Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Nov 29, 2010This is Stereolab for the age of the short attention span; but if it's a swan song, it's just as representative of the band's body of work as anything in its 20-year catalog.
-
The WireDec 22, 2010The polished arrangements, alien harmonies and attention to detail that have characterised Stereolab output over the years are all present and to the usual high standard. [Nov 2010, p.60]
-
Dec 22, 2010It's heady stuff with plenty of detours and time changes.
-
Nov 16, 2010With the veteran experimentalists on a self-imposed hiatus--and now a drummer light--Not Music offers a stopgap if not a final full stop to a kaleidoscopic career.
-
Nov 15, 2010As always, the British-French band has crafted upbeat, bubbly, retro-futuristic songs from strands of krautrock, lounge, French cafe music, and samba.
-
Nov 15, 2010In the end, it's not such a bad thing that Not Music shows Stereolab fans that they didn't always fully appreciate what they had until it was gone, even though a lesson like this can only come when it's too late
-
Nov 16, 2010For reheated leftovers, however, Not Music is delicious.
-
Nov 16, 2010Stereolab's last effort was among the most concise and tightly focused of the band's career, distilling their baroque, buzzing aesthetic into breathless, three-minute pop songs. Not Music mostly echoes that change, but also sprawls like vintage Stereolab when it needs to.
-
Nov 23, 2010With any luck, Stereolab's hiatus will prove to be temporary, but if Not Music is the epitaph of their career, it is a suitably dignified (if not emphatic) one.
-
Nov 22, 2010The signature post-rock and cleverly monotonous Stereolab aesthetic is still present, and continues to be refreshingly innovative.
-
Nov 19, 2010Not Music is all over the place in the best possible way, and fans who love Stereolab's gracefully intellectual side will especially appreciate it.
-
Alternative PressNov 17, 2010Chalk a point in the "win" column for the old school. [Dec 2010, p.116]
-
Nov 17, 2010The melody is maintained, with the only difference between the two sections is a very pregnant pause added to the notes, the whole of robotic Europop from the '70s lodged into one oversized chrome éclair.
-
Nov 15, 2010Despite its unprepossessing title, Not Music is put together as meticulously as any Stereolab album released during the band's 18 years of service.
-
Nov 15, 2010They may be a one trick pony, but these 2008 recordings show that Stereolab are good at what they do.
-
Nov 11, 2010So does the oddly titled Not Music hold any surprises? Yes and no: Stereolab's signature sound is very much present and correct, but this record doesn't sound like the last gasp of a long-lived and generally much-loved band.
-
Nov 22, 2010Inasmuch as Stereolab have accomplished pretty much everything they could, Not Music feels like a passive retread.
-
UncutDec 20, 2010Though this showcases the group;'s customary modular wit, it doesn't give Laetitia Sadier much to work with tune-wise. [Dec 2010, p.106]
-
Dec 13, 2010At its best, it blows Chemical Chords out of the water but at its worst, it's uninspiring and dull.
-
Q MagazineNov 17, 2010Not Music presents more of their signature future-retro pop exotica. [Dec. 2010, p. 114]
-
Nov 15, 2010It's an aspect of the band that surely deserves recognition, and Not Music, uneven and understated, is its fitting epitaph.
-
Nov 12, 2010Stereolab will always provide excitement, but in the past, part of that excitement came from a band having no idea of how they should sound, so that the result threw polemics and tangents together with an unmatched grace.
-
Nov 11, 2010It is music, of course, but not new music – Stereolab are on hiatus, after all. So here are another 11 tracks from the sessions that produced their 2008 album Chemical Chords, plus a couple of remixes.
-
Nov 16, 2010Not Music is one of those albums of extras that disappointingly lays bare why these tracks were excluded from those that initially found a release.
-
MojoDec 20, 2010Not Music can feel a little like trying to solve a series of Sudoko puzzles, the brain fully engaged but the heart untaxed. [Dec 2010, p.97]