New York City
by Brazilian Girls
  • Record Label: Verve
  • Release Date: Aug 5, 2008
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. AllMusic
    70
    With Brazilian Girls' sense of wonder and love of musical globe-trotting as strong as ever, New York City is a welcome return to form for this very special group.
  2. Billboard
    80
    On New York City, Brazilian Girls have crafted a set as internationally diverse as the Big Apple itself.
  3. Blender
    70
    Like the previous Brazilian Girls records, New York City is a lounge-y pileup of bossa rhythms and Old World romantic ache, girded by slithery push-button funk throb—at once refined and happily trashy.
  5. Boston Globe
    80
    The album bumps from electronica to cabaret to jazz and back again; it's busy but never feels schizophrenic.
  6. Hartford Courant
    80
    Thanks to their increasingly varied sound, the Girls remain aloof and unknowable. They have us right where they want us: behind the velvet ropes.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    75
    The foundation of the band's boutique pop isn't its cultural fluency but its daring to be substantially bizarre, which is often realized on New York City.
  8. Pitchfork
    72
    Brazilian Girls have no problem making their mish-mash sound downright normal, which in a way it is.
  9. PopMatters
    50
    The Brazilian Girls have constantly impressed folks because of their multiplicity, but the next step is finding a way to combining these elements in a subtle fashion to work as a complete album. New York City has taken many steps in that direction, but there is still work to be done for the band to carve its niche.
  10. Spin
    60
    these increasingly experimental Girls remain an appealingly peculiar party band. [Sept 2008, p.112]
  11. The A.V. Club
    75
    Such feel-good moments of abandon keep New York City from becoming too hopelessly chic, resulting in a party album that manages to sound grown and sexy without being alienating.
  12. The New York Times
    80
    The album’s surprises are glimpses of misgivings shared with the groove, like the keyboard obsessively jabbing one chord in 'Losing Myself' or the eerie track--tom-toms, fluttery organ notes, high “ahs”--behind 'I Want Out.'
  13. Under The Radar
    70
    As with previous efforts, the music's all over the place, grabbing from house, Afrobeat, chanson, and more, but you can always count on percussion loops, danceability, and Sciubba's sultry multilingual musings. [Fall 2008, p.79]
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  14. Urb
    50
    Brazilian Girl has the ability to give audiences a world band sound because of its mixture of different languages and live band sound. It also has a certain level of pop appeal.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. mozhead
    Nov 6, 2010
    8
    I just got this cd a week ago, though i had listened it previously and its really, really good...ive seen them twice touring for their firstI just got this cd a week ago, though i had listened it previously and its really, really good...ive seen them twice touring for their first two albums...and they always create a really good party vibe, but a smart one...and not in the pretentious way....i think they deserve more exposure....so come on people...one by one start enjoying the freshness of Brazilian Girls music!!!!!… Full Review »
  2. Jesseneuro
    Apr 17, 2018
    8
    Ten years after the release of this Grammy-nominated album (for best "dance recording", 2008) I'm compelled to throw down some verbiage on it,Ten years after the release of this Grammy-nominated album (for best "dance recording", 2008) I'm compelled to throw down some verbiage on it, after noticing that their newest album, released April 2018, is not gracing the Metacritic purview (it's called "Let's Make Love", and it, too, is better than good to GREAT, as in a solid 8. This BAND, somewhat like Blondie, are a band of mostly men each with one female lead singer and female-implied band name whose vocal charisma and style is signature to their sound, but unlike Blondie, they've had only some niche-success, and deliver a more "international" flavored musical palette. This happens to be my least admired Brazilian Girls album out of their now four, but it's still an 8 (or 8.4, to be exact). The album's highlights IMHO are 3 songs that haven't ceased to deliver fun, musically interesting, aural perfection, throughout the 10 year anniversary of its release, and the 3 nominees are: "Internacional", "Berlin", and "Ricardo".
    "Ricardo". And how interesting that they're considered to be an NYC-band, and I'm not sure when 3 out of the 4 members, the men, established residence in Istanbul, Paris, and Madrid, nor the extent of their fan-base in those cities and apparently quite a few more.    … Full Review »
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