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Jul 3, 2012With their debut full-length, Brooklyn pop quintet Friends have released the best pop album of the summer.
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Jun 12, 2012Leave your prejudices behind, shut your eyes and just enjoy.
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Jun 6, 2012Manifest! is back-loaded with the big hitters, so you need faith and tenacity to find the gems.
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Jun 5, 2012Whatever their reference points, Friends always end up sounding like Friends: now but new wavey, cool but catchy, spare but packed with odd sonic squiggles.
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Jun 5, 2012The album holds together sonically like it was bonded by super glue, yet there's enough variation between the tracks to make Manifest! a very enriching listen that takes listeners to the middle of an excitingly sweaty dancefloor, keeps them company on the long cab ride home, and soothes them on the quiet morning after.
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Jun 5, 2012It's difficult to generalize about an album like Manifest!. For every flat moment or forgettable song there soars an incredibly high peak, the kind of song you keep on repeat for a solid hour. And even this binary critical formula fails; some songs succeed and stumble at the same time.
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Jul 23, 2012Each three-minute zinger is an aptly kilned piece so crossly pollinated, it should be studied.
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Jun 5, 2012Could very well be one of the soundtracks to the summer, with their heavy use of percussion setting them apart from other similar Brooklyn acts. Unfortunately, there are times when Manifest! feels muddled.
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Jun 5, 2012[Singles] I'm His Girl and Friend Crush both appear here, and though they're highlights, they don't eclipse the rest of this generally impressive debut LP.
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Jun 5, 2012Although it's top-heavy, Manifest! is a strong debut and proves Friends isn't just a singles band.
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Jun 5, 2012[Their] debut often recalls New York's Eighties downtown glory days, when punk, funk and disco commingled on labels like 99 and ZE.
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Q MagazineOct 12, 2012Tracks like Sorry and the brainiac funk of Mind Control show that the same sparky formula can stretch over a whole record. [Jul 2012, p.100]
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MagnetJul 18, 2012Friends lose themselves when they try too hard to sound like the Ting Tings, Cults or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which they do too often here. [No.89 p.54]
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MojoJun 26, 2012Whikle the quintet can comfortably do sincere and introverted on tracks like A Thing Like This and Proud/Ashamed, their speciality indisputably lies in lo-fi revelry, as showcased in Friend Crush. [Jul 2012, p.88]
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Jun 5, 2012The highlights of their first album, sadly, are still those two singles [Friend Crush, I'm His Girl], and there are some missteps here.
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Jun 14, 2012There's a lack of thought and care, a feeling that this band is still figuring out what it wants to be while not treading on too many toes in the process.
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Jul 10, 2012When Friends get down to it, the energy that brought them together dictates the making of half-profound statements in retro R&B funk jams; and frankly, the result is brilliant.... Yet, when they explore other avenues, the band seem unable to hide their influence and consequently come off as half-hearted.
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Jun 6, 2012It's still a solid first LP, but with two or three less ho-hum songs it might have been something pretty special.