It's no secret that Phoenix owes their rise to stardom to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The French rockers front-loaded their breakout album with two heavyweight singles in the anthemic "Lisztomania" and the synth ode "1901." Basically not messing around from the get go. You've heard it all, your sister has posters of these dudes on her wall and for some reason the music is still good. Don't be shy, we wont tell anyone. The band famously used Eno's Oblique Strategies flash cards in the creation of the album. Somehow that resulted in this monster of a pop record. If Phoenix was big in the underground before Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, they definitely broke through after it dropped.

• black vinyl pressing
• music label: Glassnote 2014

reviewed by Michu Meszaros 04/2013