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Even if this time around the music takes a more prominent role, it’s this delivery that gives ExitingARM a sense of unity.
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It’s from this multi-layered hive of instrumentation and exquisite verb-spouting though where ExitingARM begins to flourish.
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For however much this album is worth berating, there's no denying that Subtle are an extremely talented group of musicians, and ExitingARM is not so much a fuck-up as it is a trial in exploring limitations.
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The album boasts the most opaque lyrics in Subtle's catalog. But put the record and the website together, and the big themes become clear.
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A few moments of uncomplicated clarity (a stirringly memorable hook or clarion-call chorus) would elevate ExitingARM from brilliant mess to true pop genius.
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Musically, ExitingARM is just as layered, blenderizing beats, sampled electronic noise, and Doseone's easygoing, flowing words into a package that's sometimes electrifying and sometimes confounding.
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Alternative PressExiting Arm is another step forward in the brillant career of a group unafraid to switch it up. [June 2008, p.137]
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While Subtle remains as challenging as ever, there's less exhaustion in finding the nugget, for a record that finally capitalizes on the potential of Subtle's raucous live performances. [May/June 2008, p.94]
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The WireWhile there's no doubting that Subtle can create, populate and soundtrack a world of their own, it's not always clear whether it was worth it. [May 2008, p.65]
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It’s a glorious mess of a record, reaching for everything at once, and hitting most of it.
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Not that every track here needs to be radio-ready, it's just that with the themes being so dense, another morsel to take with you would have been welcome.
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A triumph on many levels and a failure on only a few small fronts, ExitingARM is a more than worthy addition to Themselve’s vast array of musical treasures, and a sign that perhaps in the future we’ll see a truly universal album come from anticon.’s most brilliant duo.
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ExitingARM, for all of its knotted statements and implications, represents nothing more or less than Dose falling down the rabbit hole of his own imagination. Choose to follow and find what a confounding, uneasy, and exciting place it is to be.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 4 out of 5
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Mixed: 1 out of 5
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Negative: 0 out of 5
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DavidRJun 9, 2008Great new release from anticon's experimental hip-hop/electronic/rock group. Breath of fresh air.