Albums to watch

An Awesome Wave

Alt-J

An Awesome Wave

Genre-defying debut album from the Leeds four-piece

ADM rating[?]

7.4

Label
Infectious
UK Release date
28/05/2012
US Release date
18/09/2012
  1. 9.0 |   Clash

    Like many felt when The xx released their eponymous LP, it seemed too complete and rounded to ever be a debut. Alt-J are similarly composed. Young, yet somehow void of naivety. Vibrant, yet artistically matured
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  2. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    With their exciting mixture of crushing synths, beautiful vocal harmonies and folk-esque verses setting them apart from any other act around
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  3. 9.0 |   BBC

    A stunning and encompassing affair of both innovative and electrifying musicianship and exemplary song writing.
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  4. 9.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    These are just the band’s initial ideas, you feel, and they really are quite stunning
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  5. 9.0 |   God Is In The TV

    An exceptional debut
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  6. 9.0 |   Prefix

    Exciting to listen to
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  7. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    A beautifully rounded, awesome debut album
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  8. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    The 13 tracks here don't easily fit into popular categories. Persistent rhythms and disjointed piano melodies are given a smattering of digital blippery that's not unlike something you'd hear on a recent Radiohead record
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  9. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    A band comfortable being in two places at once—well-known and completely unheard of, popular and critically acclaimed—a band which stands on a precipice because it enjoys terrifying heights and crushing depths, sometimes in the same song
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  10. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    A run of thrilling, innovative, unlikely pop sparklers. An album and a band that are not afraid to be smart
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  11. 8.0 |   State

    Maybe what is quite so special about alt-J is that at their heart are four individuals in control of their own destiny. Awesome indeed
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  12. 8.0 |   DIY

    There is always something very refreshing about something that defies expectation, especially when the band in question doesn’t feel the need to swan about like a bunch of pretentious twats after doing so
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  13. 8.0 |   Q

    There's undeniably something new and intriguing going on here. Print edition only

  14. 8.0 |   NME

    On the surface, this is smart alt-pop, but Alt-J have messed with the formula just enough to make this a brilliantly disquieting debut
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  15. 7.5 |   Tone Deaf

    Alt-J’s ideas turn out to be as captivating to the ear as they are to the intelligencia
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  16. 7.0 |   All Music

    Alt-J's wave is far more awesome when it's at its most schizophrenic
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  17. 6.0 |   The Fly

    The folk alternative to Everything Everything? Quite possibly…
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  18. 5.0 |   A.V. Club

    An Awesome Wave washes over its beached listeners, pleasantly cooling them for a second, then making its retreat back into an ocean of sameness
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  19. 5.0 |   Blurt

    A quirky, genre blending album that pulls the majority of its inspiration from world music
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  20. 4.8 |   Pitchfork

    The members of Alt-J have been working on An Awesome Wave for five years, and it shows. It's both overstuffed and messy, and so overworked that what life there may once have been now exists as a kind of primordial paste
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  21. 4.0 |   Mojo

    Four young men aim for 'cryptic experimental pop' but hit 'pompous whimsy'. Print edition only


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Alt-J: An Awesome Wave

  • Download full album for just £6.49
  • 1. Intro £0.99
  • 2. (The Ripe & Ruin) £0.99
  • 3. Tessellate £0.99
  • 4. Breezeblocks £0.99
  • 5. (Guitar) £0.99
  • 6. Something Good £0.99
  • 7. Dissolve Me £0.99
  • 8. Matilda £0.99
  • 9. Ms £0.99
  • 10. Fitzpleasure £0.99
  • 11. (Piano) £0.99
  • 12. Bloodflood £0.99
  • 13. Taro £0.99
  • 14. Hand-made £0.99
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