Jamie XX introduced the new album on Instagram saying that he’s been “figuring stuff out and then forgetting it all many times over” in the time since the release of his last record. “Life changing events and world changing events. These waves that we have all experienced together and alone.”

He continued saying that he “wanted to make something fun, joyful and introspective all at once. The best moments on a dance floor are usually that for me.” He added “I can’t wait to share it with you.”

The DJ and producers upcoming LP will feature a variety of accompanying artists over its 12 tracks including XX bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim as well as Kelsey Lu, The Avalanches and Oona Doherty.

The Tracklist is:

1. Wanna
2. Treat Each Other Right
3. Waited All Night (ft. Romy & Oliver Sim)
4. Baddy On The Floor (ft. Honey Dijon)
5. Dafodil (ft. Kelsey Lu, John Glacier & Panda Bear)
6. Still Summer
7. Life (ft. Robyn)
8. The Feeling I Get From You
9. Breather
10. All You Children (ft. The Avalanches)
11. Every Single Weekend (Interlude)
12. Falling Together (ft. Oona Doherty)

Jamie followed the announcement of ‘In Waves’ with an announcement of a Headline show at London’s Alexandra palace which goes on sale on June 7 at 10am or get access to the presale if you Pre-order a copy of ‘In Waves’. He will also be headlining the Woodsies stage on Friday night of Glastonbury later this month as well as Pitchfork music festival in July.

This follows a recent residency that he did at Venue MOT last month called The Floor, which lasted from the 16th of May to the 25th where he played the south London venue on 10 different occasions with a different selection of artists accompanying him each night which were only announced on the day of each show.

In the lead up to this announcement of a new album from Jamie XX he has helped his fellow XX members in their own solo work, producing Romy’s single ‘Enjoy Your Life’ with Fred again. He also did production work on Oliver Sim’s debut solo album Hideous Bastard.

As well as contributing to each other’s work separate from the XX Romy has said in an interview with NME recently that they are “meeting up regularly,” and that they have “spent time apart and it’s healthy to miss each other.”

She said they have had time apart to “learn new skills, get new musical ideas and experiences and compare them” and that “it’s cool to learn from each other again.” If this time in the studio comes to an album, as a lot of XX fans will be hoping, it would be their first LP since 2017’s ‘I See You’.

In a recent Facebook post reflecting on the collaboration with Chanel, Jamie xx shared,“IT’S SO GOOD is a piece of music I made to soundtrack this incredibly good-looking game of musical chairs. Thank you CHANEL for having me.”

With the release of ‘It’s So Good,’ Jamie xx makes his solo comeback to the music scene, signifying his first release since 2022. The catchy track builds on the success of his earlier tracks, ‘Let’s Do It Again’ and ‘KILL DEM,’ which garnered widespread acclaim in 2022.

While The xx producer kept a low profile in terms of new releases throughout 2023, he remained active on the live music front, touring North America with LCD Soundsystem and IDLES during the Re:SET Concert Series in North America and gracing a host of other festival stages globally.

Beyond his solo pursuits, Jamie xx has been actively collaborating with his bandmates from The xx on their individual projects. He helped to produce Oliver Sim’s solo debut album, ‘Hideous Bastard,’ in 2022, and worked with Romy on her debut solo dance-pop album, ‘Mid Air,’ released last year.

Romy recently confirmed that The xx are working on an “exciting new album,” marking their fourth following 2017’s ‘I See You.’ Reflecting on the band’s growth to NME, Romy said, “Oliver and Jamie and I have all tried new things and learned a lot from different projects. It’s quite healthy to be like, ‘What have you learned? What should we do now?’ It’s exciting to be starting again, and we’ve started making some music, which I’m really excited about.”

While details about a potential upcoming album from Jamie xx are scarce, his acclaimed debut LP, ‘In Colour,’ released in 2015, stands as his sole full-length solo project to date. As the new year unfolds, the anticipation for the return of both The xx and Jamie xx is palpable. With no tour dates set for 2024, the prospect of more music from Jamie xx becomes a hopeful note for fans. For now, listeners can immerse themselves in Jamie xx’s latest single, ‘It’s So Good,’ available for streaming and download on all platforms.

There was a period of time around the late 2000’s / early 2010’s where indie-art-pop was pretty much the best of what everywhere had to offer. For a short while, art pop was well and truly in the zeitgeist. Alt-J’s fabulous debut An Awesome Wave, Phoenix took off in France with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, you could even go so far as to call Arcade Fire’s, now legendary, Funeral a soiree into art-pop with heavy folk leanings. But, for me, The xx nailed that formula. xx was an accidental masterpiece in every sense, and now Oliver Sim, 1/3 of the magic formula, has once again joined forces with fellow xx bandmate Jamie xx (there’s 2/3 of the formula) to bring us Hideous Bastard.

In a note commenting on the album’s announcement, Sim also dropped the news that he has also been living with HIV since the age of 17. He then goes on to explain how this has impacted his life, as well as his music.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Oliver Sim (@hideousbastard)

“Early on in the making of my record, ‘Hideous Bastard’, I realised that I was writing a lot about fear and shame,” Sim explains. “I imagine that might paint a picture of a dark, ‘woe is me’-sounding album, but in recent years I’ve become a firm believer that the best antidote to these feelings can be bringing them to the surface and shedding some light on them.”  After the realization occurred, he went on to clarify, “I haven’t written the record to dwell, but rather to free myself of some of the shame and fear that I’ve felt for a long time. So, I hear a lot of the music as joyous, because the experience of writing and recording it has been the complete opposite of what fear and shame have been for me.”  The new LP will also appear alongside a feature film written and directed by Yann Gonzalez, in which Sim will star. We don’t know at the moment if the film and album will be linked in any way, but the film premiered last month so if you want some homework… this is it.

Oliver’s film HIDEOUS, written and directed by Yann Gonzalez is premiering at Semaine de La Critique at Cannes pic.twitter.com/pBPPbJajvv

— The xx (@The_xx) April 20, 2022

On the bright side, despite all this work apart from each other, it doesn’t appear that there’s a rift growing between The xx’s. Sim made sure to mention that he was “still very much in a loving and happy relationship/band with Romy and Jamie”, noting that bandmate Jamie xx actually helped produce the singles. It obviously sparked Jamie’s own solo aspirations with him, in turn, announcing the release of a new single for tomorrow.

Jamie’s new song is reportedly titled “Let’s Do It Again“, and he let his followers know on Instagram that “I had a lot of fun trying this one out at festivals last year. You might recognise it…“.

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A post shared by Jamie xx (@jamie___xx)

The band have been content leaving fans wanting for more ever since their acclaimed 2017 album “I See You“, which reached no. 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart. It’s is still their most recent studio album, but there’s hope for more soon. A few clues are in the air, such as a post on their social media last December showing the group working together.

Also, it doesn’t even have to be music that they do together. They’ve already started a new radio show on Apple Music, with instalments once a month. Each episode supposedly has a different member of The xx talking about their inspirations and speaking to guests.

Called Interludes Radio, it began last month with Sim hosting. The band’s official statement advertises it as “An hour of music, guests and sneak peeks of what we’re all up to on our own and together”.

If you want to see any of them live, Jamie xx has some gigs coming up on September 3^rd, playing at Forwards Bristol in Clifton Downs. You can get tickets here. Sims also has some solo tour dates coming up in May, including one in London’s Shoreditch Town Hall on the 10th. Otherwise, he’ll also be seen around Europe and America, visiting the likes of Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles and  New York. You can get tickets for these dates here from Wednesday 10 am. If you want to access the tour’s pre-sale tomorrow at 10 am, best sign-up before 6 pm tonight using the previous link.

YAY!

Presale for Weekend 2 starts Friday 1/14 at 10am PT. Weekend 1 is sold out. Register now at https://t.co/qujCsdCWkp pic.twitter.com/cEp5iNJY9M

— Coachella (@coachella) January 13, 2022

As well as the one and only Harry Styles on Friday, Northampton punk-rapper Slowthai has joined the bill after the success of his 2021 output Tyron, Bristol’s beloved post-punk powerhouse IDLES, Space rock maestros Spiritualized will also see the crowds of Coachella shortly after the release of their new album. Other artists performing on both of the festivals Friday’s include; indie darling Phoebe Bridgers, Aussie psych-rock legends King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Lil Baby may show off some of his new collaborative album with Lil Durk The Voice of Our Heroes, the DJ tent will also see quite a lot of variety with early 2000s classics like The Avalanches appearing alongside the up and coming Logic1000.

Saturday’s headliner Billie Eilish is also joined by a host of acts from over the pond; Reading and Leeds Festival headliners Disclosure sit particularly high on the bill, synth-pop party Hot Chip come a little earlier, along with Floating Points (who recently made it into our top 10 UK albums of 2021 with Promises), Mercury Prize Winner Arlo Parks, and Rina Sawayama show off some of Britain’s best female artists at the moment, and black midi brings their own blend of post-punk-jazz-noise to the desert. Flume, Megan Thee Stallion and BROCKHAMPTON fill out the upper section of the lineup, while Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, and Japanese Breakfast turn up for anyone else wanting something different.

The artist formerly known as Kanye West (now simply labelled Ye) is set to headline the festivals final days with 1/3 of indie icons The xx playing in the form of idiosyncratic drummer/DJ Jamie xx, Fatboy Slim keeps up the beach vibes and beabadoobee brings a little indie ambience to an otherwise dance and hip hop heavy day, Duke Dumont brings the British club scene with him too. The bunch will be joined by Hip-hop duo Run the Jewels, Doja Cat, Maggie Rogers, and even Sweden’s own punk output Viagra Boys.

Ticket information can be found here.

Your Wilderness 2021 line up is here. Join @jamie___xx, @LoyleCarner, @Rudimental, @feelmybicep (Live) & more for the unforgettable summer weekend you’ve all been waiting for.

Final release bookings open Tuesday 8th June.

Join the waitlist: https://t.co/zCesoIFT5c pic.twitter.com/ewacmbhojq

— Wilderness Festival (@WildernessHQ) June 3, 2021

Traditionally, the Wilderness festival is not only about music, but also arts, the natural world and celebration of the adventure. The Theatre and Arts programme includes Wilderness Orchestra, Letters Live, Roundhouse and Woman in Jazz.
Author Phili Pullman will chat with John Lloyd as part of the Talks and Debates programme. You can also expect a wood-fired lakeside spa, Yoga, disco dodgeball and an amazing selection of food to choose from.  from including vegetarian and vegan feast.

General ticket for Wilderness have already sold out however small number of tickers will be released on the 8th of June to those on the waiting list. To have a chance of grabbing one, sign up here.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer to truly appreciate Romy’s banger, because it’s practically begging to be played in a club. This total burst of energy is certainly reminiscent of some of the major 90s dance-floor fillers – and also, I would point out, an eighties synth vibe of the Tears For Fears variety. To me it also has just a twinkle of ‘Life In A Northern Town’ about it. What I’m saying is, if ‘Lifetime’ had come on at the eighties night at university, it would hardly have been out of place.

Romy wants us to understand that dance hits are important to her, from the eighties to the Ibiza scene; she wrote on social media, “I’ve always loved club classics that unite a room, big emotional dance songs, that you can sing along to as well. I’m excited to have the opportunity to show my love for dance music with ‘Lifetime’.

She added with a bittersweet note, “I loved working with a very talented and inspiring group of people on this song, thank you so much Fred again, Marta Salogni, Joy Anonymous and Jamie xx. I had dreamt that we could be dancing in a room together to this song by now, but until then I hope you can dance to it wherever you are!”

Afterwards I’ll be premiering the lyric video on YouTube at 6:45pm BSThttps://t.co/bdGeQDzGpu

— Romy (@romyromyromy) September 28, 2020

Beneath its catchy, neon, dance surface, ‘Lifetime’ is wrestling with greater concepts of time and making the most of everything. “Once in a lifetime / something matters,” Romy declares as the music falls away and we are suspended in the moment, thinking about how special everything is. She has spoken about the song wanting “to appreciate the moment before its gone”.

We’re all familiar with this urge these days, and Romy is clear that the moment could be anything, from a huge night out to a quiet moment with your loved ones – “simple moments of togetherness, meant the most to me,” she began to realise during the pandemic. But it also feels like the perfect sentiment for those few minutes on the dance floor where you’re having the time of your life and its all lights and colours and you don’t know what the time is or how long you’ve been there. Inevitably, clubbing can’t sustain that perfect haze for very long, but the stars might just align for three minutes when you hear ‘Lifetime’ on the dancefloor for the first time.

Prior to playing the piece, Sharp aired Jopckstrap’s new single “Acid”, which sounds as if a ’40s vocal jazz number has been yanked a century forward, as well as a conversation between Ellery and Smith on the recording process of their untitled composition. “It’s been nice to be able to make music without too much pressure”, Smith said of the piece, “something that’s so long with so few instruments … rather than an over-thought, over-arranged thing”.

“When you’re usually working with … three, four minutes, you try and stuff everything in”, Ellery elaborated, “[but this] was different to anything I’ve ever made … more freeing than usual”. On the piece’s beginnings, Ellery said that she had recorded some strings “which were kind of reminiscent of Górecki and I thought it’d be interesting to hear them married to Jamie’s production” though to my ears, they sound more like Reich. Whatever the influence, it’s clear that the key ingredient to the pair’s creative endeavour comes from being shut off from the outside world, “the luxury of never-ending time” as Sharp calls it. Well, that’s at least one silver lining to this pandemic.

“Acid” is the latest single from Jockstrap off of their forthcoming EP. Wicked City, the duo’s first release on Warp Records, will be made available on Friday the 5th on both vinyl and as a digital release. Ellery has described the EP as a “breakup/breakdown record that presents how I dealt with losing what I had when I wrote Love Is the Key [to the City]”, Jockstrap’s previous release. Having remained (relatively) quiet in the five years since his debut In Colour, Smith revealed a new song in April titled “Idontknow”. The music video was shot in Belfast the night before the city went into lockdown, and uploaded onto YouTube on the 6th of May alongside a short poem by director Oona Doherty. Watch the video below:

The British DJ (real name Jamie Smith) tested the waters last December by anonymously debuting the track during a live mix for NTS radio (below), and it has since seen heavy rotation in sets from Bicep, Four Tet, and Caribou. Only now has Smith taken credit for producing the song and revealed its title: “Idontknow“. 

Despite a recent guest appearance on the Headie One and Fred again.. track “Smoke“, Smith hasn’t put out any new solo material since his 2015 debut In Colour. While “Idontknow” certainly puts a new spin on the producer’s signature sound, spend a few seconds in its stuttering breakbeats and you’ll feel his debut’s playful energy come flooding right back.

Alongside a short video posted on Instagram yesterday, Smith explained the song had come about by trying to “let go” from frustrations over his writing process. He followed up the statement with these words of encouragement: “Now, we can’t go out to dance and we need an outlet more than ever, I hope you dance to it at home and let go for a moment”.

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I made Idontknow as an outlet for my frustration over not being able to finish any music for a while. I tried to be less precious with my ideas and just let go. I then watched this translate onto the dance floor when I started playing it out last year. Now, we can’t go out to dance and we need an outlet more than ever, I hope you dance to it at home and let go for a moment. You can pre-order the 12″ now, available exclusively from independent record stores. They need our support more than ever. We’ve created a list so you can find out how you can get hold of the record via the link in bio. Special thanks to @dohertyoona. I reached out to Oona (in the blue polo shirt here) to be in my next video. She sent back these clips of her and her friends and a beautiful message that you can read here: https://youtu.be/U2NFjq5-JQM

A post shared by Jamie xx (@jamie___xx) on Apr 15, 2020 at 9:12am PDT

Since the new song hasn’t been announced as a part of an album release, it might be a while longer before we see In Colour’s long-anticipated follow-up (though fans of his band The xx might not have to wait so long). 

A 12-inch version of “Idontknow” will be released on 1st May via Young Turks. Stream the song’s official audio via YouTube below:

The Good Times Store, named after his hit single off of this year’s ‘In Colour’ album, had opened for a run in New York earlier this year in August. The store has now popped up in London on 16th October and will run for a week untill 23rd October and it can be found at 73 Kingsland Road in Hackney.

Posting on his Instagram Jamie explained what we can expect from the store:

“I’ve picked a bunch of records to be sold, including a selection from one of my local favourite store Kristina, a bunch of the records I sampled for In Colour (bought off Discogs), some of my releases (a few signed) and other assorted gems. I’ve also curated a series of radio shows to be recorded live from the store and go out all week on NTS.”

You can check the full lineup of guests performing their live NTS radio sets from the store below:
18/10 – 6-8pm – Mica Levi
19/10 – 6-8pm – Melon Magic w/Powell
20/10 – 6-8pm – Sampha & Lil Silva
21/10 – 6-8pm – DJ Oneman & Tic (Young Turks)
22/10 – 4-6pm – Benjib & Tic
23/10 – 6-8pm – Young Turks All Stars

Jamie XX’s album ‘In Colour’ is also up for the Mercury Prize this year. This will be the second time he’s been up for the prestigious award, after winning it in 2010 with The XX.