Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 19
  2. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Alternative Press
    100
    It's the best post-retro, pre-futurist, avant-antiquarian psychedelia of 2005. [Nov 2005, p.226]
  2. The goal here is a noise-dance album, and they succeed admirably.
  3. It's flighty, frustrating, and at times a little frigid, but intelligent and never lacking in momentum.
  4. Broken Ear Record... seems to embrace a certain sense of pop influence, albeit far beneath the manic din of sonic exploration for which the band is known.
  5. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Tinnitus never sounded so good. [3 Sep 2005, p.74]
  6. Broken Ear Record is a jittering jumble of giddy good times, slow rolling drone tones, fuzzy orange phasers, and disjointed jalopy junk beats. It is sound for the sake of sound, relieved of any expectation and allowed to roll around about and in the ears as freely as the pulse it projects.
  7. It's less glossy than either of its full-length predecessors... and in addition to a bit of grit there is a stronger rhythmic center to what is happening here as well.
  8. Black Dice doesn‚t shy away from risks, and this record is just as daring as Beaches and Canyons or Creature Comforts.
  9. Urb
    70
    This glorious racket... has a beating, hideous heart to it. [Oct 2005, p.76]
  10. Blender
    70
    There are magical, creepy moments here. [Nov 2005, p.131]
  11. Under The Radar
    70
    For noisenicks, this is your makeout music. [#11, p.109]
  12. Although music lovers who normally don’t appreciate experimental noise will find some things of interest here, this is really an album for people who dig material a bit more avant-garde.
  13. This is a record that brattily demands total attention, and as such, will either be lauded as a bold journey, or derided as pretentious indulgence.
  14. Uncut
    60
    The success rate is variable. [Oct 2005, p.94]
  15. Broken Ear is limited and bogged down with its exacting and overriding sense of rhythm and lack of true sonic experimentation.
  16. Still as irksome and tuneless as ever.
  17. Although the group's previous outings routinely got bogged down in forced experimentalism, Broken Ear Record at least keeps the pace sufficiently frantic, which allows us to excuse some (if not all) of its more self-indulgent moments.
  18. Where Beaches blended human touch and electricity to create heart-stopping climaxes and an air of constant expectancy, Broken Ear attempts a streamlined repetition of the formula with much more emphasis on the electricity, and the whole does not equal the sum of the parts.
  19. Q Magazine
    40
    Too much... is just art for art's sake. [Oct 2005, p.121]
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. SeanT
    Dec 11, 2005
    8
    excellent sounds that i have never heard before.
  2. NickM
    Sep 16, 2005
    10
    My favorite album of 2005 so far.
  3. WalterE
    Sep 14, 2005
    9
    Fucking good, anyway.