Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
Alberta Cross
70
The Album Leaf
69
Alkaline Trio
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
50
Athlete
82
Beach House
81
The Besnard Lakes
65
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64
Dan Black
75
Mary J. Blige
75
Blockhead
79
Blood Red Shoes
70
David Bowie
64
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72
Broken Bells
65
V.V. Brown
72
The Brunettes
71
Basia Bulat
78
Carolina Chocolate Drops
79
Johnny Cash
79
Chew Lips
82
Chicago Underground Duo
79
The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76
Citay
66
Clem Snide
77
Clipd Beaks
78
Clogs
66
Cold War Kids
75
Easton Corbin
80
Crazy Heart
70
Jamie Cullum
66
Fyfe Dangerfield
72
Delphic
64
Dinowalrus
78
Drive-By Truckers
59
Editors
71
Eels
70
Efterklang
81
Eluvium
82
Erland And The Carnival
57
Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63
Excepter
78
Field Music
76
First Aid Kit
68
Josephine Foster
82
Four Tet
71
Nils Frahm
74
Freeway & Jake One
75
Frightened Rabbit
82
Fucked Up
64
Peter Gabriel
79
Charlotte Gainsbourg
80
Galactic
67
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73
Ernest Gonzales
59
Good Shoes
79
Gorillaz
70
Adam Green
79
Patty Griffin
76
Groove Armada
67
H.I.M.
43
Hadouken!
73
Harvey Milk
68
Juliana Hatfield
66
Jimi Hendrix
88
High On Fire
80
Hot Chip
66
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
76
Jaga Jazzist
76
Jaheim
70
jj
79
Freedy Johnston
54
Nick Jonas And The Administration
57
Ke$ha
66
Alicia Keys
74
The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63
Lady Antebellum
65
Dawn Landes
82
Lawrence Arabia
74
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82
Liars
72
Lightspeed Champion
37
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
68
Little Boots
75
Local Natives
75
Los Campesinos!
67
Lostprophets
65
Ludacris
73
Magnetic Fields
74
Massive Attack
58
Katherine McPhee
66
Daniel Merriweather
76
Pat Metheny
72
Midlake
64
Holly Miranda
79
Allison Moorer
83
Motion City Soundtrack
53
Mudvayne
65
Mumford & Sons
55
Never Shout Never
85
Joanna Newsom
81
Scout Niblett
74
Nneka
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
71
Omarion
77
Owen Pallett
84
Pantha du Prince
77
Past Lives
84
Pavement
78
Phantogram
65
Pit Er Pat
86
Polar Bear
64
Priestess
67
Quasi
77
Corinne Bailey Rae
71
The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81
Fionn Regan
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
57
Martin Rev
64
Rjd2
65
Rogue Wave
82
Jack Rose
76
The Ruby Suns
78
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
77
Shearwater
69
Blake Shelton
84
Shining
68
Shout Out Louds
80
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
63
Ringo Starr
68
Story Of The Year
71
The Strange Boys
77
Strong Arm Steady
79
Surfer Blood
60
Tape Deck Mountain
82
These New Puritans
71
Robin Thicke
76
Tindersticks
81
Titus Andronicus
72
Toro Y Moi
63
Josh Turner
81
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63
The Watson Twins
69
We Are Wolves
66
Kanye West
64
Wetdog
51
The Whigs
67
White Hills
79
The White Stripes
72
The Whitefield Brothers
68
Wu-Tang Clan
75
Xiu Xiu
78
Yeasayer
73
You Say Party! We Say Die!
63
Young Money
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Wet From Birth
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Saddle Creek
Release Date: 14 September 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Electronic
Summary
Mike Mogis produced this fourth album for the dance-inducing Nebraska indie rockers. Azure Ray's Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor add vocals on several tracks.
Also By This Artist: Fasciinatiion
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site Saddle Creek
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...
Junkmedia
A near perfect record that will have The Rapture,!!!, and every other dance punk band looking over their collective shoulders.
Read Full Review >Filter
Where it seemed the individual songs on Danse Macabre filled out and stretched the seams of its pop confines, Wet From Birth proposes a more intricate and ambitious space. [#12, p.93]
Entertainment Weekly
The Faint have grown beyond being the mere genre revivalists they were on 2001's Danse Macabre. [17 Sep 2004, p.76]
Alternative Press
Another strong outing. [Oct 2004, p.148]
Urb
Grabs you from the opening seconds with a best-of-all-worlds combination of gritty, menacing music and witty, hilarious lyrics. [Nov 2004, p.99]
Under The Radar
One of the most commanding and exciting albums you'll hear all year. [#7]
Rolling Stone
Not just a dance-rock band anymore, The Faint unveil a strong song sense with tunes as richly imagined, well-written and arresting as their titles. [14 Oct 2004, p.96]
Mojo
This is well-muscled, heavily mascara'd dance music. [Sep 2004, p.99]
New Musical Express
The Faint continue to ensure that across the pond there's an infinitely sexier state of dance-rock affairs. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]
Q Magazine
They still sound best when playing fast and loud and are only hampered by the album's terrible title and some bizarre lyrics. [Oct 2004, p.123]
Village Voice
Their tracks are consistently both catchy and punky enough to make your lip sneer.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Wet From Birth is generally strongest when the beats-per-minute run high... but a few of the slower tracks showcase The Faint's growing way with melody.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Might not be enough to convince disbelievers, but to fans, it’s a gratifying addition to an already impressive repertoire.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Where the Faint falls short, though, is its lack of daring; even with the welcome addition of strings (apropos of its cinematic live show) and varying styles, "Wet From Birth" sounds contained and merely likeable.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Even though Wet from Birth occasionally gets tripped up on its own ambitions, it still has its share of enjoyable tracks.
Read Full Review >Blender
Perspiration trumps inspiration, as madly sawing strings and short-circuiting robot bleeps compensate for the lack of hooks. [Oct 2004, p.120]
Playlouder
It's a clever, chic and defiantly underground record, alright, but it's guilty of trying too hard when clearly it doesn't need to.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chris D gave it an8:
I hope Pete B is aware that even if 'the bourgeoisie of all albums' was spelt right AND actually meant something, it would probably be a bad thing, e.g. middle of the road or something. Which this album is not, luckily. I'd say not totally consistent, but mostly a great listen. Paranoiattack is particularly incredible. Kudos!
Pete B gave it a10:
This is a master piece. Cult classic. The Burgiosie of all albums. A MUST record to listen to. If you only ever listen to one ablum ever, this is the one!
Justdarin JD gave it a10:
Amazing! You’ve changed my prospective on music!
Ben D gave it an8:
While I do like the album, I can't help being nervous about the direction that The Faint is heading. Instead of keyborards being the main attraction, the band relies mostly on guitar, strings, and bass to drive most of the songs with the only memorable keyboard part occuring on "Parinoiattack". I can only hope the the band will go back and listen to Blank-Wave Arcade and Danse Macabre and realize how awsome these albums were.
ethan d gave it a 7:
The Faint is succumbing to the popularity of the saddle creek label in compromising their original sound on this disc... it is a good disc, but i fear that their next release will be a disaster if they continue to change their sound.
mike m gave it a 10:
A Masterpiece. Socio-politcal commentary matched with orginal punk-tronica dance core licks...it just cant be beat
