Hudson Mohawke - Lantern
Critic Score
Based on 28 reviews
2015 Ratings: #499 / 1021
User Score
Based on 91 ratings
2015 Rank: #564
Liked by 1 person
June 16, 2015 / Release Date
LP / Format
Warp / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

80
DIY
HudMo is making some of the most progressive yet accessible beats out there at the moment, each track equally as suited to the dancefloors of fabric as they are to a night spent in with a pair of cheap Sennheisers and your laptop.
80
The Guardian

There are points on Lantern where you wish he’d give the bloody mindedness a rest. More often, it proves his point: the strange, beguiling sound of man neatly evading whatever pigeonholes he’s been shoved in.

80
Billboard

With Lantern, Mohawke transcends any pigeonholing once and for all, offering a ­polished vision of his genre-agnostic world.

80
Exclaim!

On Lantern, Mohawke's long-anticipated followup, the Glaswegian producer eschews the bombast he's embraced these last few years for something more mature, songwriterly and, yes, restrained.

80
The Skinny

Birchard is a long-established talent behind the decks, but Lantern – a defiantly slick sophomore LP – proves that being in high demand has in no way diluted his craft.

75
Pretty Much Amazing

The results are occasionally quite compelling and occasionally mediocre, but Mohawke never flags in his energy or charisma. Lantern is a solid party album that demonstrates great potential in the places where it doesn’t already shine.

75
Consequence of Sound
The beats are luminous, the melodies enlightening, and, most importantly, the record is guiding a path to much brighter things for the producer.
74
Pitchfork

A less talented hand might’ve faltered juggling six different genres as Mohawke does throughout Lantern, but his knowledge of what gets a crowd moving, coupled with his good cheer in both playing directly to it and coyly holding back as he pleases help keep the album’s experiments a minimum of fun and danceable, but more often shocking and delightful.

70
Loud and Quiet
Where ‘Butter’ was a bubbling rookie jumble, constantly coming up on its own madcap sugar high, ‘Lantern’ is a less dense, calmer affair clearly borne of broader collaborative experience.
70
No Ripcord
It’s refreshing to see an EDM producer balancing his more hedonistic impulses with genuine artistic ambitions, especially when it’s done with such a consistent energy and purpose.
70
SPIN
The 14-track effort staggers in its breadth, especially since the album never loses its central through line: his knack for spinning pretty, heavy, and pretty heavy tracks.
70
AllMusic

While Butter could be described as whimsical, it's as uniform as a prog epic compared to Lantern, a relatively disjointed assembly of tracks seemingly drawn from working folders labeled like "athletic anthems," "theatrical intros and interludes," "almost pop," "space ballads," and "misc."

70
PopMatters

While Mohawke’s nuanced versatility isn’t exactly exercised to the fullest with the cheesy, oversaturated splendor of Lantern, there are some unexpected disruptive notes that keep a level of dynamism to the music.

66
Resident Advisor

When Lantern hits its high points, it ends up somewhere in the stratosphere. When it falters, it's mostly because it's too ambitious, either thematically, as with the overblown love songs, or technically, as with the roller-coaster sequencing that halts the momentum over and over.

60
Rolling Stone
It's a consistently wow-worthy sound, even when it doesn't quite jell.
50
Clash
We really want to like 'Lantern' for its originality; its bravery and its attempt to grasp a genuine uninhibited euphoria that isn't easy pull off. Sadly it just misses the mark way too often and leaves you with fleeting glimpses of what could have been a very exciting album.
50
The Needle Drop

Hudson Mohawk comes through with some lackluster production on his latest record.

20
Tiny Mix Tapes
The joint force of this record amounts to little more than a whimpering collapse. It’s painful to endure as a consequence of its crowd-pleasing whims and a disappointment to anyone who enjoyed the off-kilter trappings of his earlier work.
nnxsgny
31

just make some god damn bangers dude it's not that hard wtf is this shit??? "music"!!!!!!!! lol no just cause it's slow and has some pretty vocals doesn't make it good. call lunice and throw some hi hats and 808s down for fucks sake

90

underrated

jhnrrd
50

( ★ ★ ½ )
favorite tracks:
» 02. very first breath ( feat. irfane )
» 03. ryderz
» 04. warriors ( feat. ruckazoid and devauex )
» 05. kettles
» 07. indian steps ( feat. antony )

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Track List

1Lantern
1:58
70
2Very First Breath
3:04
feat. Irfane
75
3Ryderz
2:42
86
4Warriors
4:22
95
5Kettles
3:03
76
6Scud Books
3:44
100
7Indian Steps
4:36
feat. ANOHNI
78
8Lil Djembe
2:34
81
9Deepspace
4:13
feat. Miguel
88
10Shadows
2:30
86
11Resistance
3:49
82
12Portrait of Luci
3:12
80
13System
4:16
86
14Brand New World
3:14
90
Total Length: 47 minutes
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Added on: March 10, 2015