Albums to watch

Avi Buffalo

Avi Buffalo

Avi Buffalo

Debut release of guitar-based indie pop from the hotly-tipped Californian band led by songwriter/guitarist Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg

ADM rating[?]

7.5

Label
Sub Pop
UK Release date
27/04/2010
  1. 9.0 |   BBC

    You can hear the tenderness of first love in their voices, which makes each song that much more fragile and brittle. Yet that frailty is strengthened by the band’s glorious sunlit melodies and obtuse imagery, all of which combine to turn this into a truly remarkable album that’s sad and wistful way beyond the band’s years
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  2. 9.0 |   Bowlegs

    Avi Buffalo have arrived with a gem of an album that will make you happy to be alive and glad too, just to be a little sad. Début album of the year isn’t such a crazy idea either. An essential purchase for any indie pop fan
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  3. 9.0 |   NME

    Avi is as good a songwriter as anyone who's ever traded under Sub Pop's logo. And that's quite a claim
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  4. 9.0 |   God Is In The TV

    The most timeless record I've heard this year. Musically it could have been produced at any point in the last 50years, but it’s filtered through the eyes of uncertain teenage self-discovery
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  5. 8.5 |   The Observer

    Rarely have the vagaries of teenage desire been so deftly and melodiously delineated
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  6. 8.2 |   Beats Per Minute

    Every song has an instantly memorable melody and it’s own unique flavour
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  7. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    It's an innocent, if dirty-minded wit that makes this album more likeable than it should ever be. For those that can stand the fact that this lot really do possess some talent, this might be another slice of Sub Pop to add to the collection
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  8. 8.0 |   Q

    Fuses sun-kissed psychedelic pop, indie rock and hippy-folk with a preternatural lightness of touch. Print edition only

  9. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Hyper-lush, loads of guitars, harmonies, clanky pianos background and foreground heaving like a busy street of sounds sweet and rough. Print edition only

  10. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    You'd have to be fundamentally devoted to the cause of neophilia to allow the sense that there's nothing really new here overwhelm the sheer delight of the songwriting on offer
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  11. 8.0 |   The Sunday Times

    They combine late-1960s singer-songwriter melodies with Noughties power-pop styles to create their own thoroughly charming sound
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  12. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    The record could be accused of wearing its influences a bit obviously, but as Wilco, Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev borrowed from Neil Young, progression essentially comes through a degree of regression
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  13. 8.0 |   Rave Magazine

    Melodic hooks aplenty and effective arrangements make Avi Buffalo’s debut an easy one to enjoy
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  14. 8.0 |   Uncut

    A winning mix of innocence and insouciance that recalls Adam Green and The Lemonheads. Print edition only

  15. 7.9 |   Pitchfork

    Avi Buffalo have every reason to be sure of themselves; this sneakily complex, unsappily sentimental, thoughtfully naïve debut is a very early success
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  16. 7.0 |   The Quietus

    As he matures, one gets the sense that his music will to, that the moments of promise shown here will become fully-fledged
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  17. 7.0 |   Under The Radar

    So instant is the album's appeal; it may take several listens to realize its complexities
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  18. 7.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    35 minutes of wistful, summery pop tunes that manage to avoid drifting into being too sugary sweet or precocious
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  19. 7.0 |   FasterLouder

    With such a firm beginning, Avi Buffalo have enough room and creative nous to grow in interesting ways, the possibility of which will be enough to keep fans waiting
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  20. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    A mix of innocence and experience that delivers a first album that’s both an appealing novelty and a highly skilled endeavor that belies the band’s relative youth
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  21. 6.0 |   State

    Songs that sonically touch on everyone from the Shins, Animal Collective, Eels to a pre-crack Evan Dando at his most melancholy
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  22. 6.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    Having demonstrated competence, I expect a little more ambition from Avi Buffalo next time around
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  23. 6.0 |   The Digital Fix

    It's pleasant enough but if you own records by Sparklehorse or The Shins you already have tracks far superior to these - making investment here seems almost pointless
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  24. 6.0 |   The Times

    While musically mature ... it can be lyrically clumsy
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  25. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    The result is special, an exceedingly cute summer-daze amalgam of guitar-pop music that takes its cues from Pavement and Guided By Voices, yet adds factors such as youth, naivete, scorching solos, sleight-of-hand melodies
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Avi Buffalo: Avi Buffalo

  • Download full album for just £8.49
  • 1. Truth Sets In £0.99
  • 2. What’s In It For? £0.99
  • 3. Coaxed £0.99
  • 4. Five Little Sluts £0.99
  • 5. Jessica £0.99
  • 6. Summer Cum £0.99
  • 7. One Last £0.99
  • 8. Can't I Know? £0.99
  • 9. Remember Last Time £0.99
  • 10. Where's Your Dirty Mind £0.99
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