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Oct 29, 2013John Wizards contains a surplus of happiness spilling out all over the place, but there is also a haunting sadness on many of these tracks, one often turning on a dime into the other.
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MagnetSep 20, 2013This is music that's instantly, wordlessly evocative while also invitingly open-ended. [No. 102, p.57]
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Aug 30, 2013Its stylistic diversity can be off-putting at first. But the more you listen, the more it all comes together.
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Dec 3, 2013You'll be treated to one of the most exciting debuts of the year--a consistently surprising and joyous album, which only improves with each listen.
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MojoOct 16, 2013Every one of its 15 tracks brings something new to the table. [Nov 2013, p.90]
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Sep 20, 2013With John Wizards, Nzaramba and Withers have arrived.
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Sep 12, 2013For a jingle writer whose album is almost relentlessly upbeat, his music can cut surprisingly close to the bone.
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Aug 30, 2013It's guileless, naive music, with melodies that shyly curl up to you, or, as on glorious earworm iYoungwe, strut with the adorably ungainly confidence of juvenile mammals.
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Aug 30, 2013There’s a lot to like about this summer soundtrack packed to the left of your luggage.
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Aug 30, 2013If the sign of a good LP is no standout tracks then John Wizards is certifiably brilliant, a collage of brightly-coloured chamber pop where modern synths get a look-in too.
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Sep 3, 2013As it is now, John Wizards is an effortlessly fun, pan-global pop record that stands on its own, no qualification needed.
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Sep 3, 2013John Wizards is, to paraphrase the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss' opinion on animals, "good to think with." But that won't make people want to listen to it. What will is its hip diversity, sunny disposition, and the fact that Withers never asks more of his audience than he's willing to give: A man of contract, he puts his clients first.
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Sep 3, 2013There’s so much packed into these 15 lush, context-evading songs, though, that map references are pretty futile.
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Sep 3, 2013Whether John Wizards’ debut album has lasting power is impossible to know, but for the moment, they’ve wholly succeeded in at least making something to appreciate.
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Aug 30, 2013John Wizards is a sonic journey both geographically and temporally, without being an exercise in musical channel surfing.
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UncutAug 30, 2013While it's not a great record, the world would be a marginally better place if people were drooling over John Wizards rather than Vampire Weekend. [Sep 2013, p.90]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 4 out of 5
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Mixed: 0 out of 5
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Negative: 1 out of 5
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Sep 5, 2013