★★★★★
She-Devils are a duo who've been playing quite a bit this winter; Kyle plays and manipulates samples while Audrey Ann sings. Audrey Ann's powerful, romantic lyrics of love, touch, waiting and loss ring clear through the haze of finger-picked acoustic guitars, oscillations and bass synthesizers, bringing to mind the brooding, dark croon of Siouxie & the Banshees mixed with the grooving lo-fi art sampling of Boards of Canada and Japanther...
- exclaim.ca
2015-03-23
★★★★★
Don't mistake Picture You Staring for anything more than a simple pop record. The second full-length from Montreal quartet TOPS comprises 12 examples of lithe, bubbly songwriting that winks at you even as it tears up. Rarely clocking in over four minutes, each song features the same sparse instrumentation (bass, drum kit, maybe two guitars, sometimes a synth, and vocals), as if the goal of their DIY recording sessions was to perfect a hooky single and a wistful ballad using only one set of...
- pitchfork.com
2014-10-21
★★★★★
Head here to submit your own review of this album.
The definite article is dead. Long is the list of bands that have shed the unfortunate demonstrative, choosing rather to defer to the ideal, unabashed celebration of the object, the pure title. TOPS are not 'At The Top', nor are they 'The Top Choice' or the kind of top that spins. They are simply TOPS.
A nakedness of intent seeps through Picture You Staring, the group's second long player...
- www.thefourohfive.com
2014-09-10
★★★★★
Way To Be Loved is the opening track on Picture You Staring, the second LP from Montreal's TOPS. The song is a perfect introduction and will likely be the song that draws people to the album and band in general. It has a percussive, intriguing vibe from its first few seconds. Its groove is retro, but not rooted enough in any particular era to qualify it as a throwback. It would, for example, fit comfortably on a playlist alongside modern bands who deal in '80s textures...
- www.cmj.com
2014-09-10
★★★★★
Thoughtful electronica is available in abundance right now. Sometimes, it can even be a bit too thoughtful - which is why it's great to stumble upon a band who are able to marry ethereal, star-gazing textures with a playful, pop sensibility. Enter TOPS, who are returning with their second album. Marinated in the waters of 80s chart-toppers, Picture You Staring feels strangely familiar. You grew up listening to it, despite having bought it yesterday...
- www.thelineofbestfit.com
2014-09-04
★★★★★
Somehow, Montreal's TOPS take the trashiest moments in music and make them actually rather good. They did it on debut record 'Tender Opposites', a record that was indebted to the cheesiest elements of the 80s, yet elevated everything into excellence. From the misty-eyed and succinctly sweet pop of standout 'Diamond Look' to the funky balladry of 'Turn Your Love Around', TOPS were actually turning tacky around; creating something special out of everything we'd all previously dismissed as...
- diymag.com
2014-09-04
★★★★★
Montreal-based record label and artistic community Arbutus Records has quietly carved itself quite the niche when it comes to thoughtful and singular left-field music. With a roster that includes the likes of BRAIDS, Doldrums, Blue Hawaii and Grimes, Arbutus Records has inadvertently fashioned part of the Montreal music scene in their image...
- exclaim.ca
2014-08-28
★★★★★
It's light outside, sunny, even. A dawn wind stirs on the great marsh. Our blunts are being attended to with the most almighty care: the Lords of Ganja are in our presence. Thoughts of George Washington appear, of him, our nation's first president, growing marijuana (and hemp) somewhere in Upstate, New York, and smoking it, and perhaps laughing or just being happy. But that was then, and this is now...
- www.tinymixtapes.com
2014-02-17
★★★★★
Montreal indie four-piece Tops are the latest export from Canada, but while their music may not be anything out of the ordinary, they are not your conventional band. In fact, their label-mate Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, recently said: "Tops are a bunch of weirdos, and I say this in the most affectionate way possible." What it is that makes them so different is not quite clear, but there is an element of mystery about the quartet that is unmistakable...
- www.musicomh.com
2013-04-02
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