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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Sound-Dust
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Duphonic/Elektra/Asylum
Release Date: 28 August 2001
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock, Pop
Summary
This is the eighth full-length release for British art-pop ensemble. Not surprisingly, John McEntire and Jim O'Rourke co-produced the album, with additional contributions from Sean O'Hagan (The High Llamas).
Also By This Artist: Chemical Chords Fab Four Suture First of the Microbe Hunters Instant O In The Universe [EP] Margerine Eclipse
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...
PopMatters
Has a playful, at times otherworldly style which brings to mind children's fairy tales.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier's prettiest songs since '95's Music For The Amorphous Body Study Center. [Oct 2001, p.116]
Resonance
Shifts moods so radically that a single song rockets through a half-century of recorded music. [#32, p.59]
CDNow
An optimistic-feeling, playful record that recalls the jazzy-edged sunshine and beat pop of the '60s.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
An ingratiating return to form that benefits from Sean O'Hagan's eclectic, elastic arrangements.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
Laetitia Sadier's vocal melodies soar, so that even when you get two hints of classical minimalist Steve Reich in the first two tracks, there are still tunes to hum.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
The album is held back by their insistence on simple songs and simple vocals that keep the record earthbound and solely the province of the already converted.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Their best yet. [Sep 2001, p.120]
E! Online
Is a welcoming entrance for new fans as much as it is another fine chapter for the diehards.
Read Full Review >Neumu.net
Continuing an audio development from Dots and Loops, Sound-Dust is littered with a giddy array of hand percussion instruments — marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel stir up a polyrhythmic stew, its busyness and complexity sounding like the product of painstaking studio assemblage.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
A refreshing journey back to the plugged-in analog sound of early 'Lab albums. [Oct 2001, p.100]
The Wire
There's everything to like about this release, but nothing to grip or to enage the senses... Stereolab have now defined and refined themselves to a point where they are almost invisible. [#211, p.53]
Rolling Stone
Sound-Dust achieves a new peak in lush, lounge-friendliness for Stereolab.
Read Full Review >Nude As The News
A major rebirth, relegating the chirpy melodies to expedients, relying less on Sadier's monotone singing, and reaching for new formats within the group's formidable compositional skills.
Read Full Review >Splendid
Although Sound-Dust's revisionist zeal is mostly exhausted by the thirty minute mark, its spirit is alive and well in the album's streamlined production aesthetic. Rarely, if ever, are these songs muddied by an obvious surplus of musical ideas.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
A disappointment compared with their action-packed output of the late '90s. [Fall 2001, p.136]
Blender
This collection seems less pointlessly abstract than 1999's similarly staffed Cobra and Phases. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.130]
Spin
These airy confections of analog-synth purrs and Chicago brass and Laetitia Sadier's obliquely humanist lyrics are distinguishable from one another by tone palette more than by hooks or style. [Oct 2001, p.126]
Urb
Listeners hoping for a radical departure from previous outings may be disappointed to find that the disc doesn't necessarily break new ground... [Sep 2001, p.152]
Playlouder
Offers the sound of Stereolab doing what they do best. Love it or hate it, it won't alter the world, it just is.
Read Full Review >Armchair DJ
Much of the music's electronic undertow has receded, leaving Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen's airy melodies and counter-melodies stranded in gassy lounge-pop compositions that sound merely retro instead of retro-futuristic.
Read Full Review >Magnet
I don't know which Stereolab album is more nauseating: Sound-Dust or the last one. [#51, p.118]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.7 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jonathan G gave it a10:
By far Stereolab's most interesting and emotional work. Amazing structural development, with interesting polyrhythms. The brilliance of this is hidden just below the surface. Don't listen to the lazy critics who overlook this album.
Leonardo F gave it a10:
we'll miss you, mary.
Matt V gave it a 10:
my favourite album of all time...absolutely beautiful...
Garvin G gave it a 10:
Stereolab once again produces an incredible original sound that allows for the mind to soar.
SvenErik O gave it a 10:
In lieu of Mary's recent tragic death, Sound-Dust must be recognized as the greatest achievement of this lineup and as the most superbly crafted and enveloping of the groop's LPs.
Coob gave it a 9:
Can you believe Stereolab singer Mary Hansen in dead? I still can't believe it. They are such an innovative band and it is such a tragic loss. Anyhow, Sound-Dust is amazing. Check it out!
Dave B. gave it a 9:
c'est tout bon!
