| | Full Review | Ratings (85) |
Give your Rating |
| 4.5 superb | LeakingFountain11 | June 10th 25 |
It’s depressing not many seem to realize A Hundred Highways samples the legendary Les Rallizes Denudes!?!? Oh god
the internet music nerd community is over no one knows shit anymore
Bump |
| 2.6 average | Erwann S. STAFF | February 24th 22 |
Badlands is lo-fi and hypnagogic with some psychobilly riffs, and while this aesthetic is cool, it ain't much more than aesthetic apart on the two most streamed songs, which are, uh, almost-songs that are almost catchy. Most of this basically is a suite of riff loops with some Suicide samples.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | chambered49 | May 26th 12 |
"Hotel" crushes this album under its own weight. The density, the echo. Before that it's all lonely highways and 50's noir. Sublime.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | ZiggyPop | March 7th 11 |
Fitting sonically somewhere between Xiu Xiu and Timber Timbre - or speaking more broadly between Elvis Presley and David Lynch - Badlands is the darkest homage to the 20th century a young lad could hope for. Dirty Beaches is Vancouver solo artist Alex Zhang Hungtai, and his debut LP is a tormented reduction of rock & roll.
Any notion of familiar song structure is abandoned for nearly half the record, manifesting as moody, lo-fi rumblings which bridge spurts of mutilated rockabilly. Guitar and drum loops lay the foundation here, framing yelps and whispers. At his most memorable, Hungtai comes nearly to the point of breaking into tongues - on the hypnotic "Sweet 17". Restless love, lust, and longing haunt the record's 26 minutes, and don't expect any kind of resolution.
And rightly so, since it seems that would be the antithesis of this whole album. Hungtai is making it abundantly clear that there's value in the lonelier parts of life with his distant, noisy crooning. It's beautiful in the most urban ways, even if the rough production fixes us in the uncomfortable role of voyeur.
These songs are devoid of any pop fingerprints, embodying a disarticulation of familiar sounds. As if the album art didn't already give it away, this is a dark record - but not one completely without hope. Even though Hungtai's reverb-saturated delivery renders most of his lyrics barely decipherable, the emotional content grants passage into Badlands' possible intent. Hungtai is basking in some kind of struggle; this record is anything but a cry of submission.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Subaru | July 29th 20 |
| 3.0 good | Gtzk | January 5th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | unkle | November 6th 13 |
| 3.0 good | porch | August 7th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | robin | May 11th 13 |
| 3.5 great | doqtor | December 28th 11 |
| 2.0 poor | lobby | December 8th 11 |
| 2.0 poor | Rudy K. EMERITUS | December 1st 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | Meln | November 19th 11 |
| 3.5 great | kitsch | September 6th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | cuki92 | August 23rd 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | kount | August 19th 11 |
| 1.5 very poor | stfrnz | August 17th 11 |
| 4.5 superb | BONBEW | July 8th 11 |
| |
Give Your Opinion on Badlands
|
