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Beware and Be Grateful
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Beware and Be Grateful Image
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Summary: Jason Cupp returns to produce the second album for the indie rock quartet from Chicago.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Slant Magazine
    Apr 16, 2012
    90
    A singular experience and one of the best albums of the year so far.
  2. CMJ
    Apr 18, 2012
    80
    [Beware And Be Grateful expertly fuses] the complex rock of the band's early EPs with elegant, polished pop.
  3. Sputnikmusic
    Apr 20, 2012
    80
    These 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.
  4. musicOMH.com
    Apr 13, 2012
    70
    Maps & 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.
  5. DIY Magazine
    Apr 20, 2012
    70
    Maps & 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.
  6. Exclaim
    Apr 17, 2012
    60
    The songs are engaging and incredibly catchy, but lack emotion ― that intangible quality that will take this feel-good record and give it staying power.
  7. Drowned In Sound
    Apr 13, 2012
    40
    Despite 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.

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. cwhaskell
    Apr 23, 2012
    9
    It's so fascinating to watch bands grow and develop with each new release. The incredibly gifted musicians that make up Maps & Atlases haveIt's so fascinating to watch bands grow and develop with each new release. The incredibly gifted musicians that make up Maps & Atlases have been breaking out of the math rock/art punk cocoon for a few years now, with each EP or full length being true for where they are stylistically at that exact moment in history. I celebrate their entire catalogue, and believe there will be several tracks on Beware and Be Grateful that endure the test of time. That said, I can't help but feel that this is their most transitory release yet. If an album released by a band in transition can maintain a 9 they're doing something right, and Maps & Atlases have, up to this point, always done that. More than anything I am excited to see what's next: if they continue with their Paul Simon 'Graceland' trend that has dominated their music of late, follow some of their other label mates with a more jam approach (see 'silver self'), or end up in the British indie invasion category (hinted at in Remote & Dark Years).… Expand