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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Anxiety Always
by Adult.
The Detroit-based electronica duo of Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller (who also run the Ersatz Audio label) have gained a great deal of acclaim for their early singles and work with other artists. Here, on their full-length debut, they offer 10 brand-new tracks. (Yes, the period at the end of their name is necessary.)
| LABEL: |
Ersatz Audio |
| RELEASE DATE: |
08 April 2003 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Electronic |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
90
All Music Guide
Not only does it hold the duo's most sleek and vicious material; it also proves that they can construct a bracing, compulsively digestible-in-whole album that presents the broad range of sounds and complementary sequencing that most great albums require.
90
Urb
Adult. have fully realized their vision with a sound that's more alive and panoramic. [#104, p.95]
80
Splendid
Twitchy, insistent and more kinetic than a dancefloor covered with electric eels, Anxiety Always should establish Adult. as the anti-Fischerspooner -- an '80s-inflected duo whose garish stylistic flourishes are far outweighed by their extensive resonant merits.
79
Pitchfork
It's tempting to call it one of the most messily brilliant things we'll see all year, but it can't, in good faith, be recommended to everyone: if the duo's buzzy neurosis was enough to drive some people nuts before, the raw jumping and nagging of Anxiety Always will sound to many like the shoddiest, most amusical sham to be held up as a masterpiece in many of our lives.
75
Spin
Hipster-mocking songs like "Turn Your Back" aren't as funny as the scene they want to outsmart. [May 2003, p.116]
70
Magnet
Like the most effective camp, the line between what's intentionally and accidentally embarrassing is utterly ambiguous. [#58, p.82]
70
Dusted Magazine
Anxiety Always shows Miller and Kuperus trying a lot of new ideas and singing with much more range and emotion.
70
Billboard
While the casual listener may tire of the repetitive synthiness of Anxiety Always, fans of the genre will dig the act's '80s-inflected tunes.
70
New Musical Express
'Anxiety Always' is a triumph of punkish spirit, an album that embraces creeping horror like an un-comfort blanket.
70
PopMatters
Anxiety Always is, to put it bluntly, one pissed-off album, a snide, sarcastic, bitchy commentary on trend-followers, relationships, and the brainwashed masses out there, and it's so up front in its condescension that you're taken aback at first, so punk-like is Adult.'s sound.
70
Mojo
Adult. add unflinching aggression to the razor-sharp beats and vaguely sinister lyrics first mapped out on 2001's Resuscitation. [May 2003, p.104]
70
The Wire
Adult. proves that there need be nothing fey or even particularly cheeky about synthesizer music. [#231, p.75]
60
Uncut
Adult. deserve respect if only for making an almost overwhelmingly vicious album that succeeds on its own unreasonable terms. [May 2003, p.102]
60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
For all its impressive competency, Anxiety Always remains a bit too oppressively literal in its electro resurrection.
60
Blender
It's almost as much fun as 1981! [May 2003, p.114]
40
Neumu.net
They're trapped by this, their one-trick shtick; it the same old song, played again, Sam, for all those girls in white belts who won't stop 'til they get enough.
40
Playlouder
There is no New here.
The average user rating for this album is 9.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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