The pursuit of definitive indie-pop often leads music archivists back to August 2009, the pivotal moment when London trio The xx released their self-titled debut album, xx . Yet, for a specific subculture of digital music collectors, the journey to acquire this Mercury Prize-winning masterpiece is inextricably linked to a highly specific, nostalgic string of search terms: "the xx xx album rapidsharezip checked."
Typing that specific string into a Google search bar in 2010 was a digital ritual. Let’s break down exactly what the user was trying to accomplish with each part of the query: the xx xx album rapidsharezip checked
: Refers directly to the band (The xx) and their eponymous debut album ( xx ). The pursuit of definitive indie-pop often leads music