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High Life
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High Life Image
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

  • Artist(s): Karl Hyde
  • Summary: Two months after the release of the first collaboration between Brian Eno and Underworld's Karl Hyde (Someday World), the duo release a second disc of songs recorded soon after the announcement of the first.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 20
  3. Negative: 1 out of 20
  1. Pitchfork
    Jul 2, 2014
    85
    A startling and inspiring record. Eno’s been involved with quite a few of those in the past, but it’s especially nice to experience a new one that reaches us in the present moment.
  2. NOW Magazine
    Jul 10, 2014
    80
    By dispensing with typical pop structure in favour of improvisation and repetition, the pair achieve and maintain an openness and momentum that Someday World lacked. It feels alive.
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Jun 30, 2014
    75
    This alien brand of funk is far more open-ended and abstract than the first album, and better for it.
  4. Austin Chronicle
    Aug 21, 2014
    67
    Uniquely imaginative, the duo's efforts will seduce like-minded forward-thinkers, but High Life will be too ostensibly weird to be widely digested.
  5. Q Magazine
    Aug 28, 2014
    60
    The duo's experience and aplomb win out. [Sep 2014, p.108]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. Fact Magazine (UK)
    Jul 7, 2014
    60
    It does occasionally miss the mark, but that there are any hits to speak of at all shows that Eno and Hyde have a good deal more to offer than the uninspiring gruel of their debut.
  7. Consequence
    Jun 30, 2014
    25
    You can applaud them for chasing a creative high, but from two artists of their caliber, listeners should expect something better than High Life.

See all 20 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. adhamhany
    Jul 20, 2014
    8
    For Brian Eno, i only listened to his 1975 album "Another Green World". I really enjoyed it, and there are some tunes that i still remember,For Brian Eno, i only listened to his 1975 album "Another Green World". I really enjoyed it, and there are some tunes that i still remember, despite last hearing them years ago. Truly unforgettable stuff.

    I got this album, hoping that it has the same level of brilliance of the previously mentioned one. Unfortunately, it doesn't; which made me feel a bit disappointed.

    But when i gave it a second listen, i realized that it's pretty much impressive in its own right. Tracks "DBF" and "Moulded Life" boast some really cool and fast electronic music, while "Return" and "Cells & Bells" are more relaxing and slow, but no less mesmerizing.

    The remaining two tracks (there's only 6 of them) are okay, but didn't capture my attention in any special way.

    So in the end, i can say that this is a pretty great electronic album, and a pretty great Brian Eno album. Check it out.    … Expand
  2. Unpersona
    Jul 4, 2014
    8
    The critics aren't evaluating this correctly, so I had to jump in and represent. This is a great album, it harkens back to Eno's heyday withThe critics aren't evaluating this correctly, so I had to jump in and represent. This is a great album, it harkens back to Eno's heyday with My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (deeply abstract, vibrant and impassioned live performances) and the hypnotic groovy-ness of Remain In Light's polyrhythms. High Life is his best work in 20 years and yet it feels spontaneous and current, which is refreshing. It sounds like Eno being inspired by more outside forces than just the legacy of his previous accomplishments.… Expand

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