Albums to watch

Lenses Alien

Cymbals Eat Guitars

Lenses Alien

Album No.2 from the New York leftfield alt.rock quartet

ADM rating[?]

7.4

Label
Memphis Industries
UK Release date
29/08/2011
US Release date
30/08/2011
  1. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    Bears traces of Modest Mouse, Superchunk, Cap’n Jazz, Slint, and others, but the songs exude a craftsmanship that simple re-appropriation couldn’t achieve
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  2. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    Music has the right to sound this discombobulated when its composers know how to weave you into their web of splendor
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  3. 8.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    One of the year’s most surprisingly transcendental sophomore albums
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  4. 8.0 |   Beats Per Minute

    This is a really banging collection by a poet honing his craft, still experimenting and learning and having fun
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  5. 8.0 |   Pitchfork

    Puts more confidence in the listener's attention span than pretty much anything else I've heard this year
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  6. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    While there are elements of influences and inspiration threaded throughout Lenses Alien, the album remains an inventive, explosive work that is entirely of these unsettled time
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  7. 8.0 |   Pitchfork

    Thick with overlapping images, memories, stray thoughts, and second guessing
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  8. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Plenty of bands are currently excavating the late 80s/early 90s golden age of experimental indie, but it's rarely done with this level of confidence and imagination
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  9. 8.0 |   Spin

    Will speak to fans of Built to Spill's squall, Superchunk's chug, and Modest Mouse's string-bending strangeness
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  10. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Surprises lie in the way a song will shift direction and dynamic, a melody will twist away from the vocal line, a guitar will apparently detune mid-note
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  11. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    With their nerve held, this is Cymbals Eat Guitars at an impressively high creative watermark still early in their career
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  12. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    It's one thing to deliver clever, offbeat lyrics, but Cymbals Eat Guitars balances out these abstract vocal overtones with deftly handled instrumentation, bringing to mind the heydays of Built to Spill, Pavement, and Superchunk
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  13. 8.0 |   The Fly

    These songs aren’t simple hummable pop ditties – they splinter off in deceptively-complex directions, coalescing as beautifully powerful patterns that you’d be a goddamn fool to resist
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  14. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    This is the sound of four individuals finding their footing as a band and songwriters
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  15. 7.5 |   Prefix

    This sound doesn't fit such easy spaces, which is what makes it so damn good
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  16. 7.2 |   Paste Magazine

    Where their effects could once be neatly filed under “ambient,” the result now is more frantic—even, you could say, angrier—on much of the album
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  17. 7.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    There are countless artists mining those halcyon days of the early- to mid-90s, but these guys are among the few who are really seem to refashion those base elements into something that feels both fresh and beguiling
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  18. 7.0 |   God Is In The TV

    An immensely rewarding follow up from a band who have shown that they aren’t afraid to push themselves
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  19. 7.0 |   NME

    They mainly hit a balance between shifting symphonies, subtle keys and pyroclastic guitar
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  20. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Cymbals Eat Guitars sound free from the influence-peddling of their debut, well on their way to creating their own niche
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  21. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    Continues the band’s mission to bring the quiet/loud/quiet/loud aesthetic to the masses
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  22. 6.0 |   Q

    A rugged, roaring listen. Print edition only

  23. 6.0 |   Uncut

    Stoned, paranoid, or both, best keep an eye on them. Print edition only

  24. 5.5 |   Bowlegs

    If there was more clarity in the vocals so you could engage in the stories, or if the music was more coherent and had more character, this would be an interesting album
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Cymbals Eat Guitars: Lenses Alien

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