> Switch to Advanced Search

New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

55 3 Doors Down
69 9th Wonder & Buckshot
69 Adele
70 Adem
75 Alkaline Trio
78 Animal Collective
64 Anti-Flag
69 The Apples In Stereo
54 Ashanti
69 Atmosphere
67 The Black Angels
77 The Black Keys
83 Bonnie "Prince" Billy
75 Boris
71 Billy Bragg
74 The Breeders
47 The Brian Jonestown Massacre
83 Bun B
64 T Bone Burnett
65 Mariah Carey
87 Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
68 The Charlatans
68 Clinic
72 Coldplay
78 The Constantines
79 The Cool Kids
78 Elvis Costello & The Impostors
60 The Courteeners
79 Cut Copy
53 Craig David
73 Death Cab For Cutie
47 Def Leppard
61 Gavin DeGraw
66 dEUS
79 Neil Diamond
63 Dirty Pretty Things
57 Disturbed
59 Does It Offend You, Yeah?
73 Dresden Dolls
69 Dub Pistols
71 Duffy
68 The Duke Spirit
81 Jakob Dylan
79 Earlimart
70 Ecstatic Sunshine
65 El Perro del Mar
82 Elbow
85 Alejandro Escovedo
73 Estelle
72 The Explorers Club
79 The Fall
54 Feeder
72 Firewater
77 Tim Fite
88 Fleet Foxes
79 Flight Of The Conchords
74 Foals
79 Robert Forster
75 Four Tet
47 Foxy Brown
64 The Fratellis
59 Free Kitten
71 French Kicks
79 Frightened Rabbit
73 The Futureheads
68 The Gossip
81 Al Green
51 G-Unit
72 Ed Harcourt
79 Emmylou Harris
82 HEALTH
59 Heloise And The Savoir Faire
85 Hercules And Love Affair
77 John Hiatt
65 Vanessa Hudgens
77 James Hunter
70 Islands
69 Jewel
79 Joan As Police Woman
71 Joan Of Arc
58 Scarlett Johansson
69 John & Jehn
59 Judas Priest
75 Kidz In The Hall
71 Fern Knight
65 The Kooks
69 Lady Antebellum
74 Ladytron
65 Langhorne Slim
77 The Last Shadow Puppets
67 Cyndi Lauper
66 Les Savy Fav
64 Leona Lewis
72 Jamie Lidell
71 Lil Mama
83 Lil Wayne
72 Local H
73 The Long Blondes
80 Los Campesinos!
45 Los Lonely Boys
66 Lyrics Born
69 M83
65 Madonna
74 Man Man
79 Aimee Mann
80 Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
67 Mates Of State
79 Matmos
80 James McMurtry
70 Colin Meloy
71 Midnight Juggernauts
65 Kylie Minogue
63 Moby
63 Alanis Morissette
69 Van Morrison
57 Motley Crue
66 Jason Mraz
74 The M's
79 Mudcrutch
77 Mudhoney
49 The Music
71 My Brightest Diamond
70 My Morning Jacket
64 N.E.R.D. [The Neptunes]
76 The Night Marchers
66 Nine Inch Nails
77 Nine Inch Nails
78 No Age
80 Jim Noir
76 The Notwist
54 The Offspring
72 Old 97's
87 Opeth
59 The Orb
62 James Pants
48 Katy Perry
71 Phantom Planet
84 Sam Phillips
56 The Pigeon Detectives
72 Plies
69 Robert Pollard
83 Ponytail
85 Portishead
65 The Proclaimers
75 Prodigy [of Mobb Deep]
71 Pyramids
79 R.E.M.
48 The Rascals
86 Robyn
72 The Rolling Stones
79 The Roots
48 Gavin Rossdale
72 Russian Circles
66 RZA
76 Santogold
86 Shearwater
81 Sigur Rós
78 Silver Jews
60 Carly Simon
62 Ashlee Simpson
76 Sloan
73 Sam Sparro
77 Spiritualized
89 Steinski
75 Subtle
66 Donna Summer
81 Sun Kil Moon
66 Supergrass
71 The Sword
61 Tapes 'n Tapes
64 Three 6 Mafia
76 Thrice
76 Tilly And The Wall
64 The Ting Tings
51 Tokio Hotel
67 Tokyo Police Club
65 Usher
76 Vetiver
69 The Virgins
76 Martha Wainwright
75 Was (Not Was)
67 The Watson Twins
64 We Are Scientists
65 The Wedding Present
64 Weezer
76 White Denim
81 Cassandra Wilson
88 Dennis Wilson
61 Steve Winwood
78 Wolf Parade
63 The Zutons

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Last Exit
by Junior Boys


8.2

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 40 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

So This Is Goodbye

KIN Site

This is the first full-length release from the hard-to-pin down Canadian synth-pop trio led by Jeremy Greenspan.

LABEL:	KIN / Domino
RELEASE DATE:	21 September 2004
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Electronic, Indie, Dance, Pop

NOTES: Original UK release 7 June 2004. The 9/04 U.S. release on Domino includes a short bonus disc with remixes.

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...

100

Uncut

It's hard to believe there will be a better record than Last Exit released this year. [Jul 2004, p.102]

Spin

They do it better [than the Postal Service]--catchier songs, chillier production and more sophisticated beats. [Nov 2004, p.118]

Mojo

Tender dream-pop which is simulataneously familiar and novel. [Aug 2004, p.96]

New Musical Express

It's thrillingly obvious that Junior Boys have made one of the year's best albums. [31 Jul 2004, p.41]

Dusted Magazine

Last Exit is a truly excellent album, one of the best of 2004 so far. But what is truly exciting is the promise Last Exit holds for the future – for that of the Junior Boys themselves and the countless others it is sure to inspire.

Drawer B

Last Exit is a monumental debut... on par with It’s My Life or Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

Stylus Magazine

There isn’t a single mis-step on Last Exit.

Blender

Presents a rarity--a genuinely new sound. [Nov 2004, p.136]

PopMatters

Last Exit, while being one of the year's most cutting-edge releases, is, most importantly, a warm, friendly, entirely accessible pop album.

All Music Guide

If you like your pop a little left of center and found the Postal Service to be too cute and syrupy, your fix is here.

Pitchfork

Greenspan... manages to fold elements of nearly a quarter-century of forward-looking pop into a distinct sound without sounding either conceptual or trading on contradictions or the smoke-and-mirrors of attention-grabbing eclecticism.

cokemachineglow

It is indeed a soaring achievement, one seemingly without missteps.... In fact, the only drawback of an album this expertly executed is its smoothness.

Entertainment Weekly

Supple, stylish electro-pop so cool it makes glaciers jealous. [24 Sep 2004, p.106]

Q Magazine

It's '80s synth-pop in spirit rather than form, miles away from the make-up clad silliness of electroclash and much more interested in muching about with present day technology than simply recreating the past. [Jun 2004, p.98]

The Guardian

In different hands, some of the songs might be butterscotch-smooth MOR but Jeremy Greenspan's voice never loses its neurotic edge.

ShakingThrough.net

Last Exit is noteworthy for taking on a sound that's easy to screw up (emoting over synthetic beats) and actually making it work.

Urb

But wait, you say you're sick of disingenuous irony? Well so are we, which is why Junior Boys is such an astounding relief, boarding on rapturous in their melancholy. [Jul/Aug 2004, p.125]

Tiny Mix Tapes

What keeps Last Exit grounded is the laid-back approach to the vocals and beats.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Junior Boys makes hushed, blippy dance music with a contemporary sensibility, as though Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark had been continuously recording since 1980.

Almost Cool

Your tolerance level for the group will probably mostly have to do with how well you can stand the rather light vocal stylings and the sometimes lighter-electronics programming.

Dot Music

This is music that sounds like it was plotted by sad psychics graduates in lab coats. It's clean, melancholic and sterile (in a totally non-derogatory sense) - full of gently undulating rhythms and melodic pulses.

Junkmedia

What worries me about the obviously talented Junior Boys is their tendency to round their corners. The music is so safe, so pleasant; it's not hard to imagine it in the Starbucks CD rotation without raising an eyebrow.

Rolling Stone

Elegant tech-house, sexy without being stoopid. [28 Oct 2004, p.100]

The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 40 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Hugo T. gave it a9:
It does sound bit cold but its more of dark ambient atmosphere...I dont see anything wrong on that! That's the way they told their story, I accepted and found this CD totally admirable! Everyone should spent more time with this one. Start with 'Teach me how to fight'!

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Overall it's great. The minimal production adds much-needed sheen and elegance to the tired synth-pop formula, and parts, like the beautiful sighs of the title track, take your breath away. But the juxtaposition of quiet, breathy vocals and almost dancefloor-oriented beats sometimes creates an uncomfortable juxtaposition; it's almost as if there's no perfect place to listen to this record. I'd love for this to be a record to listen to quietly with headphones in the dark, but the sudden stabs of synth often jar me out of the state of total relaxation I feel the album is trying to create. However, the second disc from the US version is absolutely sublime: Unbirthday clears away layers from the original birthday, stripping it down to its beautiful core, and the two remixes are the finest songs I've heard in 2004. So that's an 8 for the first disc and a 10 for the second.

Bobby K. gave it a10:
Fantastic. Minimal, electronic with depth and emotion.

Mycroft W. gave it a10:
Absolutely fantastic and I liked the follow-up even better.

Ben C gave it a3:
just really, really really dull - can't understand why it got such good reviews when there is so much more interesting (electronic) music out there.

Reuben F gave it a3:
Being very introspective music, it is important to like the soul that is communicating to u - I don't. He sounds depressed, weak, timid, cold, pathetic and alienated from humanity. As for the music, it might be beautiful if they would only build the tempo up into an uplifting chorus, but they never do. Maybe I just lack an appreciation for minimalist synth-pop?

matt a gave it a9:
S. Gold can drink my liquid gold. Sorry, that was cheesy. But still, you are a fool. This isn't Joe Pernice dude. Lyrics are not what makes the song in this case; it's all about the smoothness and chilled-out danceablilty of the production. Definitely one of the ten best albums of 2004 and still souds amazing two years later.

Last Exit by Junior Boys

Last Exit
by Junior Boys