Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts - M83
User Score
8.5 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 35
  3. Negative: 3 out of 35

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  1. GeorgeFK3
    Feb 2, 2004
    2
    Such a disappointment after the brilliance of their first album. This is their "Truman Show" whereas the first was "Wings of Desire". Too overproduced for my tastes.
  2. jeb
    Jul 1, 2004
    0
    I have no idea why so many people like this album. It has no dynamics. Everything is so formulaic and gimmicky. It's like they took Massive Attack, Radiohead and Death in Vegas and pressed the morph button. There's no soul or originality here at all. I like electronic music. I like all kinds of music but this is just disgusting. Everything's so formulaic. There's only the glint of marketing. I'm embarassed for all these tone deaf music critics. … Expand
  3. turtlehead
    Feb 21, 2006
    3
    every few months i will put this on again, attempting to figure out what exactly is so appealing about it. I can't believe every person who gave this a 9 or 10 would have were it not for the huge critical reception. I find it almost impossible to make it from one end of the album to the other. Despite it being synthesized organ tones, it somehow manages to be more abrasive -- probably a result of its one (1) dynamic -- than any punk or metal or noise I've heard. Nobody I know ever actually listens to this. M83 did a song called "slowly" that i love, a good party song, but this album just wallows. I just wanted to say, to anyone considering buying this, to listen to some of it first, because its not really relaxing, interesting, fun...it's huge synth organs with synth blips and bleeps. you've been warned. DO NOT believe the hype surrounding this album. if you want epic, get some godspeed, if transcendant, maybe johann johannsen or the soundtrack to 2001 or something. The rating of their follow-up album reflects how well the debut keeps, i think. Cut the gimmick loose.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Stylus Magazine
    90
    Although at times M83 evoke Jean-Michel Jarre or Air, this is far from being an album of Franco-synth by numbers; it is the layered, hypertextual futurism of My Bloody Valentine and Brian Eno which seeps through the electronic Gallic gauze as the most palpable influences.
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  2. No Ripcord
    90
    In Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, M83 have created an ethereal electronic masterpiece, and one which, thankfully, doesn't sound like a relic from the Warp Records back catalogue.
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  3. Pitchfork
    92
    Simply put, this album sounds absolutely huge, its relentless attention to detail eclipsed only by the stunning emotional power it conveys.
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