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Hercules And Love Affair
EMAILPRINTby Hercules And Love Affair
Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 78 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Mute
Release Date: 24 June 2008
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Electronic, Dance
Summary
The debut album for the electronic group from New York.
Also By This Artist: Sidetracked
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
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...
musicOMH.com
It's the big numbers, when Hegarty steps up to the microphone, that reveal Hercules And Love Affair as a project that captures not only the full range of moods on a night out on the tiles, but also the full range of human emotions from the start of a night to its end.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
This is a winner in so many different ways; the music is impeccable, the sequencing is seamless, the production inhales and exhales life and the overall sound is killer.
Read Full Review >Observer Music Monthly
The hipper-than-thou trappings mean people are talking about H&LA, but it is the record itself which is a deft delight.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Lush, melancholic, gregarious, generous, both precise and a little bit unhinged--this is the most original American dance album in a long while.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
Hercules & Love Affair is a testament to the great foresight and control is required in a disco producer to keep the track from lunging into an abyss of low-blow kitsch, and to be able to stimulate the ears and feet at the same time.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
This record is as on disco and early house's dick as much as Britpop was on The Beatles' and The Kinks'.
Read Full Review >Urb
The songs are expertly arranged and succinct, staying away from the lengthy workouts of most of his DFA contemporaries. [Jul/Aug 2008, p.84]
All Music Guide
What really puts the album over the top as something else is not just its ideas-stuffed brevity (46 minutes in its original form), but its material not made explicitly for the club.
Read Full Review >The Phoenix
The rotating cast of vocalists and the Saturday-night spirit of the instrumentation are together more welcoming than anything the DFA has dropped in years.
Read Full Review >Filter
Butler and company have crafted a brilliant tribute to the glorious euphoria of getting down in the big city. [Summer 2008, p.96]
Almost Cool
Not only a one of the debuts of the year, but also one of the better releases in general, this self-titled debut from Hercules And Love Affair is worth picking up.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
By not reinventing the wheel, Hercules and Love Affair have surprised us with a great debut album. [Summer 2008]
Spin
DJ/Producer Andrew Butler mixes the poetic Apollonian aspects of queer culture with the Dionysian party represented by left-field disco and hypnotic early house, and crafts an unsettlung masterpiece that yearns and churns and ultimately pulls the rug from under your dancing feet. [June 2008, p.116]
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
Hercules and Love Affair is relentlessly listenable--Hercules's songs are too good to be classified as tributes--but it is nevertheless defined by the inspirational pull of a golden age that's gone.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
Hercules and Love Affair is a sincere and sumptuous stab at the mirrorball splendor of the 1970s.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
For now though, this is a very fine record. Not Herculean exactly, but certainly something that NME loves.
Read Full Review >Uncut
This is inventive harkening, not witless revivalism. [Apr 2008, p.90]
Village Voice
The party holds strong into the second half, where the comedown always muddles the songwriting a little. Surprise: Antony's dramatic ululations return to rescue the trawling sonics.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
It's a canny mix and results in Hercules And Love Affair making music for feet and heart, but also for the soul.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Hercules And Love Affair exist in that mighty unreal demimonde where dancing and art are not mutually exclusive. [Apr 2008, p.105]
Hot Press
Hercules And Love Affair may be a party, it may be a disco, but it sure ain't no foolin' around.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Hercules And Love Affair are at their best when they cut loose and damn the consequences. [Apr 2008, p.110]
Sputnikmusic
Hercules and Love Affair is a killer work from Butler, an album not meant to break down any barriers or start a revolution.
Read Full Review >The Wire
Rarely has an album exemplified the 'body and soul' paid so much lip service in House music so willingly. [Apr 2008, p.58]
Vibe
Of all the newish dance acts digging on vintage disco and chicago House, NYC-based Hercules & Love Affair boast the smartest cuts and most range. [June 2008, p.66]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
He knows when to kick disco into action and when to just kick back and listen.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
Yet as much joy as you can hear in Hercules and Love Affair, it’s impossible to separate the melancholy from the mix.
Read Full Review >Blender
This album is luxuriously, fantastically gay, a nod to the origins of disco, when the music was known for its queer fan base as much as anything else. [July 2008, p.73]
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
It’s 1980, honey. It’s always 1980 in here. Enjoy yourself; let yourself go.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
While it lasts, Hercules and Love Affair sound as original and exotic as their backgrounds.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 78 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bert K gave it a3:
Totally boring and flat production with horrible out of tune vocals. Nothing touching or emotional. Nowhere renovational. A real drag to get through. Cant believe why this gets such good reviews. I looked very much forward to this record :-(
Max M gave it a9:
Aweshum. The people who rated this 3 or 4 because it sounded like disco, you people are crazy. It's not really disco, it's somewhere between that and the late 80s Talking Heads. Original and fresh from start to finish. Antony's voice is fantastic. The best track, of course, is "Blind" -- give it a listen! Best album of 2008.
Murphy N gave it a10:
I am upset that people rated this album a 4 just because it sounds a little like disco. Voting this album low won't change the music! Hercules and Love Affair do something new with their tunes, and i think most will enjoy the fun times in this album!
Jeff C gave it a3:
I can't understand why this has gotten good reviews. This is annoying dance, disco with annoying singing. Yes, I am white and yes disco still sucks.
C H gave it a10:
What a great album. I love the transition about half-way through from technical disco ("You Belong", "Time Will") to something that's hard to describe...a slow, electrosynth version ("Iris" and "Easy") The layers of Hegarty's voice is amazing in this, and Cruz stands up fairly strong as well when being juxtaposed with a voice as unique as Hegarty's. Butler deserves all the credit in the world with the production on this, especially in "You Belong" and "Easy", which are highlights imo. Great album. My only complaint is that it gets progressively weaker after "Easy" imo.
John P. gave it a4:
Poor. Nothing except for Antony and some catchy-jazzy-funky tunes. I am sorry.
mr poopy gave it a9:
Just try to be still and listen to this. And lyrics? You can't rate this low just because you don't like the genre. Punk Disco Awesome.
