• Record Label: Warp
  • Release Date: Feb 5, 2013
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 24
  2. Negative: 0 out of 24
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  1. Feb 12, 2013
    80
    Musically it’s a subdued affair, but there are echoes of the dancefloor euphoria mixed with relentless paranoia drifting in and out throughout the song’s duration, conjuring up images of the long walk home from an unsuccessful night clubbing.
  2. Feb 7, 2013
    80
    What an unexpected treat.
  3. Mojo
    Feb 6, 2013
    80
    News From Nowhere boosts the levels of electronic warmth, Buttery's unassuming presence adding an extra level of lushness rather than dominating events. [Mar 2013, p.90]
  4. Feb 5, 2013
    80
    This album trades in bleakness, but there’s beauty in it.
  5. Feb 4, 2013
    80
    Like all good pop, News From Nowhere is brief, never falling victim to the temptation to get lost in soundscaping. Instead, it builds those immersive realms in just a few minutes with each track.
  6. Feb 4, 2013
    80
    What all the songs on News From Nowhere have in common is a baffling, mystical elegance, both independently and, to an even greater extent, within the flow of the record.
  7. A twinkling set of songs that benefits from Wild Beasts soundman Richard Formby’s gossamer production touch.
  8. Feb 4, 2013
    80
    News From Nowhere is an album which blossoms over the course of its running time.
  9. Feb 7, 2013
    79
    It’s as carefully and intricately produced as anything the group has managed to date, but with a blinding vibrancy added to its tonal pallet and outlook.
  10. Feb 19, 2013
    70
    News From Nowhere marks a far more dramatic turn for them than North did in 2010.
  11. 70
    At 40 minutes, this is an easily digestible, at times highly enjoyable and always playfully inventive listen.
  12. Feb 8, 2013
    70
    Nowhere is safe--still beautiful and executed to perfection, but safe.
  13. Feb 8, 2013
    70
    Setting aside the occasional meandering instrumental break, there are enough genuinely charming and well-crafted songs here that you can sort of understand what they're aiming at.
  14. Feb 6, 2013
    70
    The impressions made are that the sublime, the relinquishing of the self can only come with work and time. “-” seems to come from a similar place as The King of Limbs’ latter tracks, which speaks to the notion of human fallibility and fragility, helping make News From Nowhere a decidedly beautiful album.
  15. Feb 5, 2013
    70
    The production is immaculately pretty, but it also tends to swamp the music's thrust, and one ends the album unsure of exactly what Darkstar is anymore.
  16. Feb 4, 2013
    70
    Their aim isn’t always true: Armonica ladles effects onto Buttery’s vocal to cover up the paucity of its tune. But elsewhere, things come together quite beautifully.
  17. Feb 4, 2013
    70
    Their newest newscast is a record that simultaneously could take you anywhere, yet doesn’t really go anywhere at all; its strength is just being there.
  18. Q Magazine
    Mar 11, 2013
    60
    The tempo seldom rises beyond a twitch, or Buttery's voice above a murmur, News From Nowhere is warm and confident. [Apr 2013, p.99]
  19. Uncut
    Feb 5, 2013
    60
    The bucolic reverie can't mask the suspicion that something vital is missing. [Mar 2013, p.69]
  20. Feb 5, 2013
    60
    On News from Nowhere, Darkstar have completed their transformation from playing in an overexposed genre to being in an irresolute one.
  21. Feb 4, 2013
    60
    Lighter and more colorful than North, News from Nowhere begins sleepily and then flits between spacious and cluttered moments, often within one song.
  22. The Wire
    Feb 28, 2013
    50
    Its balance of electronic, acoustic and vocal elements, while initially impressive, is soon revealed to be a product of the lack of any forceful musical or textual elements at all. [Feb 2013, p.60]
  23. Feb 5, 2013
    50
    Offering the same level of meticulousness as North isn't quite good enough for News from Nowhere, which serves up a wonderfully lush but ultimately rudderless slice of droning electronica that's much too imitative to be anything other than a pleasant distraction.
  24. Feb 4, 2013
    50
    You can sense what Darkstar wants to create--music that’s genre-less, accessible yet mysterious--but they haven’t found a way to compensate for the rougher finishes they’ve stripped from their work.

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