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Microcastle

Universal acclaim
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 44 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Kranky
Release Date: 28 October 2008
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Experimental
Summary
The rock group from Georgia recorded the album in a week in Brooklyn, New york.
Also By This Artist: Cryptograms Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site (MySpace)
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...
Tiny Mix Tapes
It may end angrily, but when it’s all said and done, Microcastle is a blissful retreat from the known.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
But for all the praise it should receive for being the record Deerhunter were destined to make, what will make Microcastle a classic (and this has every right to become a classic) is what the album means to the person listening.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Here, the band comes into their own by applying their own inspiringly distinctive, bleakly appealing sensibility to whatever ideas happen to move them.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
Deerhunter have indeed created a masterpiece. While it's not perfect, it has the charm and scope and full realization that was lacking in the band's earlier work.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
The bolder sound signals that Deerhunter is now less concerned with the scarring effects of loss, conflict, and the passage of time, and more concerned with the ways to escape those things--even if that escape is fleeting.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
Where the split-personality of Cryptograms hinted as much, a cohesive effort on Microcastle delivers the goods in its entirety.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
Though Microcastle is hardly straightforward, it’s an aggressive step toward the mainstream that sacrifices none of Deerhunter’s woozy adventurousness.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
In putting the brakes on their revolutionary impulses to instead embrace old tropes and familiar sounds, Deerhunter has hit upon an endearing, awesome universality.
Read Full Review >Filter
Microcastle shows Deerhunter [sic] progresing with reason, creating one of their best releases yet. [Fall 2008, p.92]
Under The Radar
The recording is their cleanest yet, but worry not--there's plenty of ambience and guitar noise to be had. [Fall 2008, p.74]
Hartford Courant
It's a very consistent record, with lots of wide-open spaces and quivering quietness, and just about every sound seems to fit perfectly exactly where it sits.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Microcastle proves that Deerhunter can make music that sounds very different from what they'd done before, yet still feels of a piece with their body of work.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
That rare thing in modern music, you feel Deerhunter grow with each second of song that passes, a band who delight in running under their own graceful steam rather than gasping at the airs of others.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
Continuing the convention-defying structure that Deerhunter pioneered with "Cryptograms," Microcastle starts slow and spirals into something much larger.
Read Full Review >NOW Magazine
If you’re not up on that stuff, Microcastle may seem like a more impressive creative breakthrough than it actually is, which could explain the gushy reviews.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Microcastle could be 4AD's best release in well over a decade. [Dec 2008, p.108]
Sputnikmusic
The placement of certain tracks on Microcastle are an obvious glaring weakness, but one cannot take away the pure execution and quality of the songs.
Read Full Review >Spin
Where Cox's Atlas Sound output is scattered and eclectic, Microcastle, Deerhunter's third album, is focused and consistent.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
In Deerhunter’s latest songs Mr. Cox sings about time, perception, crucifixion and murder, while the band maintains its gift for realizing just how far a small idea can be carried through repetition and accretion.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
Fresh on the heels of his deliciously spooky Atlas Sound solo album, the bizarre and beguiling Bradford Cox outdid himself again on his Brooklyn-based band's third record.
Read Full Review >Magnet
The constant fluidity here makes the album’s unpredictability seem grounded and cohesive instead of erratic.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times
It’s an excellent indie starter kit for the kids just plucking “Loveless” out of the bin.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
Smartly, Microcastle stops short of alienating, an adjective more than a few scribes have lobbed at "Cryptograms."
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
The richly recorded songs spool out with a natural ease. [Nov 2008, p.154]
Almost Cool
Less visceral than "Cryptograms," this follow-up shows two sides of a group that still hasn't quite figured out exactly what they want to be.
Read Full Review >Urb
The ’Hunter may not have bagged a 14-point buck this time around, but Microcastle is still good enough to stuff and mount on the wall.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
The music doesn’t go far enough--it’s too restrained and mellow--but the point of view is crystal clear. This is alternative rock clinically perfected in a perpetual adolescence.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
On the group's third album, the usually extroverted singer, known for sporting dresses onstage, seems to be withdrawing, embracing a more delicate, acid-dipped sound. Microcastle has only one rave-up, but it's a killer: 'Nothing Ever Happened.'
Read Full Review >PopMatters
By discarding the hazy ambience of "Cryptograms" and revealing their winsome heart, Deerhunter have rewarded those who applauded their bravery and may even convince the doubters that they are as significant an act as their fans have faithfully prognosticated.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
An intriguingly woozy melange of out-of-focus vocals, feedback squalls and metronomic beats, everything coming together just so on the compelling 'Nothing Ever Happened.' [Nov 2008, p.121]
Uncut
Much of this album sounds like its been stitched together from 4AD's finest moments. [Dec 2008, p.88]
Hot Press
Deerhunter's latest features more pop melodies and fuzzy soundscapes, forsaking the raw, intense sound we all love.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 44 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
mark o gave it a10:
Really a remarkable album; i would argue that this was my favorite of the decade.
Chris gave it a10:
A really awesome album that has made this band one of my favorites.
Tom P gave it a10:
A completely unique sound. No weak tracks anywhere on the album, and for me, slightly reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Arguably the best CD of 2008.
Nicholas gave it a7:
There are plenty of amazing sounds on this record, but throughout Deerhunter fail to take their concept and draw it out; compared with the repetitive and extended versions of songs in concert, this record is somewhat disappointing in that regard.
nas haq gave it an8:
Well this is unusual. A bit addictive after a few listens.
Pino gave it a10:
Simply the best album of the year.
rodnim gave it a5:
Please dont compare this to Loveless, they are Irish heroes.. this is emo drivel for the most part.
