King Krule - The OOZ
Critic Score
Based on 31 reviews
2017 Ratings: #276 / 940
Year End Rank: #17
User Score
2017 Rank: #74
Liked by 287 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

91
Paste
This is not an album to absorb in desperate moments, but rather an artfully brooding, grime-y thing that stands as a terribly unique and nightmarish account of what it could sound like to spiral out of control.
91
Pretty Much Amazing

The Ooz is an Archy Marshall hash, the strange scraps of his brain stewed into something unrecognizable and delicious.

90
Drowned in Sound

The OOZ creates a brutalist and beautiful terrain, one that we can wander vicariously through King Krule; it’s nothing short of a masterpiece.

90
Clash
‘The OOZ’ is undoubtedly another thought-provoking entry into the discography one of Britain’s most exciting and challenging young artists. An intense, yet rewarding listen.
90
AllMusic
Compared to the debut, the songwriting is more refined and the sounds are more disparate, resulting in a sort of controlled chaos, a scuzzy mix of nervy neo-rockabilly projectiles, howling dirges, and noodling dive-lounge tunes.
90
Pitchfork

The world is a filthy, utterly debased place, his music suggests, but there are rewards of sorts for those determined to survive it. In this spirit, The OOZ drops at our feet like a piece of poisoned fruit, a masterpiece of jaundiced vision from one of the most compelling artists alive.

85
Under the Radar
Imagine a flat where music equipment is strewn around, loose baccy peppers the kitchen counter while a figure sits, battling a prodding depression that determines his every whim. It's this achey, lonely post-adolescence which King Krule masterfully captures across the entire record.
85
Spectrum Culture

The Ooz is rich with detail, but its length means its ideas have enough room to spread out. It’s teeming with life, but it never feels too busy.

83
Consequence of Sound

Even with three or four excess tracks, the album is still an essential listen; disorienting but never dull, heartsick but never maudlin, the rambling melancholy of The Ooz seems destined to soundtrack thousands of lonesome nights and send its listeners on journeys through its nocturnal half-dream without the need to leave the comfort of their headphones.

80
The Irish Times

On The OOZ, the 23-year-old South Londoner deploys slow-hand guitar licks, crashing drums and the odd bit of brass or electronica to form raw, bluesy orchestration that's as classically cool as a round-neck tee. On top hangs his deep, heavily accented voice – an immersive yet oddly soulful thing that could still turn water into stone.

80
NME
Archy Marshall’s second album as King Krule proves he’s the troubled voice of a generation
80
Q Magazine

The Ooz can be dark and difficult. But it is also ambitious and delightful, reaffirming the delightful, reaffirming the delicate boundary between beauty and ruin.

80
Gigwise

This LP is a dark, hardly distorting mirror to the modern inner city and in that way it feels almost important, moreover it sounds like the next step in what has been the blossoming of a very serious artiste.

80
FLOOD Magazine

The breadth of genre and influence that The OOZ sports over nineteen tracks totaling more than an hour is nothing short of staggering.

80
Dork
It’s a sprawling, dense record and one which represents another progression for an artist who was already way ahead of his years.
80
Northern Transmissions

A little bloated the record occasionally feels samey in places and too abrasive in others, but with few songs feeling without merit. Thanks to strong moments, The OOZ is a record that earns its run time.

80
Crack Magazine

The Ooz is confessional, confrontational, soothing and abrasive; an invitation into the fluid creativity of one of the most compelling songwriters of his generation.

80
Uncut
Rich and strange.
80
Time Out London
‘The Ooz’ is the bad weather outside and the flaws in aged vinyl – imperfect, but oh so satisfying.
80
Exclaim!
Everything here works towards articulating the hypnotic Kingdom of Krule, and it's one worth getting lost in.
80
PopMatters

Despite the fractured nature of its lyrics, The OOZ is quite enveloping; its heady mix of fractured jazz guitar and stuttering beats create a dark, unsettling world in which Marshall’s gunky vignettes come alive.

74
GIGsoup
‘The Ooz’ won’t be to everyone’s taste; it’s refreshing yet bleak at the same time, but King Krule’s talent is undeniably raw and honest.
70
The Line of Best Fit
The Ooz is a meandering, disorientating trip through punk, ska, jazz and hip hop – held together by Marshall’s menacing vocal sneer. It’s an open letter to a city that he loves, but knowingly recognises it is slowly dragging him down.
67
A.V. Club
All that aimlessness is certainly on brand for the hazy expanses Marshall so clearly wants to create, but like the seeping unctuousness for which the album is named, it threatens to engulf his more potent songs.
60
Mojo

Marshall's irregular flashes of idiosyncratic brilliance impress, though The OOZ's 19 tracks contain many longueurs that merely baffle or bore, so tread carefully.

60
The Guardian
The end result is by turns gripping, idiosyncratic, baffling and frustrating: not so much an ooze as a splurge of ideas – that’s nevertheless worth picking through.
60
Loud and Quiet
It’s an album of contradictions, and there’s a profound statement in there somewhere. If not for a lack of quality control, this would’ve been something great.
60
The Observer

Over 19 tracks some focus is lost, but focus isn’t really the point of Krule, whose moods make for an immersive listen.

60
DIY
As it draws on ... it gets easier to think that a bit of brutality on the cutting room floor might only have been of benefit to ‘The Ooz’. ‘The Maltese Falcon’, one of the greatest noir films of all time, wasn’t much more than an hour and a half long, after all.
40
The Needle Drop
King Krule returns with a series of vague, moody musical sketches.
40
Record Collector
The unpromising combinations separate rather than coalesce. The talented, pugilistic youngster’s best feels yet to come.
EMR
70

As we grow old and advance through time and space, the very essence of being a human being is slowly, but incessantly unveiled before us. At times, the interstice between our adolescent years and those of what many consider to be 'adulthood' pass us by in the blink of an eye, leaving us disoriented, drifting motionless in the backspace of our minds whenever we stop and give the whole process some thought. For some, the interplay within the act of growing up can be painful, confusing, loathsome, ... read more

BuffaloStaple
94

I feel like this could be seen as King Krule's equivalent to Blonde in a way maybe? I mean it took it him quite a while to finish it, it's a less direct album than it's predecessor and it has much more of a focus towards building a rich sonic tapestry and writing lyrics raw to the bone than making you bob your head, I can just see a mild correlation there. Regardless, this is one of the most raw and biting albums of 2017, Archy sounds incredibly vulnerable on almost every track here. This can ... read more

Dax_Wilder
79

Some very vibey and enjoyable Jazz rock that has some really nice and creative production, and despite not every track hitting, the overall experience is quite nice and something worth returning to. Good introduction to King K. Rool

Bacolytic
39

It’s sludgy, dreary, and although there seems to be some kind of ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel - one that suggests Archy’s music will go up from here - what we are left with is boring bordering on unlistenable.

thomasemerson
94

one of the most relaxing and beautiful albums i’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to

Salami504
88

Damn.

This is a pretty sad but comforting album. I love his take on trip-hop, as well as a few other genres here. While it's sad all around, it's also in a way a refreshing album in terms of the production. Not too much to say about it, it's just really really good. Main issue I have is the length, it definitely struggles a bit with how long it is but besides that I really enjoyed this.
Favorites: Biscuit Town, The Locomotive, Dum Surfer, Slush Puppy, Bermondsey Bosom (Left), Logos, ... read more

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Track List

1Biscuit Town
3:42
88
2The Locomotive
2:51
86
3Dum Surfer
4:23
92
4Slush Puppy
2:42
91
5Bermondsey Bosom (Left)
1:14
81
6Logos
3:50
85
7Sublunary
2:10
78
8Lonely Blue
4:44
83
9Cadet Limbo
4:52
84
10Emergency Blimp
2:54
90
11Czech One
4:15
86
12A Slide In (New Drugs)
3:05
75
13Vidual
2:19
87
14Bermondsey Bosom (Right)
1:05
80
15Half Man Half Shark
5:02
86
16The Cadet Leaps
4:21
81
17The OOZ
4:35
92
18Midnight 01 (Deep Sea Diver)
3:53
86
19La Lune
4:17
85
Total Length: 1 hour, 6 minutes
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Added on: September 8, 2017