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There’s a certain history-capturing aspiration here, as if the album's purpose wasn’t just for charity, to move records, or for Dessner to get together with his pals to compile an album but to provide a musical time capsule that in 20 years could allow younger generations to get into indie rock from the early 21st century. If that was how compilation albums were solely judged, Dark Was the Night would be the gold standard.
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As a document of the (musical) times, a beautiful, sundry package and admirable unification of today’s very finest towards a common goal, Dark Was The Night is unbeatable.
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Most of the artists have slipped into their most generic, polite, Obama-supporting personas. However this is not to say the album isn’t enjoyable and featuring so many high caliber artists, almost all the songs are good and some really hit the mark.
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Dark Was the Night comes off as a gray, monotone look at the current indie landscape and, as a result, works best in small batches.
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With every compilation, tracks are bound to fall flat. However, the turnover rate is relatively low, making Dark Was The Night so refreshing and ultimately a worthy purchase.
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The real point is that, as a compilation, Dark Was the Night far and away surpasses its predecessors-- even in an age when it should be irrelevant. Go buy it.
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It features top-shelf exclusive original and cover tracks by softer-side-of-indie acts currently riding a wave of relevance.
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Though some of the tracks contributed by Dark Was the Night's artists are a touch too predictable, it's uncharitable to nitpick too much when the collection offers so much music for such a good cause.
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This is the polite, less freaky end of modern American indie folk: earnest, well-intentioned, Obama-fundraising, National Public Radio-supporting... and cumulatively a little dull.
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The Red Hot Organization, an AIDS charity, always makes top-shelf comps, and their latest is a smart, indie-rock-minded who's who.
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Dark Was The Night is not a perfect album by any stretch of the imagination, although there is enough on offer here to warrant a purchase.
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Of 31 tracks, a few inevitably feel like throwaways; overall, though, it's a satisfying smorgasbord, and a nice fix for fans waiting on new records from indie stars like Arcade Fire, Yo La Tengo, and the Decemberists.
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The truth is, practically everything on Dark Was the Night is exceptionally well done. Even when they aren’t covering but contributing original recordings, everyone brings their A-game.
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All of these songs could stand alone on separate albums; it just so happens that this good music supports a good cause.
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The second, more hit-or-miss disc turns upbeat for three-chord (but verbally convoluted) songs about romance, then drifts back to indie introspection. Self-consciousness pervades all, but where would indie be without it?
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The Brothers Dessner have performed admirably here. Dark Was the Night does more than just keep the Red Hot tradition alive. It sets a new standard.
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This being a compilation, not everyone brings their A game—contributions from The Arcade Fire, Spoon, Iron And Wine, and Cat Power come off as disappointingly perfunctory and hastily sketched--but as a yearbook photo of the class of 2009, it should age remarkably well.
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Under The RadarBy any metrics, this latest compilation from AIDS/HIV awareness foundation Red Hot Organization is a great one. [Winter 2009, p.76]
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MojoWhile there is no quibbling with the noble sentiment behind this set, a more judicial selection policy might have established a unified aesthetic to eclipse some of the B-side material here. [Mar 2009, p.114]
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Q MagazineDespite such big hitters as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, it's an overly introspective affair, with little standing out bar contributions from The Decemberists and Dave Sitek. [Mar 2009, p.102]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 16
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Mixed: 0 out of 16
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Negative: 1 out of 16
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JesseM.Mar 17, 2009
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EricCFeb 25, 2009
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JimMFeb 23, 2009