Play Music is the second studio album by electronic group Thieves Like Us.
| Play Music | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 17 November 2008 | |||
| Label | Shelflife Records | |||
| Thieves Like Us chronology | ||||
| ||||
Critical reception edit
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Album of the Year | 50/100[1] |
| Metacritic | 48/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
| Contactmusic.com | 6/10[4] |
| Drowned in Sound | 5/10[5] |
| IndieLondon | 1/5[6] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 30%[7] |
| NME | [8] |
| Pitchfork | 5.6/10[9] |
| PopMatters |   [10] |
| Q | [2] |
IndieLondon criticized Play Music for the song tempos being too slow for the dance style it aimed for and also panned the lead singer's performance.[6] An extremely negative NME review from Alex Hoban dismissed the album as a set of "boring songs about drugs" with "vaguely voguish words" and "empty lyrics," wondering if he was "caught up in some kind of late April Fool" instead of an actual record.[8] The Line of Best Fit bashed the record for its lack of stylistic and instrumental variety between tracks, describing the experience as "faceless, soulless, heartless synthetics in its prime as this Parisian trio pursue only what they know, and care nothing for what they don't."[7]
Exclaim! was one of the few publications to run a favorable review, where Cam Lindsay praised its mixture of styles from different countries with pop music elements and a dark mood: "Play Music is the complete package, with a resounding desire to keep you locked in with misshapen melodies and distorted emotion. Even two years after its debut, it still sounds freshly squeezed, without any indication of going sour any time soon."[11]
References edit
- ^ "Thieves Like Us – Play Music". Album of the Year. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Play Music by Thieves Like Us Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Hoffman, K. Ross. "Play Music – Thieves Like Us". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Roffey, Pablo (15 June 2009). "Thieves Like Us". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Catling, Simon Jay (21 July 2009). "Album Review: Thieves Like Us – Play Music". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b Jackson, Hedley. "Thieves Like Us – Play Music". IndieLondon. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b Jones, Merlin (6 July 2009). "Thieves Like Us – Play Music". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b Hoban, Alex (11 June 2009). "Album review: Thieves Like Us – 'Play Music'". NME. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Hogan, Marc (10 April 2009). "Thieves Like Us: Play Us". Pitchfork. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Raper, Dan (16 April 2009). "Thieves Like Us: Play Music". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Lindsay, Cam (4 March 2009). "Thieves Like Us Play Music". Exclaim!. Retrieved 11 May 2020.