• Record Label: Domino
  • Release Date: Jun 5, 2007
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 23
  2. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Anyone expecting any of the more experimental tangential qualities of the German group will be disappointed, as will anyone expecting intense lyrical workouts from Smith. Instead we have an extremely convincing whistlestop tour round current electronic music with a partially deranged, completely eccentric lexicographer raving brilliantly over the top.
  2. There's something captivating about the project, and you will find yourself returning to the album over and over again.
  3. Filter
    84
    A proudly odd hybrid always on the edge of destruction. [#25, p.104]
  4. The mangled electronic hailstorm is unrelenting, but it is also perversely enjoyable and infectious.
  5. More satisfyingly adventurous than recent Fall albums, it's full of surprises.
  6. The fact that neither side needs the other is why Tromatic Reflexxions works so obscenely well.
  7. Every track contains something to surprise and delight.
  8. The album is brilliant on its own terms: a party record with no fixed strategy, one that wiggles out of all responsibilities to the partier.
  9. It's heartening to see Smith mainly producing effortless gems in a genre that often sees men half his age struggling to do anything of interest in.
  10. What a joyously juddering load of comical clatter it is.
  11. Uncut
    80
    This is the kind of exploration of space and motivation that the dance-punk scene is supposed to be about. [Jun 2007, p.98]
  12. What could so easily have been an obtuse exercise in wilful eccentricity actually ends up an engaging, focussed listen that’s deserving of a wider audience than its somewhat cliquey appeal might suggest.
  13. Ambitious, varied and unquestionably fun, this is one of the most joyously unpredictable records of the year.
  14. Tromatic Reflexxions is a roaring success for both parties, blowing the fresh air of invention through an increasingly tribalist scene.
  15. Tromatic Reflexxions is a great record for all of the reasons you might suspect – unless you don’t like MoM, or MES, or either.
  16. MoM, for their part, sound more and more comfortable with a vocalist in front of them.
  17. Tromatic Reflexxions sometimes seems to work like a Fall album, wearing you down with its relentless energy.
  18. Spin
    70
    [It] should have been the new Fall album. [Jun 2007, p.96]
  19. Mad as a crate of stoats? Certainly. But worth investigation, all the same.
  20. Under The Radar
    70
    The whole record seems effortless, and that cool contributes to the surprising greatness found within. [Summer 2007, p.86]
  21. Alternative Press
    60
    It's not brilliant, and some tracks are just dumb. [Jun 2007, p.156]
  22. For every section that locks into something juicy, it's offset with three others that are just plain bad (or close to it).

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.6

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. LarsK.
    Mar 4, 2008
    8
    Great one - and still getting better.
  2. ChrisT.
    Feb 22, 2008
    10
    Probably my favourite album of 2007 because it is awkward, danceable, interesting and prepared to take risks, please go out and buy it. MES Probably my favourite album of 2007 because it is awkward, danceable, interesting and prepared to take risks, please go out and buy it. MES after all these years is one of the only artists who can truly say he has never sold out. And the guys from Mouse on Mars live up to his genius. Full Review »
  3. DanielJ.
    Jan 4, 2008
    9
    innovative, interesting, and funky in a quite clunky way (a la kraftwerk, hot chip). mark e smith's delivery and lyrics may be an innovative, interesting, and funky in a quite clunky way (a la kraftwerk, hot chip). mark e smith's delivery and lyrics may be an acquired taste, but age is certainly not dimming his continuing vital contributions to the contemporary pop scene. his collaboration with German duo mouse on mars is an unqualified success. Full Review »