Albums to watch

Drifters/Love Is The Devil

Dirty Beaches

Drifters/Love Is The Devil

First release of 2013 from hyperactive lo-fi, no wave experimental singer, musician and producer, Canadian / Taiwanese Alex Zhang Hungtai

ADM rating[?]

7.2

Label
Zoo
UK Release date
21/05/2013
US Release date
21/05/2013
  1. 8.9 |   Bowlegs

    Full immersion is required here – the pay back is one of the most exhilarating and atmospheric audio experiences you’re likely to hear this year
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  2. 8.6 |   Beats Per Minute

    Not just one of the best albums of the year, but one of the most genuinely moving, as well
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  3. 8.4 |   Pitchfork

    More robust and eccentric than anything he's ever released before
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  4. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    As it turns out, to be confused on how to take this record is to be listening to it properly: it’s an album about confusion itself
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  5. 8.0 |   The 405

    Even without lyrics or a voice for over half the album, Dirty Beaches still affects emotions in a primitive, endearing way
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  6. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    The sound of pure isolation and dread wrapped in one bleary, beautiful package
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  7. 7.6 |   Paste Magazine

    A welcome addition to the Dirty Beaches catalog
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  8. 7.5 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    More often than not it displays Dirty Beaches as a project increasingly adept at the scattershot of styles, imprinted with Hungtai’s own recognisable mark
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  9. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    On the basis of both Drifters and Love Is The Devil, there's an eerily romantic side to Dirty Beaches waiting to mature with age
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  10. 7.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    This is not a record you can listen to lightly; it demands your full attention and sometimes it’s difficult to tell whether you’re actually enjoying it
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  11. 7.0 |   All Music

    Spans nearly every sound in Dirty Beaches' musical spectrum to make another strongly evocative album
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  12. 7.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    It sounds intensely personal because it is — these are the kind of songs people record for themselves. Fortunately, Hungtai has let us into his world
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  13. 7.0 |   DIY

    Individually these would be two good albums. But as a complimentary pair they become much more
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  14. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    As tough sledding as Drifters/Love Is the Devil can be both psychically and musically, there are enough moments of enlightenment that make you more than willing to follow Hungtai wherever he goes
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  15. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Lo-fi soundtracks and haunted blues. Print edition only

  16. 6.0 |   NME

    There are magic moments, but the overall effect might make you drift off
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  17. 5.5 |   Under The Radar

    This is the album Hungtai needed to record, but not necessarily the record his burgeoning audience wanted to experience
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