Skip to content
News

XL Previews Collectors’ Comp With Unreleased Vampire Weekend, Odd Future Footage

XL Recordings Pay close attention anniversary compilation

This year marks the 25th anniversary of U.K. indie institution XL Recordings and they’ve announced their own celebration in the form of a history-spanning compilation called Pay Close Attention. Recent XL acts as wide-ranging Radiohead, the White Stripes, Vampire Weekend, M.I.A., Tyler the Creator, Adele, Gil Scott-Heron, the Horrors, and the Prodigy will appear on the the second disc of the comp. The first disc will pay tribute to the label’s origins as a home for rave music, featuring the likes of Liquid, Basement Jaxx, Dizzee Rascal, and Jamie xx.

Richard Russell, who runs the label, explains that the title comes from a Kool Keith sample in the Prodigy’s song “Out of Space,” which appears on the set.

The website for the compilation features an interactive history of all of XL’s releases, including previously unseen video footage of some of the label’s most prominent acts. So far they’ve shared a short documentary about the making of Vampire Weekend’s sophomore album Contra, and clips from Odd Future’s first European tour. You can watch both of those below.

You can preorder Pay Close Attention as a quadruple LP box set, a two-CD set, and a digital download.

//www.youtube.com/embed/pZNufOcdLOg

//www.youtube.com/embed/cQyXF_5M9aI

Pay Close Attention track list:

Disc 1
1. SL2 – “DJs Take Control”
2. The Prodigy – “Out Of Space”
3. Awesome 3 – “Don’t Go (Kicks Like A Mule Mix)”
4. Liquid – “Sweet Harmony”
5. Jonny L – “Piper”
6. Roy Davis Jr. featuring Peven Everett – “Gabriel (Live Garage Version)”
7. Dem 2 – “Destiny”
8. Nu-Birth – “Anytime”
9. Basement Jaxx – “Jump N’Shout”
10. Dizzee Rascal – “I Luv U”
11. Wiley – “Igloo”
12. Various Production – “Hater”
13. Giggs – “Talkin The Hardest”
14. SBTRKT – “Wildfire (feat. Little Dragon)”
15. Jamie xx – “All Under One Roof Raving”

Disc 2
1. The Prodigy – “Firestarter”
2. Peaches – “Fuck The Pain Away”
3. The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
4. Devendra Banhart – “I Feel Just Like A Child”
5. Ratatat – “Seventeen Years”
6. M.I.A. – “Paper Planes”
7. Thom Yorke – “The Eraser”
8. Gil Scott-Heron – “New York Is Killing Me”
9. Radiohead – “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi”
10. Tyler, The Creator – “Yonkers”
11. The Horrors – “Sea Within A Sea”
12. Jai Paul – “BTSTU (demo)”
13. Bobby Womack – “Please Forgive My Heart”
14. The xx – “Angels”
15. Sampha – “Too Much”
16. Vampire Weekend – “Step”
17. King Krule – “Easy Easy”
18. Adele – “Rolling In The Deep”

Bonus DVD:
Prodigy – Firestarter (Director Walter Stern)
Basement Jaxx – Where’s Your Head At (Director Traktor)
The White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl (Director Michel Gondry)
Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp (Director Ruben Fleischer)
M.I.A – BirdFlu (Director M.I.A)
Vampire Weekend – A-Punk (Director Hammer and Tongs)
Radiohead – Lotus Flower (Director Garth Jennings)
Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here (Director Jane Pollard)
Tyler, The Creator – Yonkers (Director Tyler, The Creator)
Adele – Someone Like You (Live From The Brits 2011)