Jamie xx
In Colour

Despite the overwhelming hype that accompanied its release and the aura of an instant-classic of the cool electronic scene that has been following its course over the years, it must be said that this record isn't all that crappy. The opening track "Gosh" is a blade of light that cuts through the gloom, ascends with difficulty, and then launches into the unknown, unconsciously fluttering between tech-house rhythms and the gaudy synths typical of fairground bumping cars. "Sleep Sound" is truly, and I mean truly, a masterpiece of good taste: moderate, just right, emotional, shy, decisive: it makes you imagine waking up under a welcoming Portuguese sun in the early morning, instead of in the usual crappy two-room apartment in Corvetto.

The problems start with those crappy collaborations with the two xx members, Romy and Oliver. To be honest, an okay track, cryptic and melancholic ("Seesaw"), is also there; the problem is that "Loud Places" makes you regurgitate the last six New Year's Eve feasts at once. It's cloying, mawkish, with an overbearing gospel sampling: if you like it, evidently, you have understood nothing about what well-made pop is. What the heck is "Obvs"? Not the title, eh: I'm referring to those stupid, repetitive keyboards. Let's clarify one thing: the time hasn't come yet when kitsch equals "beautiful music," so let's calm down. At a certain point, there's even a drop (brr...) and a climax of all the nice, perfect sounds.

"Just Saying" with those distorted, breezy piano keys makes you cry with emotion. "Stranger In A Room" is like a corkscrew that goes back and forth in the pancreas, so let's skip it. Are you hearing it? You're in the bathroom pulling yourself together, but from the dancefloor, the foggy techno of "Hold Tight" is resounding: you go out and the rhythm rises, shakes you, and you enter into a trance. Total rapture.

Only one thing could make you recover from "Loud Places," and that was a ten-out-of-ten track with Young Thug and Popcaan: between Thugger's crazy verses and the Jamaican, gummy dancehall backing vocals of the other guy, Jamie xx embeds a jewel of positive vibes with a pina colada aftertaste. "The Rest Is Noise" wants to be a techno poem, but instead, it's just a cheat sheet of preset sounds from Fruit Loop, which also made you clash with the teacher. Luckily there's "Girl" that comes in and out, dissolves and materializes, spins pirouettes and another until it disperses into an intoxicating mist where the scents of peach and sunscreen mix until they blend together.