• Record Label: Hyperdub
  • Release Date: Jun 8, 2018
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
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  1. Mixmag
    Jul 6, 2018
    90
    Fiskal takes bold, divisive ideas and makes us wonder why we’d ever question them in the first place--and that’s the highest compliment we can pay him. [Jun 2018, p.120]
  2. Jul 24, 2018
    80
    Despite the surfeit of sounds and samples in Powers’ productions, he’s made an album that can still breathe with moments of serenity amongst the freneticism, one that provides moments where the antagonistic, alienating sounds of modern life can be reworked to make something pleasing, even joyful to the ear.
  3. The Wire
    Jul 13, 2018
    80
    He tears apart square wave synths into sharp, staccato blocks and spreads them across Insula, twisting alien 8-bit into different melodies and frequencies. [Jul 2018, p.60]
  4. Jun 19, 2018
    80
    The mix of familiar sounds and snippets of intimate conversation makes for dance music that can feel deeply affecting, even as its spastic rhythms keep the energy at a constant high.
  5. Q Magazine
    Jun 11, 2018
    80
    Rhythmically complex yet deftly controlled. [Jul 2018, p.116]
  6. Jun 11, 2018
    80
    Similar to The Highland Mob, it utilises a number of classic grime tropes--eski clicks (Kontinuance); 8-bit homages (Evil Spirits); Dizzee Rascal-sampling sino throwbacks (A Like Ye)--but repackages them in a way that brings introspection to the fore.
  7. Jun 11, 2018
    80
    Every track on this album is densely constructed, colorful, and unpredictable, and while it may seem lighthearted at first, it manages to cover a wide range of emotions. One of the most inventive debut albums of 2018, for sure.
  8. Jun 11, 2018
    80
    Insula is a cerebral, introspective record offering an abrupt turn from pigeonholing that tags grime as street music, the melodic refrains often more baroque and fantastical than they are rough and hard-hitting.
  9. Jun 11, 2018
    79
    Powers has forged a sound of his own, too: scattershot and emotional, attention deficient and frantically detailed. As its filigree twists expand into every available space, Insula suggests there are still acres left to explore in this increasingly virtual territory.

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