Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Mar 30, 2016
    90
    I AKA I is a shedding of the shackles, a great example of what can happen when someone jettisons rigid structure for boundless creativity. This, above all else, makes Ash Koosha one of 2016's most important players and solidifies I AKA I as one of the most unique records to come out in years.
  2. Apr 14, 2016
    80
    What’s left is something truly fresh, barely recognisable, a shuddering, bending feast of sound.
  3. Apr 13, 2016
    80
    Even at its darkest and strangest, Koosha's music rarely feels like it's trying to punish or alienate the listener. He seems excited to explore the possibilities of music-making technology, and the results are endlessly fascinating.
  4. Apr 7, 2016
    80
    The album as a whole is just as elastic as its pieces are. It’s great for a casual listen, exciting, complex, yet something you can play while directing your attention elsewhere.
  5. Mar 29, 2016
    80
    Some of the best moments on I AKA I are when the producer plays it relatively straight.
  6. Q Magazine
    Mar 25, 2016
    80
    The fierce intensity of Ote's digital blurts, Mudafossil's amorphous throb and To Many's fractal melodies show Kooshanejad mapping fascinating new dimensions of his own. [May 2016, p.111]
  7. Uncut
    Mar 25, 2016
    80
    The disparate elements feel abstract and abrasive in places, yet the whole is sumptuously melodic and sonically rich. [May 2016, p.75]
  8. Mar 25, 2016
    80
    I AKA I is eclectic and forceful, but always at the service of melody, atmosphere and, if you listen hard enough, emotion.
  9. Apr 6, 2016
    75
    Kooshanejad works by breaking down samples into unrecognizable blips of sound, and then layering them up into thickets of melody and rhythm. There is the sense that any individual noise could be one locus on a larger waveform, any melodic line or rhythmic figure a patchwork of them.
  10. May 2, 2016
    74
    I AKA I moves from peak to peak, and you're never more than a couple of tracks away from open-mouthed awe.
  11. The Wire
    Mar 29, 2016
    70
    On the whole Ash Koosha aka Iranian composer Ashkan Kooshanejad's follow-up to Guud is a likable gem of an album. [Apr 2016, p.62]
  12. Mojo
    Mar 25, 2016
    60
    Western and Middle Eastern influences collide in a glitchy and rhythmically experimental union. [May 2016, p.96]

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