User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info

Strangest Things
by
  • Record Label:
  • Release Date:
Strangest Things Image
Metascore
63

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

  • Summary: 'Strangest Things' is the second album, and first for a major label, for Longwave, who got their big break opening for fellow New Yorkers the Strokes (although their sound veers much closer to that of 80s-influenced Interpol than the neo-garage of the Strokes). Dave Fridmann produces.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
  1. Launch.com
    87
    An elegant masterpiece of unabashed Anglophilia, all slow-motion shoegazer guitars chiming like beautiful bells of doom and icy, disaffected vocals that sound like the Psych Furs' Richard Butler minus the three-packs-a-day larynx damage.
  2. Alternative Press
    80
    Longwave aren't so much groundbreakers as they are purveyors of haunting, earnest pop. [Apr 2003, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. AllMusic
    80
    Echoes of classic U2, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Swervedriver resonate throughout.
  4. Trouser Press
    70
    A little blood and dirt and humor might have catapulted this album into greatness.
  5. Junkmedia
    60
    Often dreamy, sometimes rockin', but rarely more than pedestrian.
  6. Billboard
    60
    Though this music could easily be viewed as Longwave's take on Interpol's take on Coldplay's take on Radiohead, it isn't that derivative or boring.
  7. Pitchfork
    37
    I just always felt comfortable in my thinking that one Toad The Wet Sprocket was more than enough to fulfill a specific emotional and intellectual niche. Am I wrong?

See all 13 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. star_gazing
    Oct 29, 2012
    9
    This album may just be their best to date. It's the first I listened to, and it has always been an enjoyable one. There are relatively fewThis album may just be their best to date. It's the first I listened to, and it has always been an enjoyable one. There are relatively few flaws to it; the feel is very varied, the songs have a flow into each other, but are distinguishable. The songs are memorable because they've all got different feels to it. Everything on the album is just enough to make it into a genuine work of art that goes underappreciated in today's mainstream. Again, the band's best album to date was their first major debut.… Expand
  2. MusicMaven
    Aug 12, 2005
    6
    It's a clean, commercial take on the NYC style modern rock of the day. The best songs compare well to contemporaries like Interpol, The It's a clean, commercial take on the NYC style modern rock of the day. The best songs compare well to contemporaries like Interpol, The Strokes, The Walkmen, etc. The rest are somewhat nondescript and uninvolving. If you like this style of music and have already checked out some of the better bands out there, this is not a bad place to become acquainted with Longwave. Just don't expect to be blown away by the whole album.… Expand