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Alternative PressNov 2, 2016CRX's only real mistake might be releasing a top-down record perfect for summer at the end if the year. [Dec 2016, p.100]
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Nov 1, 2016While we’ve not heard Nick’s vocals out front before, those frantic fretwork and well-trodden chord changes work like an aural comfort blanket. Yet this is no carbon-copy.
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Nov 1, 2016‘Unnatural’ is full of sexy, snarling swagger and ‘Walls’ zips by on a wave of thundering riffs. Elsewhere there are hints of industrial (‘Money Machine’) and even reggae (‘Slow Down’), all proving that Nick Valensi has plenty of ideas and invention to offer outside of The Strokes.
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Dec 13, 2016The result is the sound of a veteran talent stepping out and deservedly getting his.
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Nov 10, 2016Valensi clings to the crisp tick-tock guitars he favors in his day job. But CRX juices those tidy riffs with ’80s-style synths that give tunes like “Anything” and “Ways to Fake It” a serious Cars vibe.
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Dec 5, 2016"Anything" sounds like the Cars on an extra-snotty day, while the glistening new wave chug of "Ways to Fake It" and "One Track Mind" feels like the work of a band that influenced the Strokes instead of one of its members. Moments like these are fun for listeners who share CRX's retro fixations, but more often than not, New Skin doesn't deliver on the band's pedigree.
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UncutNov 1, 2016Exhilarating or jarring, depending on taste. [Dec 2016, p.26]
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Nov 1, 2016CRX might pride themselves on not focusing excessively on cohesion, but on the level of the individual song, a lack of unity can undermine otherwise powerful elements. With New Skin, CRX have defined the parameters of who they are as a band. Going forward, they will need to find harmony in the tensions between them.
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Nov 7, 2016There are outbursts of punkish energy and some occasional snappy hooks, but CRX haven’t a great deal to recommend them beyond the reputations of those involved.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 8
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Mixed: 0 out of 8
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Negative: 1 out of 8
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Feb 22, 2021
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Nov 17, 2018