1. Bdpenn

   9

   Love Remains is a haunting, beautiful listen -- definitely one of the best releases of the year. Tom Krell, aka How to Dress Well, transforms familiar R&B melodies into foggy memories of love that was possibly lost, but just as possibly may never have been. It's Lynchian in its whispers, crackles and sudden stops, and the lo-fi feedback makes it seem like an intergalactic communication trying in despair to reach earth. The record rewards more and more upon each listen and its highlights include: "You Wont Need Me Where I'm Goin", an upbeat R&B track in which Krell offers his girlfriend the fatalistic warning in the title; and the desperation and longing of "Suicide Dream 2" in which Krell's falsetto is put to ample and sustained use. Love Remains is really quite an inspirational listen -- a revelation of how the potentials in modern music continue to expand in seemingly disparate directions. Call it chillwave, lo-fi, dubstep or indie; I just call it a masterpiece.… Expand

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     2 of 3 users said yes
2. julian

   9

   A beautiful, hazy morning after to Burial's noirish Untrue, for methis is currenlty battling Salem's much more bombastic King Knight as the years most exciting debut and undoubtedly one of the best releases of the year. I think I'll find it hard to go past 'Ready For The World' as track of the year too, its gentle insistent wooziness has been whirling around my brain for a week now and doesnt seem to be able to find a way out. Dropping off some far corner of the dubstep map, somewhere close to where soul lives, Love Remains gradually reveals all manner of gorgeous vocal hooks and melodies in amongst a smog of distortion, low key ambience and mourning rumbling basslines. Like all the best new artists How to Dress Well reflects potent elements of modern music in a nevertheless unique paradigm. I can't imagine a track like the pulsating live version of 'Walking this Dumb' appearing on too many electronic albums - its the one point the ephemera solidifies. A sad, hypnotic, slightly odd and lovely record with mysteriously warped production and some of this years or any's most enigmatic pop. Far from the sculpted long player being destroyed by track oriented machine music, this year has seen flying lotus, gonjasufi, salem, crystal castles, caribou, pantha du prince and now How to Dress well all create fully realised, detailed, organic feeling albums. An indistinct, wistful vapor of an album, riven with nostalgia and yearning.… Expand

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     3 of 4 users said yes
3. WhiteCannon

   9

   It's always wonderful for anyone to delve into a new fusion of music, and it's even more so when it is done with excellence. Tom Krell's project is an excellent debut with consistent solid musicianship throughout the entire album. His abuse of reverb can sometimes seem of-putting, but it is more prudent to say that it adds to the music's somber tone. At times soulful, at other times heart-wrenching, Love Remains is a spectacular adventure for anyone who isn't a fidelity purist.… Expand

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     2 of 2 users said yes

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