Floating Points - Crush
Critic Score
Based on 20 reviews
2019 Ratings: #127 / 805
Year End Rank: #38
User Score
Based on 640 ratings
2019 Rank: #135
Liked by 62 people
October 18, 2019 / Release Date
LP / Format
Ninja Tune / Label
IDM, Breakbeat / Genre
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Sputnikmusic

Crush’s primary consequence – other than being an excellent case study on best-of-all-worlds electronic music – is ensuring that Floating Points is a name on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Shepherd’s multifaceted skill set is on full display here, from jazzy, forward-thinking progressions to club-ready material.

90
Loud and Quiet

Whatever wavelength Shepherd is on, Crush is the almost untouchable proof that no-one else is anywhere near it.

85
The 405

An album to be experienced rather than listened to, Crush takes the listener through the light and dark portions of the active listening mind, further proving Floating Points as a singularly talented producer.

83
Pitchfork

While certain elements—a distorted rhythm here, a shuddering synth there—can be traced back to those rough-and-tumble live shows with the xx, the LP as a whole is strikingly melodic and often beautiful, even in its most frantic moments.

80
Evening Standard

Tracks such as thunderous LesAlpx aim for the dancefloor but wherever Crush is listened to — in a club, on the night bus home, or yes, an airport — there’s plenty to discover, so long as you’re willing to delve in deep enough.

80
The Observer

Beautifully crafted, Crush unsettles with its quiet, fervent chaos bubbling beneath its surface.

80
The Independent

Crush is an insight into Shepherd’s brilliant mind and – such is the sheer variety of this album – a way to inspire one’s own imagination.

80
God Is in the TV
Unexpected and inventive, it’s well worth a trip into the unknown.
80
Crack Magazine

Here Shepherd has managed to capture both the febrile chaos and decaying beauty of the world we’re living in, on an album that crushes myriad ideas into one big sonic collision.

80
Uncut
A richly pleasurable balancing act between brain and body, academic seminar and night club, cerebral experiment and sensory feast.
80
Clash
An emphatically alluring experience.
80
The Skinny

Crush may be some of Floating Points’ most assertive work, but sinking into its rich and deeply layered textures reaps countless rewards.

80
The Line of Best Fit

At its hypnotic heights, Crush mixes Shepherd's background in beats-building with the melodic and melancholy expanses of his more recent work.

80
DIY

Put simply, ‘Crush’ is a triumph: the ideal meeting of brains and brawn over a journey that manages to feel both concise and exploratory.

80
AllMusic

Crush certainly comes across as fragmentary, as if a dozen tracks, at least a couple albums worth of ideas, were truncated, quickly sequenced, and packed onto one LP. That said, it's hard to imagine more forethought and deliberation resulting in a listen more riveting than this one.

80
PopMatters

Floating Points' Crush is an album of profound contrasts. For every track designed to electrify the dancefloor, there is a gentle sweeping orchestral piece.

80
musicOMH
An album of impressive depth and coherent structure.
70
Exclaim!

Though the sonic explorations undermine the album's overall cohesiveness, Crush remains a shining example of Shepherd's growth as an artist, and his willingness to push boundaries well into his career.

70
Spectrum Culture

Crush is yet another triumph for Floating Points, a chaotic, if fundamentally cohesive, collection of tracks that reconcile Shepherd’s ever-more-sophisticated arrangements with the bedrock of compelling dance music that launched him in the first place.

60
Mojo
A decent album, but perhaps not the one some of us were hoping for.
Doofy
74

Aphex has a twin

maryfreegirl
85

Very cool sounds, even cooler album cover

Plats
84

"Crush" is an intricate little IDM record with some outstanding, chilling production and a great use of analog synths. The mixing and track placement could've used a bit more touching up, but that's just my opinion.

Fav Tracks: Last Bloom, Anasickmodular, LesAlpx, Environments, Bias, Apoptose

Least Fav Track: Karakul

Score:
8.4
Great

ethanscrag22
76

This may not be the most exciting album I have ever heard but there is also nothing really wrong with it. This is an album full of cold, eerie, and beautiful atmosphere. The very subtle ways this album creates the atmosphere and feelings really drew me in. I really enjoyed the more intricate breakbeat-type tracks and the tracks with the orchestral moments the most. Those are basically the only moments that really stood out, the rest of the album blended together. This is definitely a background ... read more

DoubleHsword
90

Just WOW!

Edu_on_Mars
84

A blissful journey filled with chaos and beauty.

This is the Floating Points album for people with 0 attention span. Sam Sheperd the mastermind behind this already legendary project has ventured through the maximalistic side of electronic music for over a decade. Through the genre defining mix of jazz-ambient fusion on his 2015 debut “Elaenia” to the boundary pushing 2016 ep “kuiper” the masterful production and execution is nothing short of perfection. Sam also has a ... read more

Purchasing Crush from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement

Track List

1Falaise
3:54
96
2Last Bloom
5:53
93
3Anasickmodular
3:12
90
4Requiem for CS70 and Strings
2:23
83
5Karakul
1:54
68
6LesAlpx
4:41
86
7Bias
5:08
91
8Environments
4:45
88
9Birth
3:00
83
10Sea-Watch
4:04
85
11Apoptose, Pt. 1
2:35
82
12Apoptose, Pt. 2
2:27
79
Total Length: 44 minutes
Comments (4)
Sign in to comment
4y
4y
4y
4y


Added on: August 28, 2019