Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Alt-J

  • An Awesome Wave [Canvasback/Atlantic, 2012] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

An Awesome Wave [Canvasback/Atlantic, 2012]
It's not easy to sound like no one else while performing what are still recognizably pop songs, and harder to remain anything like listenable in the process. But topped off by Joe Newman's ductile whine (can't call it weedy, too organic) and propelled by living bass and drums you'd swear were synthesized too, this Leeds-to-Cambridge foursome's unhurried electro-mesh is always more than pleasant and half the time mildly enthralling. "Tessellate" is the hit, "Matilda" the rouser, "Dissolve Me" the statement of aesthetic-erotic principle. How Brits can call them the new Radiohead beats me. But then, Brits and Radiohead often do. B+