I'm not going to play gigs as Jamie xx. I'm just going to DJ. I'm not comfortable performing my songs on a stage. It's not something I think I'm particularly good at.
— Jamie xx
All music is escapism for me, but I like the way that, on a good night, that sense of escapism can be shared.
I don't want my music to be of its time; I want it to be timeless.
I can't imagine doing a DJ set and playing all my own stuff; it'd just be awkward.
I think Kendrick Lamar is great. It would be cool to do something with him.
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.
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.
I like the contrast in making something that sounds sunny but also has an element of melancholy to it.
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.
At Coachella, I want to start separating how I do a big festival set from how I do a club set.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think Young Thug has such a weird style I love, especially the things he does with his voice. It just sounds different.
I work with talented people. I'm just their tool.
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.
For some producers who are technical-minded, making the song sound good is easy, and getting the emotion into the song is harder.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
When I hear something new, mostly in rhythms, I often find it interesting to recreate it in a studio in a completely different way.
I find it quite useful to be alone when I'm making music, but also in general, in life.
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.
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.
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.
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 don't feel like I'm very good at making music.
It doesn't make sense for me to try to be, like, a dance dude who only releases two 12-inches a year and then plays every weekend. Making an album, you get to put out a body of work that shows a lot of different sides of you. And you get to work on it for an intense period of time and promote that album. And then you get to move on.
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.
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.
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.
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 can make something for a long time and just not come up with an ending. It's finishing things that I don't enjoy.
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.
