Meanwhile, “Dream Team” adds bright textures with a sound that reminds you of the sun rising. This is as “The Actor” is soft and gentle, approaching your ears and mind cautiously, like a soft feather or a wisp. Joining these, “Tuna in a Can” is a motivating track that even gets you to sway along a bit. Then you have “Barefoot in Snow” coming on with an upbeat rhythm and thoughtful lyrics, while “Fruit Bat” once more evokes relaxing sensations with delicate piano keys.

Honestly, it is a balancing act of moods throughout the album. Further proof of such is that other tracks like “Kamikaze” and “Ordinary Creature pick up the pace at times, before “The Towering Skyscraper at the End of the Road” becomes mellow with a heartfelt emotion. This is as “Styrofoam Cathedral” comes with an almost hypnotic chorus, “The Block” brings along more inviting melody, and “Mouse Parade” and “The End” cap off the collection perfectly. 

In the end, Of Monsters And Men have created a brilliant new album that gets your mind wandering in the most delightful manner possible. The ethereal, fairy-like melodies are combined with beautiful vocals and many harmonies that will go straight to your heart.

(Cryptical Rock)

Dass "Volume V" die 30-Minuten-Grenze nur denkbar knapp überschreitet, tut dem Album gut. Ob die emotionale Wirkung des Dauer-Pathos noch wesentlich länger funktioniert hätte, darf bezweifelt werden. So aber rundet "The wake", mit Akustikgitarre, Tamburin und Mundharmonika vergleichsweise dezent instrumentiert, eine dieser seltenen LPs ab, bei denen man inexistente Ecken und Kanten nicht vermisst. Im Gegenteil, man freut sich über den Kokon, in den Other Lives einen eine halbe Stunde lang hüllen, einen Kokon der vermeintlich Banales wie Sakrales erscheinen lässt. (…) Other Lives jedenfalls bleiben glücklicherweise ganz sie selbst.

(Plattentests)

So schlicht der Albumtitel wirken mag, so überschwänglich ist die Musik dahinter. Mit Streichern, Bläsern und klassischen Folk-Instrumenten legen Other Lives eine weiche Decke über die Szenerien, die sie besingen.

Jeder einzelne Song trägt in seiner sanften Großmut den Anspruch, eine Breitbild-Naturaufnahme eines Blockbusters zu untermalen. Auf eine gute Weise.

Den Gesang teilen sich die Eheleute Jesse Tabish und Kim Tabish fair auf, die Melodien schwingen dabei im Referenzraum von Arcade Fire über The National bis zu Of Monsters And Men. Wenn auch nur eine dieser Bands bei euch auf Heavy Rotation läuft, ist dieses Album ein absolutes Jahreshighlight.

(MusikBlog)

Tame Impala’s fifth album is unlike anything Parker’s musical moniker has released to date. More consistent in emotional tone than his previous records, Deadbeat finds club-friendly techno nestled amongst sparser, more minimal creations. (…) 

For Deadbeat, Parker seems to have abandoned his quest for perfection in favour of pulling on threads of inspiration, then rolling about and luxuriating in whatever unravels. Nothing’s off limits or overbaked, Parker just lets his freak flag guide him.

(Rolling Stone)

In short, Bye Bye Jackie unreels much like an old-school film noir. Its scenes are cloaked in shadows, with the claustrophobia further accented by oblique angles and cynicism. As with those classic (and not-so-classic) movies, however, the ambiguity pulls us in; these are mesmerizing songs, all. To shift metaphors and return to the lede, autumn is often equated with death and dying—yet remains a beloved time of year. There’s beauty in catharsis. Such is the case here.

(The Old Grey Cat)

Opening track ‘The Slammer’ is ubiquitously PWEI, opening proceedings as all their great albums do, by making a lot out of their four initials, before the already released ‘Bruiser‘ and ‘Disco Misfits’, get things started properly, hints of The Prodigy behind the vocal volleys of the frontmen, they’ve lost none on their energy over the intervening years, and these are songs that are gonna sound immense live on their upcoming tour, you can almost picture the middle age mosh-pit bounce now.

And speaking of The Prodigy, there’s a reworking of the 1994’s Music For The Jilted Generation collaboration track ‘Their Law‘, with both acts still love enough to continue to play live, this version hits even harder than the original, with extra lyrics on a song that is sadly still relevant now as it was back in the rave-halting days.

There’s small easter egg reminders of their past in places, for example on ‘Vive Le Rok”s “pretty pretty, hey, pretty pretty” whilst the old-skool rap of ‘Built For Fun’, with its hometown shout outs and the zany nonsense of ‘Play A Fast’Un‘ could have been from their early 90’s classic album Cure For Sanity, but this is no nostalgia venture.

They chill out sonically with the Eastern vibes of ‘Never Mind The Botox‘, but lyrically it’s still as sharp as on anything else on here, but overall, it’s general mood is that of an angry record, but rightly so, there’s a lot to be angry about, the mid-point interlude ‘Mofo Face‘’s chirpy chorus a case in point. (…)

So, yes, Pop Will Eat Itself are still relevant, in fact more so than ever, in this era of bands not getting mad but looking after their careers instead. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait ten years for the next one.

(God Is In The TV)