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Apr 16, 2012A singular experience and one of the best albums of the year so far.
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Apr 17, 2012Overall, Beware And Be Grateful strikes a more satisfying balance of post-rock creativity and songcraft.
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Apr 20, 2012These aren't ferocious songs and they aren't always playing with everything on the forefront, and it's compelling to see that; the band has rounded up the edges of their songs and put them into the ground.
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Apr 18, 2012The quartet knows the difference between a hook and lick, and applies that knowledge liberally on this extremely likable set of clever summery pop songs.
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Apr 18, 2012[Beware And Be Grateful expertly fuses] the complex rock of the band's early EPs with elegant, polished pop.
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Apr 13, 2012Wonky yet warm, it's an accomplished balancing act from an ever-growing band.
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Apr 18, 2012Maps & Atlases are at their best when they push themselves furthest from their comfort zone.
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Apr 17, 2012Beware and Be Grateful's main flaw: an occasional quirk overload.
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Under The RadarJul 9, 2012It may not stay in rotation for long, but this is music for long-term packing. [Jun 2012, p.154]
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Apr 26, 2012Of all releases, their latest is the most cohesive, lucid, and interpretable.
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Apr 20, 2012Maps & Atlases have carved for themselves a neat little niche in the indie rock world. And we should be grateful for that, rather than having another generic album, and be interested to see where the band goes next.
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Alternative PressApr 17, 2012While it may not achieve the same sort of emotional depth fellow math-rockers Foals have, it would still be wise to follow them in whatever they go. [May 2012, p.81]
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Apr 13, 2012Maps & Atlases have produced an album with some real bite. It's a collection of tracks that needs proper digestion in order to pick through the intricate layering and amalgam of styles that mix the band's longstanding math influences with a clear inclination towards African rhythms.
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Apr 18, 2012"Old Ash" and "Silver Self" bring to mind Paul Simon's Graceland, each song incorporating that same infectious shuffle and giddy exuberance that made Simon's world rhythms so compelling. And yet, that makes Beware and Be Grateful all the more confounding, given that some of their melodies seem on the verge of a disconnect.
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Apr 17, 2012The songs are engaging and incredibly catchy, but lack emotion ― that intangible quality that will take this feel-good record and give it staying power.
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Apr 16, 2012An honest and admirable collection that merits some attention.
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Apr 16, 2012They sound like too much like themselves and too much like the others, and even if you discount the pinpoint instrumentation, it's depressingly calculated.
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Apr 16, 2012Beware and Be Grateful, as pleasant a listen as it may be, carries with it a feather's weight, and that usually equates to an album with little staying power.
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Apr 16, 2012What's missing is any emotional contrast to stop all that cleverness from sounding overwhelming.
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Apr 13, 2012Despite all the kooky, twee melodies that make up Beware And Be Grateful, despite the glossy production and multitudinous fragments of ideas that feature on it, even despite the fact that it's hard to think of another band that Maps & Atlases particularly sound like (maybe Grizzly Bear, a bit), this album fails the ultimate test – it's no fun.