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After Robots Image
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 4 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut full-length album for the South African indie rock band was recorded in three weeks.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. After Robots exudes an energy and a lack of self-consciousness that is exciting and refreshing.
  2. All context aside, After Robots just plain rocks--a hugely creative, expansive and forceful piece of work.
  3. Uncut
    80
    Fusing dub, psychedelic funk, prog, art rock and roots reggae with their native mbaqanga and township blues, they've fashioned a fresh (Afro) funky debut, politicized not sollely by colour, but also by their genre-bending vision. [Dec 2009, p. 87]
  4. Forget hi-life vibes: this psychedelic trip takes you from Jo'Burg to Brooklyn and way, way beyond.
  5. They fit into the indie rock genre about as loosely as Bad Brains fit the hardcore punk stereotype or Living Colour fit in the hair metal mold. Who cares? Pigeonholing is futile, the music is boundless.
  6. There are bits of jazz and dub, but mostly these guys want to rock. When they do it their way, they sound like nothing else.
  7. 40
    It's a promising thought to know there are musicians this deft and so easily able to push themselves through so many sonic boundaries at once--but in the end, the overt and ultimately, stifling seriousness surrounding it proves to be the largest boundary BLK JKS stand before.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. gomad361
    Sep 12, 2009
    7
    Overproduction courtesy perhaps of the "tutelage of Secret Machines
  2. DonC.
    Oct 5, 2009
    7
    A debut album a bit unlike anything else in the indie scene. A bit muddled at times, but the lush arrangements and dub influenced rock-outs A debut album a bit unlike anything else in the indie scene. A bit muddled at times, but the lush arrangements and dub influenced rock-outs are absolutely worth a listen. I'd also ignore the statement that the songs are tighter and more focused live -- I saw them last night and the show was a disaster; an off-time mess with delay effects on absolutely everything. I'll stick to the album, thanks. Expand