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Aug 11, 2016It's a rare occasion of art transcending influence, with Toledo sounding like he's coming apart while doing it.
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Jul 22, 2016Teens of Denial is a contender for album of the year, to say the least. It’s the rawest indie rock record since The Monitor.
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May 20, 2016That exercise in tension and release, repeated throughout the record, is essential to Teens Of Denial’s blistering greatness. The distortion-laden songs on Teens Of Denial build and soar, often repeatedly within a few minutes.
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May 24, 2016Indie rock may not be dying, but it’ll be hard for people to make it sound as alive as Toledo does on Teens of Denial. This is the sort of record where you wish like hell you could hear it again for the first time and that’ll keep rewarding return visits for years to come.
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Jun 10, 2016This is an album that belongs in a 2016 time capsule, and one that any indie bard hopeful should be required to hear.
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May 16, 2016It’s the adequate album to write when you’re on a quest to become something, later to realize that you’ve no idea how to carry on fulfilling that need. It’s a transition that Toledo perfectly captures, one that he’s relieved to have outgrown.
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May 20, 2016More important than this deft lyrical touch, though, is his ability to display it within a musically engaging song. Unlike some indie-rock songwriters, Toledo's lyrics don't just sit on the page. The choruses don't arrive at the expected moments or follow traditional shapes, but they hit hard nonetheless.
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May 16, 2016Managing an impressive balancing act of borrowing from '90s indie rock majesty without sounding derivative, Toledo issues forth convincingly, dropping tasteful odes to the figures of his inspiration.
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May 18, 2016Teens of Denial takes its power from its absence of blind spots, its lack of Freudian suppression. Toledo looks long at himself and us, a sort of nauseous survivor of modernity. Sometimes just the looking itself is enough.
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Jun 20, 2016On Teens Of Denial, Car Seat Headrest makes his case for being leader of the pack.
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May 25, 2016With or without artfully-cribbed melodies, the music is undeniable.
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May 25, 2016Most tracks last over five minutes and the longest comes in at 12. It gives the impression that Toledo is doing what he wants and making the music he wants to hear. You can’t help but love him for it.
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UncutMay 24, 2016His latest fizzes with energy and smarts, and sees him letting his imagination off the leash to irresistible effect. [Jul 2016, p.70]
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May 20, 2016Rock history teaches us you can't will a masterpiece into existence, but with Car Seat Headrest's Teens of Denial, Will Toledo has created something like a novel after previously offering us short stories, and it's a piece of rough-hewn brilliance.
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May 20, 2016Teens of Denial vaults through references to stand alone, rapturous and sincere--a fuzzy framework from the floor of all we know.
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May 19, 2016Toledo’s first full band record, his first record with a producer, with a sound that is ragged but clean, emotionally raw but cleverly structured. It’s a record that engages heart and mind and viscera all at once, and if some of the songs go on longer than pop usually does, it’s because they have more to say.
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May 19, 2016Toledo's riffs could pass for classic rock on speed and make for a heady mix when paired up with such razor-sharp wordplay. The references here are as oblique as they are intelligent.
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May 19, 2016There’s so much going on here that it can be borderline overwhelming. It’s a record that’s enigmatic, a little deceptive in places, and thoroughly gripping throughout.
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May 18, 2016Despite clocking in at a whopping 70 minutes, Car Seat Headrest pack enough hooks in to avoid lagging, thanks to Toledo's practice with his lengthy yet phenomenal earlier albums Twin Fantasy and How to Leave Town.
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MojoMay 16, 2016Toledo's ability to craft songs that swerve from fuzz-pop to jaded melancholia making him a cut above his underground contemporaries. [Jun 2016, p.92]
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May 16, 2016Toledo’s 13th album as Car Seat Headrest, captures inherent self-loathing and turns it into something to be proud of.
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May 20, 2016Teens of Denial is an album that works until it doesn’t. That moment will come at a different time for every listener.
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Jun 17, 2016The album is a good beginning for Will Toledo and crew one on which they’ll hopefully build upon. Some of the tracks though seem too reek of an “indier” than thou attitude that’s best left at the door.
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May 26, 2016With brevity missing from Toledo’s musical toolkit (see the blame-deflecting “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” and its 11:32 run time), the pain is exacerbated by songs that are simply too long to be memorable; what few hooks exist on Teens of Denial are quickly forgotten.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 165 out of 183
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Mixed: 6 out of 183
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Negative: 12 out of 183
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May 22, 2016
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May 20, 2016
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May 30, 2016