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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Return To Cookie Mountain
by TV On The Radio
David Bowie guests on the highly-anticipated second LP (and major-label debut) from the distinctive NYC band.
| LABEL: |
Interscope / 4AD |
| RELEASE DATE: |
12 September 2006 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Indie, Rock |
NOTES: UK release 3 Jul 2006. The September US release contains 3 additional tracks.
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
Tiny Mix Tapes
Return To Cookie Mountain is one for the ages.
100
The Onion (A.V. Club)
TV On The Radio previously seemed content to roam the open horizon; here, it's intent on exploring the far side. The journey is, once again, enthralling.
100
Alternative Press
Yes, the journey is often challenging, but that's what makes it unforgettable. [Dec 2006, p.190]
94
Filter
As an artistic achievement, it ranks incredibly high on the list of great postmodern statements. Here is a piece of music (but oh so much more) that proves that something new can be done, and it can be entirely engaging. [#21, p.92]
92
ShakingThrough.net
Return to Cookie Mountain validates the promise of TV on the Radio, an outfit that heretofore had displayed more potential than actual returns.
91
MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
Never rousing and too often glum, the album is carried by its intelligence, integrity and terrible beauty. [Feb/Mar 2007]
91
Entertainment Weekly
The savvier arrangements, brimming with unsettling sound effects, put Cookie Mountain several steps ahead of its fine 2004 predecessor, Desperate Youth, Bloody Thirsty Babes.
91
Stylus Magazine
TV on the Radio have crafted a work of immense, cataclysmic, almost overwhelming power and righteous fire.
91
Pitchfork
Maybe that's why this album has such an incredible pull: It doesn't make an atmosphere so much as a space to spend time in, and Adebimpe doesn't become a narrator so much as a witness.
90
Drowned In Sound
Return To Cookie Mountain is a party soundtrack for a fucked-up generation and an opus that inhabits the midpoint between the scarcely conjoining circles of eclecticism and enjoyability whilst maintaining consistency throughout.
90
Prefix Magazine
Return to Cookie Mountain makes Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes look almost silly by comparison.
90
Neumu.net
Whichever way you look at it, as avant-pop or cubist soul, Return to Cookie Mountain remains an intoxicating, intriguing but accessible album.
90
New Musical Express
Odd, addictive, unsettling and beautiful. [8 Jul 2006, p.41]
90
Slant Magazine
TV On The Radio do more than keep pace with their Shortlist Prize-winning Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes; they enhance nearly every aspect of their debut, creating an album that is uniquely theirs in the modern scene.
90
Rolling Stone
Might be the most oddly beautiful, psychedelic and ambitious [album] of the year. [21 Sep 2006, p.84]
90
The New York Times
It’s more experimental yet catchier, more introspective yet more assertive, by turns gloomier and funnier, and above all richer in both sound and implication. “Return to Cookie Mountain” is simply one of this year’s best albums.
90
NOW Magazine
A densely tangled masterpiece that floods and floors by straddling swaggering grooves and boggling cacophony.
90
Amazon.com
Almost wholly brilliant.
90
Under The Radar
Return to Cookie Mountain sweats off most of the band’s more head-scratching impulses and leaves a manic, depressive, exhilarating album of experimental pop. [#15]
88
The Phoenix
Experimental without sacrificing anything in terms of hooks or melody, passionate yet never overbearing, and clever without giving in to the urge to indulge, it places TV on the Radio on a plane with no peers.
86
cokemachineglow
The music beneath Cookie Mountain is an earthquake of nearly generation-defining proportions.
80
Uncut
Return To Cookie Mountain sees TV solidifying their more ethereal tendencies into denser compositions. [Aug 2006, p.100]
80
Billboard
While TVOTR now record for just another major label, their music is more distinctive than ever.
80
Q Magazine
An album full of playful daring. [Aug 2006, p.115]
80
musicOMH.com
While far from immaculate, Cookie Mountain is the logical progression from Desperate Youth, with its conception fruit enough for those who appreciate musical innovation.
80
All Music Guide
At times, Return to Cookie Mountain threatens to become more impressive than likeable -- a complaint that could also arguably be leveled against Desperate Youth as well -- but fortunately, TV on the Radio reconnects with, and builds on, the intimacy and purity that made Young Liars so striking.
80
Dot Music
Take the time to squeeze inside, and you'll discover a startling, significant, endlessly inspiring album.
80
Blender
On their lush major-label debut, the haunting Peter Gabriel-esque yawlps of singer Tunde Adebimpbe are punctuated by singer-guitarist Kyp Malone, whose raspy falsetto provides a sense of deadpan panic. [Jul 2006, p.103]
80
Observer Music Monthly
A warmer, more linear record than their debut... Spellbinding, frustrating, wonderful.
80
Spin
Sitek's layered sonics have grown more immense... and almost none of these songs charts a predictable course. [Jun 2006, p.81]
80
Urb
Give up now, guys, because it rarely gets better than this. [Jun 2006, p.113]
80
Mojo
A triumph of psychedelic melody, drone and eerie groove. [Jul 2006, p.104]
80
Paste Magazine
TV on the Radio is that rare band able to simultaneously identify the pitfalls of modern life and offer a spiritual alternative... That the band does so with music that's at once readily accessible and refreshingly unique is simply the crowning touch. [Jun/Jul 2006, p.118]
80
The Guardian
Return to Cookie Mountain is largely a delight - an experimental album with a pop heart that avoids self-indulgence.
78
Almost Cool
Dense and substantive, Return To Cookie Mountain is a nice head-trip to take.
70
PopMatters
It may sound strange and unwieldy on first (or second or third) exposure, but those who stick with it will be rewarded with an album of surpassing intricacy, filled with an abundance of musical nooks and crannies, the likes of which reward sustained attention and concentrated effort on the part of the listener.
70
Vibe
These are antiheroic, anti-anthemic, antiwar gems of abstraction, full of consistently strange and exotic charms. [Oct 2006, p.146]
70
Dusted Magazine
There's a wider range of styles and sounds here, from dramatic shoegazer epics to the closest they've ever gotten to straight-ahead rock. Not everything gels solidly, and there are some awkward moments, but no real stumbles.
70
Playlouder
Fascinatingly dense, soulful and utterly divine.
60
Trouser Press
As music for airports, the album hums along like a tension-age sedative, but if it was meant to be a grand artistic statement by an acclaimed band with a distinctive vision, it's pretty much static.
The average user rating for this album is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 196 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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