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9.0
71501
9.0 |
Beardfood
It's pastiche, it's retro, but above all it's a masterpiece
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8.8
71297
8.8 |
Earbuddy
A celebration of the strange and even the sentimental, and ultimately, it’s an album that goes the distance in being different from everything else out there
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8.8
71457
8.8 |
Pitchfork
You can interpret this as another surreal metaphor in his search for enchanted love or chalk it up to a teenaged fixation with the Doors ,maybe a little of both, he can be the frog prince, Shotgun Billy, or ride shotgun in a pink corvette
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8.3
71479
8.3 |
A.V. Club
A sweet spot between his ornate studio creations and off-the-cuff home recordings, aesthetically wacky at a level listeners haven’t heard from him since his nascent days, with bursts of both pathos and vulnerability
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8.0
71481
8.0 |
NME
A randy, touching and deeply strange 17-track adventure
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8.0
71488
8.0 |
Spin
Just about as beautiful of a mess as Pink himself
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8.0
71624
8.0 |
Under The Radar
Pom Pom would be intolerable if it didn't dare revel in the sublime ridiculousness of the cheap, tragically dated, and deeply sleazy
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8.0
71661
8.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Pink not only manages to shoehorn an impossible embarrassment of melodies into the album’s 69 minutes – aesthetically it covers a ridiculous amount of pop ground – but there is also a genuine emotional depth to this record
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8.0
71472
8.0 |
PopMatters
Up there with Ariel Pink's very best work, even if there’s nothing as insanely hooky as “Round and Round"
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8.0
71392
8.0 |
No Ripcord
If you don’t believe he’s a talented, chameleon-like force then the joke’s on you
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8.0
71292
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Ariel Pink has been readjusting our expectations for novelty for a decade now: Pom Pom could be his long overdue manifesto
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8.0
71293
8.0 |
The Skinny
Jubilant, exuberant and a hell of a lot of fun
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8.0
71294
8.0 |
Uncut
Few artists would dare put out anything so gleefully deranged. Print edition only
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8.0
71295
8.0 |
Q
Within its exploded binliner of '80s FM rock licks, novelty squelch noises and other home-recorded debris, songs of splendour lurk
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7.5
71404
7.5 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Ultimately frustrating for the same reasons so many of his colleagues are: he gathers textural and melodic tropes from all over pop music history, filters them through a smeared ‘80s aesthetic with some undeniable craft/texture evinced
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7.5
71497
7.5 |
Consequence Of Sound
The surreal, visceral experience in itself is where the fun lies
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7.0
72058
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
Pom Pom's knockout track is "Put Your Number in My Phone," a buttery slice of California guitar poetry and playa-listic arrogance that perfectly sums up the Pink magic
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7.0
71681
7.0 |
FasterLouder
What we typically seek out in this model of kaleidoscopic double album is an ambushing sense of surprise, and Pom Pom does achieve that over and over again
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7.0
71410
7.0 |
All Music
Though the way Pink zigs and zags on Pom Pom can be dazzling or confusing depending on listeners' patience, in its own way it's one of the best representations of what makes his music fascinating and occasionally frustrating
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7.0
71416
7.0 |
Exclaim
The first half or so of pom pom proves Ariel Pink is still a pretty formidable songwriter
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7.0
71296
7.0 |
The Music
At the end of the day, it lacks any substance or sincerity. Nevertheless, if you’re after some earworms to mix in your beetlejuice, pom pom is an entertaining listen
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6.9
71493
6.9 |
Paste Magazine
Probably the most accessible, easy-on-the-ear and enjoyable music of his career, without any asterisks
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6.5
71829
6.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
It’s a very, very lengthy meander of a record dotted with visionary, tuneful highlights that occasionally make such a meandering, muggy trip well worth the lysergic trudge
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6.0
71666
6.0 |
The Observer
Pink has melody to burn, but the unevenness of Pom Pom is a stumbling block, even allowing leeway for lysergic non-linearity
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6.0
71380
6.0 |
Mojo
Uniquely inventive. Print edition only
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6.0
71400
6.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
Essentially Mr. Ariel Rosenberg’s id, in pink, black, and red all over, this is about destabilizing the notion of having any solid, fixed perception of who and what Ariel Pink is
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4.0
71279
4.0 |
DIY
Overbearing and frustrating from the get go, it feels like he’s taking the piss
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4.0
71291
4.0 |
The Guardian
What Pom Pom seems to communicate most clearly is a kind of weird, smug contempt. It sounds like pop music made by someone who feels pop music is beneath him
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3.0
71455
3.0 |
Crack
Pom Pom’s fun and romance is drained by a conceited stretch of triviality and a growing realisation that, even if you are in on the joke, it’s just not that funny anymore
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