Quotes from Jamie xx

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.

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

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.

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.

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 Kendrick Lamar is great. It would be cool to do something with him.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.