) has worked with Luhrmann and his team on the project over the past two years, translating the Jazz Age sensibility of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel into the musical equivalents of our own times, through the blending of hip-hop, traditional jazz and other contemporary musical textures,” the press release reveals.

The sampler does contain snippets of other tracks from the soundtrack, including Emeli Sande’s re-working of Beyonce’s Crazy In Love (with the Bryan Ferry Orchestra), Together by The XX and ‘Young and Beautiful’ by Lana Del Rey. 

Continue reading: The Great Gatsby Soundtrack Sampler Released Online