• Record Label: Anti
  • Release Date: Oct 1, 2013
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 13
  2. Negative: 1 out of 13
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  1. Sep 30, 2013
    90
    While it shouldn't be a surprise for a Dr. Dog album to be a beautifully crafted slice of psych-pop goodness, the magic of the band lies in its ability to consistently beguile listeners with a sound that shows all the mark of genuine craftsmanship, something B-Room delivers from start to finish.
  2. Uncut
    Oct 31, 2013
    80
    The rest of the album freewheels around American music with a virtuosity and spontaneity that belies the group's indie-rock roots. [Dec 2013, p.67]
  3. Magnet
    Oct 18, 2013
    80
    It all makes for what might be Dr. Dog's career-defining work. [No. 103, p.54]
  4. Oct 1, 2013
    77
    The changes seem to be more internal to the band’s processes and each member’s role as they branch out and record together, but that confidence in each other bleeds through in these songs.
  5. Oct 2, 2013
    72
    Dr. Dog is a fun, energetic and entertaining crew, but it speaks volumes that fish tacos still come to mind.
  6. Oct 24, 2013
    70
    The lyrics and vocal delivery are just as clever as the sonic landscape, and it seems as if this album might be the high-water mark for a band many will mistakenly write off as just another indie act.
  7. Oct 2, 2013
    70
    His delivery is raw, at times off-key, almost too rugged. Despite those lapses, the song retains the album’s overarching concept, which favors music in its most natural form.
  8. Under The Radar
    Oct 1, 2013
    70
    These tunes are ripe and ready for picking, the fruitful results of a band that grows infectious melodies by watering them with good instincts. [Aug-Sep 2013, p.89]
  9. 70
    It’s the sound of a knowing band reveling in what it does best. B-Room, which combines the scrappiness of the band’s earliest records with a matured sense of songcraft, is sure to please longtime Dr. Dog fans.
  10. Sep 30, 2013
    60
    The lesson should be that there are some great songs buried beneath all the studio trickery, and focusing on that would serve Dr. Dog much better next time out.
  11. Sep 30, 2013
    60
    Maybe it puts something of a low ceiling above its head by adhering too closely to the band’s recent efforts, but while little here stands out above other Dr. Dog records, the songs are still plenty good.
  12. Sep 30, 2013
    54
    Without outside direction, however, Dr. Dog quickly go back to their old ways. Afrobeat specialists Antibalas provide the horns on B-Room, but their talents are wasted on songs like "Long Way Down", the beginning of which sounds like the Wayne's World dissolve tuned to a baritone sax.
  13. Nov 15, 2013
    30
    B-Room is offensively inoffensive.
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Oct 1, 2013
    9
    A review by someone who just peruses the Dr. Dog catalog will say, "More of the same, good songs, but not compelling." I have listened to Dr.A review by someone who just peruses the Dr. Dog catalog will say, "More of the same, good songs, but not compelling." I have listened to Dr. Dog for years, seen them live five times and KNOW that they are great American songwriters.
    This album takes the familiarity and gives it a new life; the production and subject matter is the most diverse of any of their albums, resulting in what I would say is my new favorite Dr. Dog album.
    I hate when a band feels stagnant, like time hasn't passed, (Beach House, a prime example). Albums run together, songs lose their meaning. Dr. Dog has delivered an album that takes up its own place in the void of nameless indie-pop groups that all rely on new midi and drum machines sounds to differentiate themselves from the other voice identical to theirs.
    Dr. Dog finds a new voice with each album; the progress is essential.

    I always think of what the next album should look like, and I would love a total departure from past efforts for any band; Dr. Dog seems to take the next step naturally, reflecting the motions in life that pull us to a new personality or perspective.

    Keep it up.
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