Ill Behaviour | Feeding Your Daily Habit: Captured By The RUF: The xx Vs. alt-J (∆) + TRACKS

In my right hand I hold alt-J's (∆) prestigious new album 'An Awesome Wave' and in the other I clasp the much anticipated follow up from The xx; 'Coexist'. It also turns out I've been captured by an ill-surviving branch of the RUF in Sierra Leone, they are about to cut off one of my hands. Apparently they want to know which one to cut off before they take me to the diamond fields, errghhh this is long. Right lets get down to business.

With the outstanding response from fans and critics alike The xx were always going to have a bit of a mountain to climb when it came to a follow up.

The first album xx oozed a nostalgic intimacy that put them in a different category all together; the simplistic song compositions and unique vocals meant the lyrics had a depth and meaning to them, their context emphasized by a continual conversation between male and female band members (Oliver Sim and Romy Croft).

Overall the album was a triumph to British indie music and it helped inspire a whole new generation of music that had an essential belief at its heart: less is more.

Now we come to the new album - 'Coexist' - this album is first and foremost a love album, its snail like pace drawing from everything associated with the tireless and relentless strain of a relationship; two emotions - I'm sad to say - I felt while trying to consolidate the new album.

Its not that the lyrics of 'Angels' didn't impress me or that I disliked the bass lines used in 'Chained', because both tracks really did impress me as did a few others, but the album overall reads about as badly as a mopey friend who still talks at no end about an ex-girlfirend he broke up with 2 years ago, I just don't care anymore.

All in all the xx has moved further from diversity and closer to conformity; the passion is there but the insipid fashion with which they deliver each track undermines what a follow-up album should be; contemporary and quintessentially different, something I'm annoyed all three members - particularly Jamie - have not picked up on.

We now take a glance over to my shaking right hand where hangs a muddied copy of alt-J's (∆) debut album 'An Awesome Wave'. Forming back in 2007 and signing a deal with Infectious Records only a year ago the band is still relatively new and by en-large many have still not heard of the Mercury Prize antagonists.

Reading like a book the album is not only progressive but varied in its approach and it includes an intro, three interludes and consists of no more than 14 tracks; in reality its a book that reads like a page turner, its not only thrilling but highly addictive.

We get acquainted with Joe Newman’s vocals on the first interlude, but its not until the blazing high notes of 'Tessellate' and the full-fat chorus of 'Breezeblocks' before you start mouthing the words "fucking hell" and you realise, these guys are different.

Tessellate by alt-J

'Different' is certainly a word that you will cramp your frontal lobe while trying to think of a way to describe the album, 'Fitzpleasure' is a deceiving track that moves from orchestral vocals to a suddenly dark and seductive bass line before transcending into blissfully dreamy guitar rifts. 'Dissolve Me' is sweeter track that floats above the heavier elements of the album and is refreshingly powerful in its positivity.

I'm not sure if its beginners luck or because the very definition of alt-J (∆) is 'change' (Greek sign for change is ∆) but these four clever guys who attended and met at Leeds University have found a niche in the market, something that's often hard to do in a business that's now saturated with musicians and producers alike.

The xx were 'the change' back in 2009 but since that time they set a new standard, a standard that needed to be lambasted and raised but at the very least matched, neither feats I'm afraid to say were achieved. After giving them such a hard time I would like to point out they are still an amazing live performance and although it might not come through on the new album - in the flesh and blood - they are still a force to be reckoned with.

In reflection to everything mentioned above and with a man pointing a gun to my sweaty temple I'm afraid its going to have to be the right hand that get the long awaited and inevitable chop, sorry xx but you've finally met your match.

See you home-wreckers in the diamond fields, I'll be sure to lend a hand.

Ahhhhhh shit...I meant to say the left.

ALT-J (∆) - BREEZEBLOCKS