FIDLAR
by FIDLAR
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
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  1. The Fly (UK)
    Feb 15, 2013
    90
    Oozing more nihilistic youthful abandonment than anyone since Black Lips, their manifesto sounds pretty appealing from here.
  2. DIY Magazine
    Feb 4, 2013
    90
    With its Ramones-via-The Golden State garage punk, it's brilliantly noisy in all the best places ('White On White', 'Wait For The Man') and yet not afraid to tone down on occasion ('Gimme Something').
  3. Prefix Magazine
    Feb 7, 2013
    85
    There are moments when the ambivalence toward everything sounds like it might, just might, be giving way to genuine concern.
  5. Pretty Much Amazing
    Feb 11, 2013
    83
    FIDLAR will make you want to pound a case of the cheapest beer you can find with these guys, it’ll make you want to crank it up as loud as it will go in whichever of your friends’ cars.
  6. Filter
    Jan 22, 2013
    82
    From the adrenal rock-and-roll guitars on "Cheap Beer" to the guttural shrills on "Cocaine," every song here champions that adult adolescence and "f*** it" ideology that has always made the genre so damn appealing.
  7. Q Magazine
    Feb 8, 2013
    80
    The spirit of drunk adolescence, cramped kitchens and broken valuable endures on their frightfully fun debut. [Mar 2013, p.101]
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  8. New Musical Express (NME)
    Feb 6, 2013
    80
    Without [Kate Nash collaboration Awkward], Fidlar is still an electrifying, intensely fun album. But with it, it would have been perfect.
  9. AllMusic
    Jan 30, 2013
    80
    Short-sighted as the party-hearty concept may be, the unbridled enthusiasm makes the album a helluva lot of fun even for those who have trouble relating to wasted youth.
  10. Spin
    Jan 24, 2013
    80
    All told, it's an endearing bag of tricks.
  11. Consequence
    Jan 23, 2013
    80
    Songs teeming with juvenile energy, songs fueled by raunchy hedonism, songs so depraved that Chuck Bukowski would shake his head in disgust. These characteristics are why FIDLAR's self-titled debut is one of the sleaziest (and catchiest) punk rock records in recent memory.
  12. Exclaim
    Jan 22, 2013
    80
    Fidlar is easily one of the most energetic and fun-filled records in a while.
  13. Austin Chronicle
    Mar 13, 2013
    78
    The quartet's self-titled debut offers one cheap thrill after another – short, crude, and entirely self-explanatory.
  14. Paste Magazine
    Jan 22, 2013
    76
    The album is filled with two-minute romps that systematically tout both their influences and their contemporaries.
  15. Under The Radar
    Jan 22, 2013
    75
    FIDLAR is a punk-spirited rock & roll record whose original source material is alive and a millimeter below its vinyl surface.
  16. Punknews.org (Staff)
    Feb 19, 2013
    70
    The worst songs make you wish they had more to say. Their best ones make you glad that they don't.
  17. PopMatters
    Feb 7, 2013
    70
    Carper’s lyrics work best when they apply a Duhnam-like sense of self.
  18. musicOMH.com
    Feb 4, 2013
    70
    While Fidlar’s debut does have a tendency to wonder towards the mindless end of the spectrum, their eponymous album, for the most part, is actually quite accomplished.
  19. Rolling Stone
    Jan 29, 2013
    70
    Its debut bursts with hot sludge and lazy slop-rock jags.
  20. Pitchfork
    Jan 25, 2013
    70
    They've operated as FIDLAR since 2009, and released a couple of EPs prior to this collection. That time was spent honing a brand of hopped up, surfy garage punk that comes with more variety than you might expect.
  21. Beats Per Minute
    Feb 7, 2013
    65
    FIDLAR are still young, and they sing about what they know; never on the album do you feel like they’re presenting themselves as anything other than what they are, and this is why the album is enjoyable despite its repetition and simplicity.
  22. The Observer (UK)
    Feb 4, 2013
    60
    Their songs are surprisingly melodic; sweet, even--well, with the possible exception of Whore.
  23. Alternative Press
    Jan 22, 2013
    60
    This record possesses a contagious energy that exists not in lieu of a hook but actively as the hook. [Feb 2013, p.90]
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  24. CMJ
    Jan 22, 2013
    60
    Over the course of 14 songs, when the emotional range is the difference between singing, "I just wanna get really high" and "I feel like shooting up," the content [getting wasted and having a good time] can wear on you--or, much like Andrew W.K.'s party music before it, it can fuel you.
  25. No Ripcord
    Jan 22, 2013
    60
    All that it has going for it is the promise of adolescent wit, and even in that regard it completely fails to deliver.
  26. NOW Magazine
    Jan 22, 2013
    60
    It's certainly not revelatory, but it makes no such claims.
  27. The Guardian
    Jan 31, 2013
    40
    Once or twice they really hit the spot--No Waves could hardly be catchier, and Black Out Stout could have the Black Lips looking over their shoulder--but more often they don't.
  28. BBC Music
    Jan 24, 2013
    40
    Just occasionally the band drops hints that they might have a future beyond this loutish, two-dimensional debut.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 26 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 26
  3. Negative: 1 out of 26
  1. Forest90
    Sep 14, 2013
    7
    FIDLAR is everything you would expect from their early singles, just a big bundle of nihilistic fun. Don't take it too seriously and you willFIDLAR is everything you would expect from their early singles, just a big bundle of nihilistic fun. Don't take it too seriously and you will be rewarded. Garage punk at it's most enjoyable but perhaps not it's most consistent.… Full Review »
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