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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Under the Blacklight
by Rilo Kiley
After dabbling in solo projects, the band regroups for its fourth album, produced by Jason Lader.
| LABEL: |
Warner Bros. |
| RELEASE DATE: |
21 August 2007 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rock, Indie |
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
The Onion (A.V. Club)
The L.A. quartet has returned with an album that's teeming with creatively executed ideas, to the point where it almost feels like the band was just using its first three albums to warm up.
100
Uncut
Under The Blacklight is by far and away the most accessible album that Rilo Kiley have ever made.
100
MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
Terse and beaty, with Dr. Dre referral Mike Elizondo going half on the baby, this isn't a pop record, but it does avoid guitar-band shapes, sonics and truisms.
94
Lost At Sea
Every one of the eleven songs attached to Blacklight is a stunner in purely musical terms.
90
Blender
Creamy and precise, every coo and arpeggio blows through your ear buds like the ruffle of crisp bills.
80
Spin
Lewis' wordplay smartly unspools over the course of a song--with 'Breakin' Up,' she creates a 'Since U Been Gone' for grown-ups, and on '15,' narrates an Internet jailbait vignette without melodrama or moralizing. [Sep 2007, p.132]
80
Billboard
Ultimately, the change in direction will likely raise a few eyebrows among some diehard fans, which isn't to say the songs here aren't noteworthy in their own right.
80
musicOMH.com
Long-term Rilo Kiley fans may take their time to warm to Under The Blacklight.... This sees them develop their sound and mature with it.
80
Q Magazine
On an album tat is filled with gems, Jenny Lewis is the crown jewel. [Sep 2007, p.85]
80
Slant Magazine
Some of these genre shifts work better than others, of course, but the record is so tightly constructed that nothing ever crashes and burns.
80
Rolling Stone
It's yet more adventurous, a prosperous band's challenge to its comfortable cult.
80
The New York Times
This album is a pleasant surprise disguised as an unpleasant one.
80
Mojo
This band brings a grubby beauty to a sound imbued with the insidious durability of the Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac. [Sep 2007, p.105]
70
Village Voice
Under the Blacklight is a brief and often bizarre record, jiggling with artificial rhythm and awash in backup singers imported from 1981.
70
Hot Press
Ahead of their Electric Picnic date, the LA rockers ditch their mainstream sheen on their fourth album.
70
Under The Radar
Under the Backlight is a confident, assured move by a band unafraid of distancing themselves from the indie rock mopers. [Summer 2007, p.76]
70
Prefix Magazine
Under the Blacklight is at once more ethereal that anything Rilo Kiley has ever managed previously.
70
All Music Guide
The rest of Under the Blacklight feels like the Jenny Lewis show and even if this album doesn't push Rilo Kiley to the top, it's hard to deny that it feels like the launching pad for her ascent into true stardom.
67
Entertainment Weekly
For the most part, Blacklight is far too flat to shine. [24 Aug 2007, p.130]
60
The Guardian
When Rilo Kiley stick to bittersweet pop, as on '15,' a country romp about underage sex, the results are engaging enough. But that marriage of extremes is hard to pull off, and on 'Breakin' Up' they get it horribly wrong.
60
Dot Music
Aside from whatever awaits Rilo Kiley if they discover, like Courtney Love before them, that deliberately setting the dial to AOR doesn't guarantee success--is the seam of graceless contrivance. Not just musically--but lyrically.
60
Observer Music Monthly
The remainder of their fourth album, however, has a familiar Midwestern chug, and is a gorgeous confection of girl-group soft rock and country-tinged balladeering.
51
Pitchfork
Either they're utterly serious about their flirtation with the mainstream or they're taking the piss with a wink. In both cases, the songs suffer a smothering slow death by context.
50
New Musical Express
Sadly, it's an isolated gem ['Dejalo'] that can't lift Under The Blacklight out of its dull AOR mire.
50
Alternative Press
Fans will love it, but if you're not already on board, this album won't change your mind. [Oct 2007, p.169]
50
PopMatters
A messy set of songs caught up in a fruitless search for some kind of thematic self-justification. If Under the Blacklight really was a concept album, then the concept was irretrievably flawed.
50
Stylus Magazine
The one thing you can't accuse Under the Blacklight of is being boring, but it abides by an either/or sort of mentality that presumes that a complete lack of substance is the only alternative to the kind of music Rilo Kiley and their pals made in 2002.
47
cokemachineglow
Yes, the beats are big and the sound is mainstream and commercial; however, the band sound restrained and uncomfortable.
40
NOW Magazine
What makes Under The Blacklight a true disappointment is the shoddy songcraft.
40
Under The Radar
The award for most disappointing album of the year (so far) gos without question to Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight. [Summer 2007, p.76]
40
Urb
The disc's most memorable moments come in the musical ideas left abandoned. [Sep/Oct 2007, p.130]
40
Hartford Courant
Lewis has tons of charisma--but it's a shame the shift in focus coincides with an album so superficial that her characters' hollow-eyed come-ons seem genuine by comparison.
The average user rating for this album is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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