Tio Bitar
by Dungen
  • Record Label: Kemado
  • Release Date: May 15, 2007
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Dungen are the band The Mars Volta wish they were.
  2. cokemachineglow
    77
    If this album is less immediately impressive than its predecessor it’s because apart from tightening their arrangements the sound is still exactly what you expect.
  3. AllMusic
    80
    Tio Bitar is Dungen's most realized album yet and should resonate with anyone who likes rock music at all.
  5. BBC collective
    80
    The influences may be antediluvian but the spirit is timeless.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    Once again, English speakers need not understand a lick of Swedish to enjoy the music's universally mind-expanding effects.
  7. PopMatters
    80
    The amount of change from Ta Det Lugnt to Tio Bitar may be minimal, but this superb new album is no less rewarding.
  8. The A.V. Club
    91
    Tio Bitar finds Dungen streamlining its expansive pop-psych attack with a set of jams that hit with more clarity and intensity than ever.
  9. Drowned In Sound
    70
    By no means is this a bad album, it is just one that in the modern day holds little relevance and offers nothing significant.
  10. Pitchfork
    70
    Its few missteps are well balanced by a handful of blissful, seismic bright pockets.
  11. Playlouder
    80
    As good as 'Tio Bitar' is, it's actually a weaker album than 'Ta Det Lungt' in some respects.
  12. Uncut
    80
    Decidedly heady stuff. [Jul 2007, p.100]
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  13. Spin
    80
    A subtle hallucinatory pastiche. [Jun 2007, p.92]
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  14. NOW Magazine
    80
    A well-considered 10-track song cycle of mostly shorter and tighter compositions that combine the catchy, guitar-oriented pop aspects of Ta Det Lugnt ... with the darker freak-folk stylings of 2002's Stadsvandringar.
  15. Austin Chronicle
    67
    The Swedes ignite right from the "Intro."
  16. Filter
    92
    In comparison to... Ta Det Lungt, Tio Bitar trades much of the immediacy for multi-dimensional empiricism and fringe atmosphere. [#25, p.98]
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  17. Stylus Magazine
    100
    It isn’t the sort of artistic statement that promises to change anyone’s life, but it’s no less a great work of escapist art, the sort of essential record I’d pick for any hypothetical list of desert island necessities.
  18. Hartford Courant
    80
    "Tio Bitar" is an excellent follow-up to "Ta Det Lugnt," offering another far-out trip courtesy of Ejstes and his musical magic.
  19. Prefix Magazine
    70
    A tight, orderly marriage of the pastoral and the psychotropic -- plenty precise, but short on soul.

Awards & Rankings

78
#78 Best Album of 2007

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. Nodon
    May 15, 2007
    10
    It's grewing on you!
  2. Tyler
    May 2, 2007
    9
    Solid from start to finish. Nearly on par with Ta Det Lungt.
  3. JeffP
    Apr 27, 2007
    8
    This album may have been a similar feel to their previous album, but it is definitely worth checking out. There's nothing ruined here, This album may have been a similar feel to their previous album, but it is definitely worth checking out. There's nothing ruined here, it's fairly solid and maybe they risk flopping by reinventing themselves after they show they can put out multiple albums that are enjoyable listens from front to back.… Full Review »
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