Top 35 Jamie xx Quotes

Floating Points plays a lot of music that I don’t know, and I like geeking out and trying to find out what the tracks are. His knowledge of house music is pretty deep, and his selection is just amazing. And I think it’s a pleasure to listen to his music because it’s so perfectly produced.

It’s still as exciting to play records I’ve not heard before as it was when I was young. There’s not much that makes me feel like that besides making music. And they definitely feed into each other.

I begged and begged, and my uncle gave me his old turntables. It was one hi-fi and one old Stereo Lab turntable and a rusty mixer. I was really chuffed. I kept that for five years – that’s where I learned to mix.

I never really learnt from anyone. I just spent a lot of time at home, knocking things out. It has been interesting going into proper studios, working with people who know everything. But I find it doesn’t hinder me.

For some producers who are technical-minded, making the song sound good is easy, and getting the emotion into the song is harder.

When I hear something new, mostly in rhythms, I often find it interesting to recreate it in a studio in a completely different way.

At Coachella, I want to start separating how I do a big festival set from how I do a club set.

I like the contrast in making something that sounds sunny but also has an element of melancholy to it.

I don’t hate on the whole EDM thing happening in America because, although the music is not of my taste – a little bit brash for me – I think it’s also introducing a lot of young people to dance music, and then they’re discovering better dance music through it.

I think Young Thug has such a weird style I love, especially the things he does with his voice. It just sounds different.

I have this romanticized idea of dance music in the ’90s because, obviously, I was way too young to be a part of it. So I have this rose-tinted idea of it. I have this idea of it being a very special time. But I still don’t know that much – I can never remember any names of seminal artists.

I can make something for a long time and just not come up with an ending. It’s finishing things that I don’t enjoy.

In the U.K. especially, dance music goes in cycles. It’s often kids reappropriating sounds they loved when they were younger, but were too young to be a part of.

My uncle, who gave me my first turntables when I was ten, also gave me records to mix, but I never understood house music. I thought it was boring until I was old enough to go to a club and feel it, the fact that it actually makes you just want to dance.

A lot of new genres were being born at the time I started going out to clubs in South London, and I was part of an exciting movement that has now blown up around the world.

When I buy lots of records, I stop making music – it’s detrimental to the creative side. When I’m DJing a lot, it’s just basically partying every day.

People always think the xx are, like, moody and all dressed in black. We do all dress in black, but we’re actually quite fun people – and we’ve come out of our shells a lot since the first album.

I play vinyl and CDs. Playing vinyl is the best sound quality you can get playing music loudly, so that’s the main reason I do that.

The people that really inspired me are the people I have now managed to become contemporaries with, like Four Tet and Floating Points. I learn so much about music just from hanging around with them.

I’m always getting sent new stuff, so I have to incorporate digital equipment into my sets, but I try to play vinyl as much as possible. It’s just the best-sounding format still. And I’ve been using vinyl since I started deejaying, for over 15 years, so it also just feels the most natural for me.

I always just experiment with different sounds and styles until I find something that evokes the feeling I’m going for. I’m not trying to think too much about what anyone else is doing.

I work with talented people. I’m just their tool.

I find it quite useful to be alone when I’m making music, but also in general, in life.

I’m a mess. My house is full of records, and my computer… I can’t find the things that I want. But it usually seems to work out.

Before the first xx record, I pretty much exclusively listened to electronica. Now, I listen to anything. I think the most inspiring thing is just learning more about more and more different kinds of music and becoming a fan of so many different types and so many different genres.

I don’t want my music to be of its time; I want it to be timeless.

I’m used to making songs; that’s how I learned to make music. My structures will always be more like pop songs than dance tracks.

I started using vinyl because I stole all my parents’ records when I was 10. I didn’t think about sound quality then, but I always loved how they sounded.

I get to go to so many different countries and hear so much music and collect totally different records. It’s all very inspiring, and I’m trying to embrace that experience because not that many producers get to have that.

It’s not like I force myself to think of sad things, but… it’s more that I make music because it makes me happy.

I just like the lineage and the heritage and the fact that British dance music is still progressing. I’m from London; I love London, and I wouldn’t know how else to show that love in musical terms. There’s something about British stuff that’s a bit faster, a bit harder-hitting. Just tough.

At festivals, you can go a lot bigger than a club and have massive euphoric moments because there are so many people there all feeling the same thing.

My parents’ record collection was the music I was hearing as long as I can remember, and I would play Otis Redding over and over again.

I can’t imagine doing a DJ set and playing all my own stuff; it’d just be awkward.

When I go in the studio, I put myself into a place where I’m feeling something I want to portray, which is often being sad, lonely. But as soon as I’m starting to make something, it’s when I’m the happiest. Ever. I think that comes out at the same time, so there’s that juxtaposition.