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Secret Machines now sound uncannily like a fusion of U2 and INXS.
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Alternative Press[A] thrilling trip to the sold-out stadiums of inner space. [Jun 2006, p.190]
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Each [song] is epic (and not in the bad Creed "arms-spread-on-the-mountaintop" way): packing in more drama, billowing guitar solos and stealth pop hooks than the Strokes' entire back catalog.
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BlenderThe results can sometimes get bland; unlike its predecessor, which was moody and aimless, Drops is so polished that there are no ragged edges left to hang on to. [May 2006, p.109]
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The Secret Machines are still super tight, Josh Garza’s still got restrained guitar awe on his side, every song’s arrangement is still an ebb and re-ebb of soaking synth and organ drone, and the lyrics still battle with neo-adult ennui. Is it any wonder, then, that there comes a time when this can just get dull?
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These songs are painfully uneventful.
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It is a qualified success, at times brilliant, at others rather vague and off target.
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The result is a spiritual sibling to such previous great, emotionally raw ruminations on shattered personal lives as Phil Collins' Face Value and Beck's Sea Change.
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Los Angeles TimesThis is a continuation, not a breakthrough. [23 Apr 2006]
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MojoThere are some beautiful moments. [Apr 2006, p.94]
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Yes, the Secret Machines do prog, but vitally they do so much more.
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Although they are more focused on Ten Silver Drops, they also sound more reined-in and less idiosyncratic.
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Paste MagazineIts ideas tend to outnumber its hooks. [Apr/May 2006, p.102]
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Lacking the dynamic cohesion that made its predecessor more than the sum of its tracklist, it feels like merely a collection of random tracks, which, despite their common themes, begin to sound haphazard in their arrangements and sequencing.
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Ten Silver Drops is a record made for being played at extreme volumes.
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Where Now Here Is Nowhere was equally about force and restraint but always in separate parts, Ten Silver Drops does well to blend the two.
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Q Magazine[Secret Machines] have pruned back the vast sonic expanses of 2004's full-length debut album, focusing instead on brevity and melody. [Apr 2006, p.120]
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The Machines' laser-light-show-ready atmospherics don't entirely compensate for the lack of a single as catchy as their last album's "Nowhere Again."
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While it's admirable that The Secret Machines are trying to solidify their niche as the go-to guys for soundtracking laser light shows (or at least My Morning Jacket for indoor kids), Ten Silver Drops is a sideways moonwalk that won't get them any further away from the planetarium circuit.
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These are beautiful songs, as delicate as they are rocking and heavy.
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UncutIf there's any justice, the stadiums of tomorrow await them. [Apr 2006, p.105]
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Under The RadarA surprisingly strong and confident record. [#13, p.88]
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UrbAn ass-kicking sophomore effort. [Mar 2006, p.111]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 16
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Mixed: 3 out of 16
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Negative: 2 out of 16
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RichardHApr 27, 2007
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LeylaHSep 26, 2006
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MarcHJul 20, 2006This album is terrible compared to their last. They went from hard hitting, spacey rock to BORING in one album. Such a disappointment.