Hot disc: The XX covers Aaliyah

Eight years ago today, R&B starlet Aaliyah’s fast, shimmering career crashed to a halt. No? Too soon? Luckily, there are more sensitive commemorators of the young honey’s almost-iconicism—after all, she had the range of a soprano, the brassy lure of Janet Jackson, the street-noir style of a sexy thug. And, if you recall, killer singles. The XX—an electric shoegaze quartet from Southwest London, and my newest favourite band—is paying a proper tribute. Their hushed, sighing cover of “Hot Like Fire” is catching on like wild. Listen here: myspace.com/thexx.