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NakedSelf - The The
Metascore
75 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
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  1. Spin Cycle
    100
    The wildly disparate influences and sensibilities mesh to great effect on this stunning album.
  2. Checkout.com
    90
    On Naked Self, Johnson hasn't let up one bit. His tongue is as sharp as ever, and his songs show that updating one's style doesn't have to mean dressing in this year's airwave fashions.
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Pitchfork
    82
    NakedSelf once again finds Matt Johnson in his element, tackling issues of alienation, global corruption, and urban squalor and decay with potent, more succinct lyrics and some of his most affecting melodies in ages.
  4. Q Magazine
    80
    Though rockier in parts than any of his previous work, this 12-track set houses some of Johnson's most impressive songwriting to date.
  5. Mojo
    80
    The winnowing, soul-pop sheen of the hit-yielding Soul Mining and Infected is long gone, replaced by an overall grungey, corrosive edge which indicates that Johnson bought up every last piece of analogue gear in town.
  6. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    Recorded with a Luddite's zeal- no keyboards, samplers, sequencers - he's... managed to document the clanking claustrophobia of modern life.
  7. Billboard
    70
    There's a refreshing lack of samplers, loops, and unnecessary electronic ephemera here... [s]olid from beginning to end...
  8. MTV.com
    70
    Gone is the sweeping piano and oozing horns of previous albums. Gone too is the pop sensibility that permeated Dusk, Mind Bomb, Soul Mining, and others. Matt Johnson has never been a pop artist, but he can craft amazing melodies. However, Johnson has hit a new level of menace here, like he's become a subterranean dweller since 1993. It's musically more free form and grittier. This takes some adjustment.
  9. Wall of Sound
    64
    NakedSelf feels more like a transition than a treatise, like a little bit less when more is actually called for.
  10. All Music Guide
    60
    A hit-and-miss affair.
  11. Rolling Stone
    60
    NakedSelf finds him returning to the slow-burn industrial grind of his best work.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 2 out of 9
  1. ScottM.
    3
    Melody and harmony are almost completely absent. Some of the lyrics are embarrassing ("Kentucky fried genocide" deserves to be repeated?).
  2. StillCloser
    9
    It seems that Matt Johnson was a little bit tired of commercial songs and fall back to his roots. The album is a little hard to grab at a first hearing. Like almost all Matt's albums, it grows up everytime we heard it. It seems the perfect soundtrack for George Orwell's 1984.… Full Review »
  3. KyanL
    10
    This album is awesome. I loved it the first time I heard it. True The The fans will appreciate this album the most.
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