Albums to watch

Apocalypse

Bill Callahan

Apocalypse

Fourth album in his post-Smog solo guise, channeling 70s rock, blues and country

ADM rating[?]

7.9

Label
Drag City
UK Release date
04/04/2011
US Release date
19/04/2011
  1. 10.0 |   The Irish Times

    Bill Callahan has woven something of a companion piece to 2007’s sublime Woke on a Whaleheart
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  2. 9.0 |   Rave Magazine

    Callahan might be returning to a musical and lyrical approach he had previously disavowed, but he’s never sounded more at home
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  3. 9.0 |   Blurt

    As barren as the Texas brushlands
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  4. 8.5 |   The Quietus

    Apocalypse is a mystery that will continue to haunt you through moments yet to come
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  5. 8.5 |   Prefix

    Each song drifts along effortlessly without calling needless attention to its hidden heart, let alone its long form structure
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  6. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    Apocalypse is embellished mostly with surgical bursts of distortion and the odd flutter of Astral Weeks-esque fiddle and flute
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  7. 8.3 |   Beats Per Minute

    Apocalypse often feels less like a solo album and more like an album from a band called Smog
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  8. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Not one of his career's frequent great leaps forward, but still a thrilling delivery system for his formidable talents. Print edition only

  9. 8.0 |   Uncut

    In Callahan's work things aren't always what they seem, and the line between brilliant and bizarre can be thin. Print edition only

  10. 8.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    Yet another minor triumph from an artist who, despite his constant self-deprecation, seems incapable of offering up less than his best
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  11. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    Its songs, usually built over limited, carefully selected chords, require close attention
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  12. 8.0 |   BBC

    Callahan has gifted us perhaps his most subversive set to date: an album less about apocalypse and ruin than it is upheaval of the positive variety, and one of the most contented and rewarding of his career
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  13. 8.0 |   The Scotsman

    Instead, Apocalypse is a simple, uncluttered personal odyssey under big skies
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  14. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    The tracks on Apocalypse breeze with a placid swoon
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  15. 8.0 |   The Independent

    The songs are cemented together by modest arrangements of guitar, flute and piano, wielded like watercolours
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  16. 8.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    Fabulous images of rustic solitude and existential dread married to smouldering country-rock
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  17. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Seven sparse pieces of music, accompanying Callahan’s particularly dry sense of humour and his stark visual metaphors, his latest LP is as reliably fine as a new film from the Coen Brothers
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  18. 8.0 |   Pitchfork

    Callahan has nothing to add to the general conversation about music in 2011 but is making the best albums of his career
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  19. 8.0 |   NME

    Heartbreaking self-indictment glowers through Apocalypse. Print edition only

  20. 8.0 |   State

    It seems like a fan-only release that may just please the hardcore Smog lovers

  21. 7.5 |   Bowlegs

    While this doesn’t top ‘Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle’, it does create a varying landscape, fine-tuning what has gone before, maturing artistically
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  22. 7.0 |   Spin

    Subtle songwriting that's sly like a stick in your eye
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  23. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Swings elegantly from soft and gorgeous to black and grinding
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  24. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Callahan’s stripped away a good degree of the hooks present on Eagle, and in the process he’s made a more serious (and, sure, self-serious) album
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  25. 4.0 |   Q

    Has the feel of a side-project. Print edition only


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