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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
Universal acclaim
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 23 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Mute / EMI
Release Date: 27 July 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Electronic
Summary
The second release from French electronica duo M83 takes shoegaze classics such as 'Loveless' as an inspiration, with synths taking the place of guitars.
Also By This Artist: Before The Dawn Heals Us Saturdays=Youth
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...
Pitchfork
Simply put, this album sounds absolutely huge, its relentless attention to detail eclipsed only by the stunning emotional power it conveys.
Read Full Review >Filter
There's an organic component that coexists along with the machines, giving them a warmth few acts have been able to unearth. [#11, p.93]
All Music Guide
M83 is a keyboard band of the best kind: one with nuance, tone, thrash, and color.
Read Full Review >Urb
Immersive and woozy, brittle yet supple, a twittering, throttling piper of spectral drones. [Jul/Aug 2004, p.126]
Stylus Magazine
Although at times M83 evoke Jean-Michel Jarre or Air, this is far from being an album of Franco-synth by numbers; it is the layered, hypertextual futurism of My Bloody Valentine and Brian Eno which seeps through the electronic Gallic gauze as the most palpable influences.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
In Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, M83 have created an ethereal electronic masterpiece, and one which, thankfully, doesn't sound like a relic from the Warp Records back catalogue.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Few artists can master the trick of capturing ambience and atmosphere without resorting to cliche. M83 are among the few.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
The whole much greater than its parts, Dead Cities is creation imbued and then muted again.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
While I don't think that it's quite the groundbreaking release that many have given it credit for, there are definitely moments during the 12-track release that I feel like the group has cracked into something unique and downright amazing.
Read Full Review >Magnet
That [M83] achieve My Bloody Valentine beauty through antiquated analog rigs is an achievement in itself. [#64, p.100]
Under The Radar
A Herculean instrumental epic of beautiful depth, staggering grandiosity and extraterrestrial soundscapes. [#7]
ShakingThrough.net
Dead Cities reinforces the French pair's penchant for distorted vocals and cheesy synthesizers, but the tracks here ultimately add up to far less than the sum of their assorted parts.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
As monumental as Dead Cities sounds in parts, its uniformity proves oppressively stirring after just a few tracks.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
turtle head gave it a3:
every few months i will put this on again, attempting to figure out what exactly is so appealing about it. I can't believe every person who gave this a 9 or 10 would have were it not for the huge critical reception. I find it almost impossible to make it from one end of the album to the other. Despite it being synthesized organ tones, it somehow manages to be more abrasive -- probably a result of its one (1) dynamic -- than any punk or metal or noise I've heard. Nobody I know ever actually listens to this. M83 did a song called "slowly" that i love, a good party song, but this album just wallows. I just wanted to say, to anyone considering buying this, to listen to some of it first, because its not really relaxing, interesting, fun...it's huge synth organs with synth blips and bleeps. you've been warned. DO NOT believe the hype surrounding this album. if you want epic, get some godspeed, if transcendant, maybe johann johannsen or the soundtrack to 2001 or something. The rating of their follow-up album reflects how well the debut keeps, i think. Cut the gimmick loose.
Emil T gave it a10:
beautiful not-heard-before masterpiece
Don T gave it a10:
Amazing pure genius.
Andrei R gave it a10:
Original, evocative, deep, a long-lasting pleasure, truly fantastic!
steve o gave it a10:
Most Breathetaking Electro Album ever. Cleary album of the year
Terrence O gave it a 10:
simply the most beautiful electronic music ever
wes p gave it a 9:
as john milton went blind from pursuing his life's passion; creating a flawless epic so do m83 on this record.
