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Central Market

EMAILPRINTby Tyondai Braxton

Tyondai Braxton reviews
73
8.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 vote
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Album Info

Label: Warp

Release Date: 15 September 2009

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Rock, Experimental

Summary

The Battles band member releases his latest solo album on the Warp label.

What The Critics Said

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...

80

Sputnikmusic

Instead of rhythmic exploration Braxton is working with a variety of harmonic and melodic developments and in doing so has made a refreshing and similar counterpoint to 'Mirrored'. Central Market may not be as calculated, but it is more fun and in general more easy to digest.

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80

The New York Times

On Central Market, Mr. Braxton’s first full album under his own name in seven years, he has moved forward with exponentially more complicated music. It’s exponentially more entertaining, too.

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80

Pitchfork

Central Market is a big album for an age that has acquainted itself with thinking small about the album both as a vessel for sound and as a standard-bearer for new aesthetic vision.

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80

Observer Music Monthly

More Stravinsky than the Saturdays, this is still way more fun than the latter.

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80

All Music Guide

While the pieces that put the orchestra at the fore are the most dazzling, Central Market is a tour de force that only grows more fascinating with repeated listens.

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80

Dusted Magazine

The combination of synth, loop techniques and no-joke instrumentalists playing wild and unconventional rhythms is totally over-the-top, but that’s exactly what makes this album so dazzling.

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80

Alternative Press

Central Market could prove to some that contemporary classical music can be more epic than post-rock, more dangerous than metal, and have more to say than the most verbose MC-even if most of his songs don't have any words.

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70

Drowned In Sound

It's Central Market, his second full solo release, that sees him coming of age in a manner that befits the familial myth.

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70

Tiny Mix Tapes

The strongest tracks here make a case for Braxton’s compositional skills; the rest feel like recycled tales from his nights out with Stanier and Williams, an unfortunate byproduct of placing them within this context.

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66

cokemachineglow

Which isn’t to say that the rest of the album isn’t impressive at certain points, though the law of diminishing returns weighs heavily here.

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60

Mojo

Braxton ventures far from the strictures of traditional rock. Indeed, he's cleared passport control and stepped into the realms of modern classical music. [Oct 2009, p.103]

60

Under The Radar

Alas, most of Market's tracks work more as sound experiements than actual songs. [Fall 2009, p.62]

60

Q Magazine

The resulting clash of classicial forms and electronics is a startling mix of chance and design. [Oct 2009, p.108]

60

Uncut

As a stand-alone album it's ultimately more laudable than loveable. [Oct 2009, p.92]

40

Spin

His third solo album is promoted as "new classical," but "J. City" sounds more like a grievous stab at alt-rock.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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