It is official: We have our first "clothing corporation vs. indie group" beef of the year. The trouble began last week when The xx's label, Young Turks, discovered a Hugo Boss eyewear advertisement that pretty much rips off the band's rave classic "The Intro."
. @HUGOBOSS as a firm built around original design, isn't it odd that you'd pay for such a poorly disguised fake? https://t.co/2sdUYfU6OF ...
— Young Turks (@youngturksrec) October 3, 2014
Usually when a band gets ripped off, there is some room for doubt — maybe the company or other artist or whoever crafted something similar by accident? But this time, it is pretty obvious Hugo Boss thought it could get away with highway robbery.
@youngturksrec @HUGOBOSS it's not even trying for a disguise. Same key, bpm, proportions, melodies...wow pic.twitter.com/tEfdVxQg4t — Olga Bell (@bellinspace) October 3, 2014
It's time for you to decide for yourself: Is Hugo Boss in the wrong? Try not to laugh when you listen to both below:
This summer, producer Rodaidh McDonald confirmed that the xx were working on new music.
"I’m right in the middle of working on their third record now," he told Dazed via Pitchfork, "and it’s a completely different concept, just trying everything, trying to find new ways of working, new sounds ..."
He added: "We’re doing it in Texas and Iceland, and maybe France. So that’s kind of starting in the middle of July, I’ve already spent a bit of time with them in Texas. There are songs which have come out of our experiences in New York and Texas that would never have come out in London; the colors and the ideas and the moods on some of these songs are just not things you would write in London.
"It’s about opening things up a bit more. They are a London band, but they’re also a band that’s spent a lot of time in different countries. So we’re trying to push that further with the Iceland trip, which is happening in July."
