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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Mountain Battles
by The Breeders
The fourth album for the rock band formed by Kim Deal of the Pixies was produced by Steve Albini.
| LABEL: |
4AD |
| RELEASE DATE: |
08 April 2008 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rock |
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...
87
Lost At Sea
In a career full of perfect miniatures, Mountain Battles might actually be the Deals' best. It's certainly their most even-flowing.
82
cokemachineglow
It is true that many may balk at the lack of outright pop or that some of the songs are too sparse or that Steve Albini’s production is bottom-heavy, muddy, and lo-fi but there’s just too much to love on this album for any of that to get in the way.
80
No Ripcord
This is Kim Deal’s version of scuffed-up shoegazer rock, albeit with a shit-eating grin shining off the moonlight.
80
Magnet
Mountain Battles turns longtime engineer Steve Albini's bare-bones studio work into a virtue and spins Deal's ADD-afflicted worldview into gold. [Summer 2008, p.97]
80
Tiny Mix Tapes
This album is an embarrassment of riches.
80
Boston Globe
Alt-rock guru Steve Albini is back at the helm and once again proves the ideal midwife for the Breeders' fiercely independent vision.
80
All Music Guide
And, though the album covers a lot of territory--13 songs in 36 minutes!--it doesn't feel scattered; scattered implies no purpose, but Mountain Battles' songs land, eventually, exactly where they need to.
80
Village Voice
In many ways, what follows is the perfect distillation of the Breeders' catalog (and Deal's attendant side project, the Amps).
80
New Musical Express
Mountain Battles is both a joyfully lived-in and boundary-free album.
80
Dot Music
Like their three previous records, Mountain Battles is a record to return to again and again, like an old and dear friend who can still somehow surprise you.
80
Uncut
Mountain Battles is marginally more polished than "Title TK" but it still sounds as if it was recorded in one take in Steve Albini’s toilet. A good thing, as it turns out. The intimacy of is what makes it precious.
80
Slant Magazine
Mountain Battles is a wonderful, trippy record that's full of invention and Deal sister sass.
80
musicOMH.com
With material as good as this, we can bear to do without Pixies for a while yet.
80
Billboard
The latest batch of tunes definitely includes some keepers.
80
PopMatters
Overall, Mountain Battles shines in its aim to surprise the listener at every turn.
80
The Guardian
Deal's bass is one of the most comforting sounds in rock, her tender, bruised-violet voice being another, and hearing her again is like meeting a good friend after a long hiatus.
80
Mojo
Here are 13 reasons why we don't need another Pixies record. [Apr 2008, p.101]
80
Spin
The Breeders can still crank out straightforward rock songs, but iy's the creepier stuff that gets under your skin and stays there. [Apr 2008, p.104]
80
Paste Magazine
The album’s sequencing is impeccable, as the band segues into airy atmospherics for 'Night of Joy' and 'We’re Gonna Rise,' the album’s most tender, melancholy and meditative tracks.
80
Observer Music Monthly
Such is the balm-like propensity of her singing that the listener experiences it as a physical sensation as much as a sound. Yet as these 13 brief but perfectly formed songs rush by in 35 hectic, blissful minutes, the overall effect is galvanising rather than palliative.
75
Pitchfork
If "Title TK" was a tentative first step back into the public eye, Mountain Battles finds Kim and Kelley proudly venerating the Breeders' battle-scarred history and bull-headed perseverance.
70
Dusted Magazine
Mountain Battles gets less right than Pod or Last Splash did, but hits the target more often than Pacer or Title TK. Either way, it's probably a bit better than you expect.
70
Drowned In Sound
As it is, it’s just satisfying. It’s ironic, then, that the record comes with such a momentous title, because really, it’s a gentle personal triumph.
70
Rolling Stone
Steve Albini (Nirvana, PJ Harvey), among other producers, keeps things raw; indeed, the record's primitive art punk sometimes echoes Nirvana.
70
Delusions of Adequacy
Taken as a whole, this endearingly strange collection should force casual-listeners to appreciate the importance of the album as a convoluted, contrary and eternally charismatic art form, which can still be defended by even the most work-shy of songsmiths.
70
Filter
Kim and Kelly Deal have delivered their strangest record to date. [Winter 2008, p.91]
65
Prefix Magazine
It's an interesting mix, but unfortunately, the album is never as much fun to listen to as it probably was for the Deal sisters to make.
60
Q Magazine
Even when the spare, fractured arrangements seem a bit aimless, the girlish harmonies keep on charming. [May 2008, p.126]
60
NOW Magazine
The end product, however, is an album easy to admire yet tough to love.
60
Urb
With the Pixies re-run now seemingly over, it's good to hear the "other Deal" project back in full effect.
60
Blender
The result is slight but often gorgeous. [Apr 2008, p.77]
60
Hot Press
It’s not as nebulous as their last album--and it doesn’t deliver the melodic thrills of Last Splash--but Mountain Battles has personality, spirit, warmth and tenderness in abundance.
58
The Onion (A.V. Club)
While Deal's music has often been enhanced by its try-anything roughness, here, she sounds like she's just hoping something will stick.
50
Austin Chronicle
Deal; her sister, Kelley, on guitar; drummer Jose Medeles; and bassist Mando Lopez return from 2002's "Title TK" in a mellow tone.
50
Entertainment Weekly
The record comes off like punk-rock outtakes for the heavily narcotized.
50
Under The Radar
Despite its evocative title of raw sinewy snarl, Mountain Battles is, sadly, a narcoleptic disappointment. [Spring 2008, p.74]
The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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