The xx

The xx are a three-piece band from London, England, formed in 2005. The four original band members met at Elliott School, notable for alumni including Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet. The xx was originally a four-piece band, but keyboardist Baria Qureshi left the group in late 2009.

The group's debut album, xx, was met with critical acclaim, achieving a rating of "Universal acclaim" on Metacritic. Furthermore the album ranked well on "best of the year" lists, placing at #9 and #2 with Rolling Stone and NME respectively. The band placed at #6 in the 2009 NME The Future 50 list and in October 2009, they were named one of MTV Iggy's "Top 10 Bands with Buzz" (at the CMJ Music Marathon 2009).

Their debut album, xx, was released on Young Turks Records on 17 August 2009. Though the band had worked with both Diplo and Kwes. xx was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Jamie Smith and Rodaidh McDonald. They recorded the album in a small garage that was part of the XL studios, often at night, which contributed to the sleek, whispery nature of the album. The band has toured with The Big Pink and Micachu. Their single "Crystalised" was featured on iTunes (UK) as Single of the Week, starting from 18 August 2009.

Their song "Intro" was used in an AT&T commercial featuring Apolo Anton Ohno. It was shown often during NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. and during the series Cold Case, the general election coverage by the BBC during 2010 and also in Law & Order on the Dutch television network Net 5; "VCR" was featured in a Lie to Me episode. In episode 7 of the online BBC EastEnders spin-off E20 their cover of "Teardrops" was used. "Heart Skipped a Beat" was featured in a 2009 episode of 90210, as well as being the feature song for the March 2010 E4 advert for 90210. "Islands" was used in an episode of the Golden Globe-winning medical drama Grey's Anatomy. "Stars" was used in E4's youth drama 'Misfits' in December 2009.

"Crystalised" was used during the 13th episode of the 3rd season of The CW's acclaimed Gossip Girl TV show. In January 2010, the XX performed in a 11-date sold-out tour in Scandinavia and Germany with New Look."VCR" was also used in the Karl Lagerfeld Fall/Winter 2011 fashion show.

Second guitarist and keyboardist Baria Qureshi left the group in 2009. Initial reports stated that this was due to exhaustion, but the band later said they made this decision due to "personal differences".

It was recently announced that the band has been chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he is curating in May 2010 in Minehead, England. In addition, the band will be playing in five of North America's most popular music festivals, Coachella, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

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