| 100 |
Playlouder
'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' is as clever as it is funny as it is entertaining. It's the most original independent album in years.
|
| 100 |
Alternative Press
Depending on your worldview, Art Brut are either the most whimsical folks in Britrock or the most sardonic bastards you've ever worshiped via air guitar. [Jul 2006, p.186]
|
| 91 |
Stylus Magazine
It doesn’t matter how well you can thrash or shred if it doesn’t sound good, and rarely does a section of Bang Bang Rock and Roll sound as if it wasn’t well thought-out and created with the intent to entertain.
|
| 91 |
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
This is the stuff of one-shot art-punk.
|
| 90 |
Drowned In Sound
It's astounding that AB can reel off so many downright enjoyable songs that it almost hurts.
|
| 90 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
It’s surprisingly comforting to hear a band like this come along and put everything in perspective, making you fall in love with music relating to your life, instead of becoming so grandiose and impersonal as most music has in recent years.
|
| 90 |
All Music Guide
Though it runs out of steam slightly (at least in comparison to the pop art brilliance of the band's best songs) on its second half, Bang Bang Rock & Roll is a terrific debut, and Art Brut is smart, catchy, and fun.
|
| 89 |
Pitchfork
It's tempting to think of Art Brut as the foreign replacement for the catchy/clever observances Weezer used to traffic.
|
| 83 |
Spin
These Brits deconstruct bombast via bombastic guitar riffs. [Jun 2005, p.108]
|
| 80 |
Mojo
Every generation needs an Art Brut. [Jun 2005, p.100]
|
| 80 |
Uncut
Adopting Franz Ferdinand's arty edginess and the raw energy of the Pistols, Art Brut tilt at everything from the ephemeral nature of popular culture to erectile dysfunction. [Jun 2005, p.100]
|
| 80 |
Blender
At their most thrilling, they fuse the spiky cool of Elastica with the witty self-consciousness of LCD Soundsystem. [Sep 2005, p.131]
|
| 80 |
Lost At Sea
While there isn't much variation in instrumentation or sound, the impeccable, thought-provoking lyrics more than make up for it.
|
| 80 |
Trouser Press
The gap between expectations and delivery, the contrast of emotions that go into real life as opposed to pop fantasy, makes this brief but satisfying album a pointed delight.
|
| 80 |
Delusions of Adequacy
It's a bit of an acquired taste, but at record's end, you'll be extremely satisfied.
|
| 80 |
Prefix Magazine
The members of Art Brut manage to infuse humor without pushing it too far. Or maybe they do push it too far, and that's why it feels more important.
|
| 76 |
cokemachineglow
It all adds up to blatantly catchy, deceptively simple wannabe-clever, can’t-help-but-be-cheeky art-punk.
|
| 70 |
Billboard
Though its novelty diminishes more with each listen (with the first being the freshest, most energetic romp of them all), "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" still stubbornly continues to amuse.
|
| 70 |
PopMatters
Bang Bang Rock and Roll is still the most welcome, here's-mud-in-yer-eye debut since The Libertines' Up the Bracket.
|
| 70 |
New Musical Express
This is both a fine and fun album. [21 May 2005, p.65]
|
| 70 |
ShakingThrough.net
Frenzied throwaways like “Modern Art” and vapid observations like “popular culture no longer applies to me,” from “Bad Weekend,” keep Bang Bang Rock and Roll from attaining that rarified feel of unveiling something truly special.
|
| 70 |
Under The Radar
And yet, for all the music’s grand gestures (circus-style rhythms, stops and starts, laments of an emotional world come crashing down), this is a world of minutiae, observations never far from the poet’s reckoning [#14]
|
| 70 |
Sputnikmusic
It's like the debut, but slightly different, definitely better.
|
| 60 |
The Guardian
Whether shouting, wisecracking or guffawing, [Argos] spends their entire debut album veering between irony and geekery.
|
| 40 |
Q Magazine
This is essentially a couple of singles spread way too thinly. [Jun 2005, p.110]
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