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OK Cowboy
by Vitalic


8.7

based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 30 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

This is the full-length debut for French techno artist and DJ Pascal Arbez-Nicolas, best known for his 2001 single "La Rock 01" (which is included here).

LABEL:	Uncivilized World / Pias
RELEASE DATE:	21 February 2006
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Electronic

NOTES: Original European release 25 April 2005.

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...

Stylus Magazine

What makes OK Cowboy worthwhile is not a greater emphasis on the chilly tones that made Vitalic’s initial singles so impressive and characterized some of his savage DJ sets, but the demonstration of a surprising degree of variety and even humanity within those seemingly narrow colonnades of rising and whiplash synths over soulless, mechanical drums.

Dot Music

Beyond the grooves etched in this record, what is most exciting is the ease with which Arbez brushes aside the canon of 90s giants.

New Musical Express

This is an album that leaves you in absolutely no doubt that, at the very least, Pascal Arbez-Nicolas is the best thing to come out of France since Daft Punk. [30 Apr 2005, p.63]

Playlouder

A tour de force of infectious acid techno and head-rush-inducing electroclash and, as likely as not, this year's essential dance purchase.

Pitchfork

A record that's in the same league as Homework or Discovery.

Spin

While Vitalic may add little to electronic music or its various subgenres, he interweaves effortlessly their prevailing styles into complex arrangements that are neither kinked-up innovation nor neutered homage.

Village Voice

Listening to it from start to finish is so bracing it's overwhelming; it sounds like what it would feel like to drink six cups of black coffee chased down with a bucket of ice water.

All Music Guide

OK Cowboy is a full-fledged album, with a satisfying ebb and flow that shows that Arbez's sound has several sides to it.

The Guardian

This debut album took three years to make and could almost be his greatest-hits collection. It's a cracker, too; all clean, punchy metal beats and blistering, drunken synth lines in the finest italo-disco style.

Uncut

Arbez not only shatters the risible notion that dance music is currently unwell, he also presents thrilling new ways of approaching pop, folk and rock'n'roll. [May 2005, p.100]

Urb

You could buy this album just for "Poney Part 1," and really, it'd be worth it. [Jun 2005, p.81]

Entertainment Weekly

A wicked, old-school set of club-ready, throw-your-hands-up electronica. [10 Mar 2006, p.69]

cokemachineglow

Turns out that OK Cowboy is a good deal like the better house sets you’ll hear at a take-your-pick hot-house European club: pretty exhilarating, though once you’re licking the dry salt off your partner’s cheek you realize that only parts of it are truly inspiring, though all of it was pretty hottt.

The Wire

A sound thrumming with bold analogue synthesizers and beefy rock drums. [#254, p.67]

Q Magazine

Sound[s] like out-takes from [Daft Punk's] Discovery. [Jun 2005, p.118]

The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Cramer C gave it a10:
so deeply high!

Phil J gave it a0:
Seriously overrated. Uninspired, boring and annoyingly cheesy. Astonished at how much attention this has received. Matmos and Isolee’s albums are far superior.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
I don't really get the Daft Punk comparisons people are making. This sounds nothing like Daft Punk (who I also adore). Vitalic's sound is much more visceral. I have a new favorite track everytime i listen. One of the standout house albums of last year (er, this year for those who didn't import).

rasta h gave it a9:
Very artisticly expressed techno sound. Really something alternative in the eletronic scene. It even gets better with every listening session.

vinny gave it a9:
pretty impressed this one! saw him live in osaka last year, one of my bests gig ever!!! album is spun out. lovin repair machines and poney part 2!

Brett N gave it an8:
My Friend Dario and Newman good tunes

OK Cowboy by Vitalic

OK Cowboy
by Vitalic