> Switch to Advanced Search

New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

60 31Knots
71 The Academy Is...
75 The Accidental
68 Adele
70 Adem
67 The Airborne Toxic Event
70 Alkaline Trio
72 Alphabeat
77 Theresa Andersson
74 Apollo Sunshine
52 Ashanti
84 Bajofondo
56 David Banner
76 The Baseball Project
77 Beck
77 Black Affair
59 Black Ghosts
76 Black Kids
73 Brazilian Girls
90 The Bug
56 Caesars
70 Glen Campbell
75 Brendan Canning
69 The Charlatans
72 Coldplay
78 The Cool Kids
65 Alice Cooper
77 Rodney Crowell
65 CSS
67 Miley Cyrus
45 Dandy Warhols
81 Danny!
73 Death Vessel
79 Damien Dempsey
58 Dirty Pretty Things
57 Disturbed
72 Dr. Dog
82 DragonForce
78 The Duhks
75 Jakob Dylan
77 Earlimart
77 Brian Eno + David Byrne
83 Alejandro Escovedo
62 The Faint
56 Feeder
65 The Fiery Furnaces
87 Fleet Foxes
64 iForward, Russia!
61 The Fratellis
73 The Futureheads
59 G Love & Special Sauce
65 The Game
74 Inara George With Van Dyke Parks
74 Giant Sand
80 Girl Talk
61 Golden Animals
64 Mike Gordon
42 G-Unit
79 GZA
64 Albert Hammond, Jr.
67 Ed Harcourt
78 Emmylou Harris
86 Harvey Milk
73 Juliana Hatfield
61 Hawthorne Heights
86 Hercules And Love Affair
82 High Places
76 Zach Hill
85 The Hold Steady
63 Vanessa Hudgens
70 Human Highway
77 James Hunter
68 Ice Cube
66 Ida Maria
69 Jaguar Love
69 Jewel
76 Joan As Police Woman
81 Jamey Johnson
70 Jonas Brothers
59 Judas Priest
57 Kerli
73 Ladytron
72 Leila
76 Lykke Li
82 Lil Wayne
82 Lindstrom
72 Little Jackie
60 Lloyd
55 Los Lonely Boys
74 Love As Laughter
79 Aimee Mann
80 Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
76 John Mellencamp
71 The Melvins
71 Men Without Pants
74 Mirah
63 Alanis Morissette
56 Motley Crue
74 The M's
84 The Music Tapes
54 The Music
71 My Brightest Diamond
70 My Morning Jacket
63 N.E.R.D. [The Neptunes]
71 Nas
79 Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis
51 New Kids On The Block
84 Randy Newman
78 Nine Inch Nails
75 The Notwist
75 Conor Oberst
52 The Offspring
80 One Day As A Lion
75 Oneida
82 Opeth
62 The Orb
75 Oxford Collapse
43 Katy Perry
74 Lee "Scratch" Perry
84 Sam Phillips
72 Plies
73 Robert Pollard
81 Ponytail
64 Primal Scream
78 Ra Ra Riot
48 The Rascals
71 Ratatat
63 Re-Up Gang
48 Gavin Rossdale
71 The Rumble Strips
65 RZA
74 Scars On Broadway
70 Ron Sexsmith
85 Shearwater
39 Shwayze
81 Sigur Rós
78 Silver Jews
69 Slipknot
74 Sloan
79 Patti Smith and Kevin Shields
72 Solange
69 Son, Ambulance
63 Sam Sparro
65 Rick Springfield
65 Staind
47 Stereo MC's
72 Stereolab
69 The Stills
75 Subtle
83 Sugarland
67 Supergrass
69 Matthew Sweet
77 Irma Thomas
84 Teddy Thompson
57 Three 6 Mafia
73 Tilly And The Wall
64 The Ting Tings
72 Tittsworth
63 James Jackson Toth
72 Randy Travis
92 Underoath
58 UNKLE
58 David Vandervelde
71 The Verve
69 The Virgins
69 Loudon Wainwright III
77 Martha Wainwright
81 The Walkmen
67 The Watson Twins
67 Ben Weaver
81 The Week That Was
64 Weezer
77 Paul Weller
76 White Denim
71 Brian Wilson
79 Cassandra Wilson
87 Dennis Wilson
76 Wire
78 Wolf Parade
61 XX Teens
66 Young Jeezy
55 Yung Berg
66 The Zutons

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
by Atmosphere


8.7

based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 31 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

The latest album for the hip-hop duo from Minneapolis also includes a book written by Slug with the deluxe edition release.

LABEL:	Rhymesayers
RELEASE DATE:	22 April 2008
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Rap

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Delusions of Adequacy

This is a matured and musical hip-hop duo and whether it is the fine contributions by Tom Waits and Tunde Adebimpe on separate songs, Ant’s soulful and majestic music, or Slug’s illustrious and poignant story-telling; it’s all superb.

RapReviews.com

Even though some might miss Slug's angst-ridden diatribes (Lucy Ford is nowhere to be found on this album), he manages to toe the line between rapper and griot better than he ever has before on this new effort.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Musically, Lemons is lusher and more ruminative than the harder-hitting Imagine, with producer Ant calling on Atmosphere's live backing band--plus guests, including Tom Waits (beatboxing!) and TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe--to flesh out the sound, enhancing his already-organic approach.

MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)

Nevertheless, the lost lives and loves he sketches are so painfully familiar they feel like truth. And Ant's homey beats enhance the illusion.

Alternative Press

The cumulative effect is a widescreen collection that seems destined to win a broader audience for the duo without sacrificing the intimate I-feel-you-fucked-up-life atmosphere of their best work. [May 2008, p.144]

The New York Times

The words are upfront, with a naturalistic delivery that sometimes recalls Kanye West. These are storytelling songs, not club tracks, moving at midtempos and often easing back toward ballads.

Urb

Being a gluttonous hard-ass has been a tough requirement to scratch from the 10 rap commandments, but a growing trend in transparent MCs finds Atmosphere atop the pedestal of its post-Prozac and Adderalled audience. Maybe good dads just make the world better, one damn fine album at a time.

Paste Magazine

For the first time, the duo forgoes Ant's sampled beats in favor of live instrumentals to back Slug's rhymes, which results in a sound that's far more textured and intricate than their previous five efforts.

Pitchfork

More energy and less uniformly drab scenery might have kept these well-intentioned stories from blurring into each other.

Drowned In Sound

Atmosphere play an autobiographical angle affectingly well. It’s an approach that’ll lead some to conclude When Life… is a little on the dull side, but with six albums under their belt seems the duo’s formula is not about to let them down just yet.

Spin

Add some beatboxing courtesy of Tom Waits (!), and you have an occasionally forced, yet boldly magnetic change of pace. [May 2008, p.94]

Dusted Magazine

When Life… is not all bad, however. It is merely middling.

Village Voice

The piano twinkle and mere droplet of a beat on 'Like the Rest of Us' sounds like Slug doing Regina Spektor; the coos and plucks of 'Me' are Yael Naïm; the barista-strum acoustic rap of 'Guarantees' aims for Elliott Smith and ends up with Uncle Kracker; the skipping hand-clap gospel of 'Puppets' is pure Moby Playtime; and, for some reason, 'Dreamer' sounds like Michael McDonald--funkless, martial, stiff, and innocuous, perfect for an upwardly mobile 21-45 demo that seeks neither boom nor bap with their soy latte.

PopMatters

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold is almost entirely forgettable.

Tiny Mix Tapes

We’re given a de trop of horrid synthesizers, only to be outdone by worse choruses and banal refrains.

The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Vincent G. gave it a4:
Should've been called, "When Life Gives You Lemons, So Does Atmosphere". This album is weak from front to back, and, when put alongside anything released by the group within the last year, falls flat on its face. It's not that it's too mainstream, or that it gained exposure through MTV; rather, it's that the album is boring. The lyrics are dull, the production is weak, the songs are cookie-cutter, and, overall, lack what I love & look to Atmosphere for. Hopefully they'll put some actual effort into the next album, and leave Nate Collis & the rest of the band for the live sets.

Andrew C. gave it a10:
A change of pace that yields an album for a more mellow listening mood, When Life... is a real piece of work. Whether it is the new Atmosphere or just the current version, the verse is legit and the music wraps it all up in a smooth bundle.

David S. gave it a9:
If this cd doesnt go at least gold they should paint that shit gold anyway cuz its good.

Steven S. gave it a10:
This album is like weed for your ears, it feels sooooooooo good. Atmosphere is one of the premiere rap groups/duos in the game today, and this album just solidifies that fact.

David S. gave it a9:
This album moved me. It's very mature and deep, very touching. I havn't enjoyed an album as much as this in a long time.

Raymond B. gave it a10:
I'm impressed with this new album, while not exactly upbeat, it still has a lot of groove in the rhythm and sweetness in the melodies. Slug's lyrics are as always unique to his style, and fresh and insightful. I feel that this album seems to show a matured style of music that can permeate a much larger demographic than the cookie cutter club rap will ever.

Keith T. gave it a9:
Definitely a must buy for smooth beats and story telling fans.

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold by Atmosphere

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
by Atmosphere