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Oct 23, 2018Paired with Quezada and Thulin’s frantic soundscapes, Obey is a reminder that the steeliest demeanors can belie a raging cauldron of emotion. By the time the album’s short 38 minutes are over, what seemed at first like ambivalence feels more like transcendence.
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Sep 28, 2018At once more deliberate and more liberated than their debut, with Obey Exploded View challenge their listeners to be as free as as their music sounds.
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Sep 28, 2018Stylistically eclectic, or maybe even chaotic, Obey is a sublime release, its melancholic moments offered grace and any ounce of frenzy more subtle than overt.
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UncutSep 27, 2018She achieves something close to eerie synthesis of avant-classical art song and Throbbing Gristle-worthy brutalism that three-quarters of TG themselves created on their 2012 tribute to Nico's Desertshore. [Nov 2018, p.29]
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Oct 18, 2018For all the studio/refinement talk above, the collection remains unrepentantly raw; some of the easy touchpoints/comparisons like Stereolab or Broadcast become a little too sterile to reach for, scuffed up with the grit of Berlin and Mexico City, and more than a little rock & roll attitude.
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Sep 27, 2018Despite their diverse influences and concepts, Exploded View keep Obey in control, without allowing their various tendencies to drag them to a specific style. The result is a polymorphic record, which displays an affinity for the new wave and post-punk scene, but is keen on enhancing their core with further influences.
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Sep 27, 2018If Obey contains a fatal flaw, it's that it can't quite balance these old hallmarks with its new flourishes in a way that feels totally coherent. But like any work of capable termite art, it still manages to set a particular mood that digs its way deep under the skin.
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Oct 4, 2018The missteps are few enough they do little to tarnish what the band set out to accomplish, and the stronger songs here prove Exploded View is becoming more thrilling, ambitious and confident with each release.
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Sep 27, 2018The album proves that Exploded View are at their best when they refuse to be constrained by reality, to listen to consensus or to obey, and instead, exist in the dazzling reverie of their collective dream.
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Sep 27, 2018Clocking in at a nifty 38 minutes, Obey is a solid release, though it trails off near the end with tracks that are clearly less inspired than the others. In these sections the minimalism is stretched too far and the arrangements are too loose, but the album has great moments elsewhere.