Observator
- The Raveonettes
- Band Name: The Raveonettes
- Record Label: Vice
- Release Date: Sep 11, 2012
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Oct 1, 201280The influence of Chairlift, Warpaint, Alt-J and The xx all subliminally creep into adorable but chilling laments on dying young and wrecked romances.
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Sep 13, 201280The record may not be their masterpiece, but it is an important piece of a surprisingly strong career.
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Sep 7, 201280Charming, dexterous and completely compelling. [Oct 2012, p.108]
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Sep 7, 201280It contains the band's most focused songwriting since the last album Gottehrer produced, 2005's Pretty In Black. [Oct 2012, p.92]
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Sep 12, 201278As if the Everly Brothers channeled Norma Desmond, Observator is the sweet sound of summertime sadness.
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Sep 11, 201275Get past the gear-head guitar textures and tones, and Observator can stand as a pure pop album on its own merits.
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Sep 7, 201275Smoky nostalgia, bi-coastal American malaise, downy shoegaze, restrained noise and garage rock are all expert;y combined to create their shortest and most focused collection to date. [Aug/Sep 2012, p.113]
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Sep 7, 201275It's a crucial listen and one of the most rewarding releases of 2012.
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Oct 4, 201270The music is starting to shift into a sort of Hipster Triple-A agreeability that robs it somewhat of the flavor that made the Raveonvettes so distinct, but suggests a maturity taking hold. [No.91 p.60]
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Sep 12, 201270You'd be forgiven to not have the hooks of these songs stuck in your head, or worse, confusing them for some other band.... Ignoring this, you have another quality catalog entry from one of modern indie rock's somewhat more surprising career bands.
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Sep 7, 201270While Observator may be no step forward, it is affirmation of a great formula.
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Sep 18, 201260Overall the album is never really present enough to make an impression, beyond a hazy silhouette in the distance.
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Sep 17, 201260It's a righting of the ship back to the quality control we've come to expect from the Raveonettes but nevertheless still an accomplished retread of a formula, nothing more.
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Sep 11, 201260Despite standout moments within most of the songs, nothing on this album except perhaps the closing number, "Till the End", truly stands out as recognizably Raveonettes.
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Sep 11, 201260Even when the band allows its minor-key impulses back in, the album feels pleasant, in a late-summer-sunset kind of way.
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Sep 12, 201256It's hard to shake the feeling that the album sounds too comfortable, too familiar: It's so deeply entrenched in their comfort zone that it sounds too easy-- not effortless, but automatic and rote.
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Sep 10, 201250While the album may improve on its predecessor, Observator still finds the Raveonettes engaging in far too many self-indulgent habits: They've left Hot Topic, but they don't seem to know where they're headed next.