Band: The Radio Dept.
Release: 4/2010
Label: Labrador Records

1. “Domestic Scene” – B+
2. “Heaven’s On Fire” – B
3. “This Time Around” – B
4. “Never Follow Suit” – B+
5. “A Token Of Gratitude” – A-
6. “The Video Dept” – A
7. “Memory Loss” – A-
8. “David” – B+
9. “Four Months In The Shade” – B+
10. “You Stopped Making Sense” – A-

Comments: European band makes noise pop shoe-gaze music. It’s been done many times over. There’s the average, the good, and the great. I haven’t listened to many a particularly boring band of this style. I do hold bands that try these tricks and gimmicks to higher standards than bands with other sounds. I’ve found myself falling into the typical trap of overrating dreamy songs. Take “Never Follow Suit.” It sounds like a rip-off of Beach House, but with male vocals. I really love Beach House, but Beach House sound-a-likes? I ought to use some caution before dishing out an A. A rated songs should be at least a little memorable. I took a little break from this album and opened up what I thought was Radio Dept, but it was actually the Spaceshits and I thought to myself ‘dayum Radio Dept. really improved.” No, no, I’ll give this album the benefit of the doubt. The quality is shit, but then again that can be explained in two ways: A) this is a low quality two-months-before-official-release-date rip OR B) this is what noise sounds like. I’m going to go with B. At any rate, it’s hard to explicitly hate on this. It’s been done before and doesn’t really fresh. Yet, it’s pretty listenable. By most people’s count, I gave this album an awesome rating. It’s okay.

Grade: B+ (88)