★★★★★
Toby Driver seems concerned with endings, and how best to get to them. Over the years, his songs' beginnings and conclusions have become ill-defined- vague concepts that eventually turn into something else, but this process takes awhile. Each song eventually reaches some place, but it's never quite the place you expected. This process is, expectedly, as tiring as it is rewarding. It's not like Kayo Dot aren't allowed to mess with us by now...
- www.popmatters.com
2015-01-19
★★★★★
Even for Kayo Dot, a band whose unpredictability is one of the most reliable things about them, is a truly remarkable left turn. Casting aside the sludge metal freakout of last year's double album, , bandleader Toby Driver has led his ever-evolving crew into an atmospheric world of goth-rock synths and opium-laced rhythms. Though the new sound is intriguing at first -- especially the upbeat new-wave vibes of "Offramp Cycle, Pattern 22" -- it's all a bit underwhelming...
- exclaim.ca
2014-10-21
★★★★★
starts out unexpectedly, to say the least, with the already legendary "cookie monster" growls that appear to last an eternity. It's important. Thematically and lyrically it's a necessary piece of the entire, bulging work. Seeping with the existential babble of a man who gives no ***s almost two decades into his career, is stands as Toby Diver's most unwelcoming and complex work yet. All this is even before you dig into the music, which in itself is quite an exercise in patience...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2013-11-11
★★★★★
Hubardo opens with seven minutes of what sounds like Cookie Monster shitting. Glow readers may remember Corey Beasley opening his discussion of Deafheaven with the inherent silliness of black metal vocals, but the shrieks of Sunbather are pop sugar in contrast with these guttural growls from Jason Byron. Bear with them, though; frankly, they're one of the most exciting parts of the record...
- cokemachineglow.com
2013-11-01
★★★★★
Summary: For the first time in years, Kayo Dot feels musically relevant. 4 of 6 thought this review was well written Gamma Knife is the latest from everyone's favorite NYC experimental band, featuring the mastermind Toby Driver, as well as some returning members, including violinist Mia Matsumiya. For many, the band has seemingly hit a creative speed bump, with more recent releases lacking consistency and cohesion...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2012-04-12
★★★★★
Summary: For the first time in years, Kayo Dot feels musically relevant. 5 of 7 thought this review was well written Gamma Knife is the latest from everyone's favorite NYC experimental band, featuring the mastermind Toby Driver, as well as some returning members, including violinist Mia Matsumiya. For many, the band has seemingly hit a creative speed bump, with more recent releases lacking consistency and cohesion...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2012-01-09
★★★★★
Dark metal music on an orchestral scale, with powerful riffs, haunted vocals, violin, French horn and much more. Formerly known as Maudlin of the Well, with a dedicated gothic following, their newest recording, over a year in the making, takes them into an adventurous new world where heavy rock and classical music meet ritual. Magical and compelling music from a young band breaking new ground in the rock world.
- www.forcedexposure.com
2010-08-27
★★★★★
Coyote, Kayo Dot's fourth studio album, is a single, narrative-driven, long-form composition written with story and text provided by a close, terminally-ill friend of the band, Yuko Sueta, in the final stage of her life...
- www.forcedexposure.com
2010-08-27
★★★★★
You really can't pigeonhole Kayo Dot as a band. Calling them metal (and this would make sense, given their tenure at Hydra Head Records) is inaccurate at even the loosest definition. Avant-garde seems a little too pretentious. Free-form jazz is only a means of describing the stream of consciousness that seems to characterize their compositions. They are all of these things and yet, by some curious metaphysical principle, none of them at the same time...
- www.popmatters.com
2010-08-24
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