The Official Body

Shopping - The Official Body
Critic Score
Based on 18 reviews
2018 Ratings: #518 / 890
User Score
Based on 196 ratings
2018 Rank: #466
Liked by 1 person
January 19, 2018 / Release Date
LP / Format
FatCat / Label
Post-Punk / Genre
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Skinny

Simultaneously of its time while managing to sound like a classic, The Official Body is a healing experience; there is light in the darkness. Shopping teach us that, even when we’re dealing with the imploding world around us, it’s still OK to dance.

90
AllMusic

In the hands of queer artists of color like Shopping, post-punk's outsider status is much more than an aesthetic choice, and The Official Body is a frequently dazzling example of how resistance can be fortifying and even fun.

89
Paste

The ten tracks on Body are audacious, funky, and have that element of outsider-cool left over from the heyday of influences like Delta 5, Gang Of Four and ESG.

83
A.V. Club
There’s a directness to its pleasures that’s unflagging for all 10 tracks here, which find the band—after two records of interrogating power dynamics, personal and political—“amping up the party vibe,” or so they say.
81
Pitchfork

The Official Body creates upbeat, transformative moments that strike a balance between a call to action and the thrill of a humid mosh pit.

80
Drowned in Sound
Overall, another great album from one of the UK’s best underground talents who may not remain so underground for long.
80
Clash
An itchy, infectious return, ‘The Official Body’ presents puzzles without solutions, a never-ending maze that pulls you sharply around it each corner. A dazzlingly creative effort, it might well be SHOPPING’s most complete, concise, and fascinating release yet.
80
Loud and Quiet
Tightly compressed and structurally flab-free, these ten songs flirt with a hip twitching form of primitive disco.
70
Under the Radar
It's a record that finds Shopping transcending a difficult set of circumstances to create a standout album.
70
Northern Transmissions
The UK’s Shopping have been offering up compelling shows and songs for the past while, and their latest release definitely captures their energy well. Due to their fairly inconsistent writing however, there are too many moments where songs feel less cooked than others.
64
GIGsoup
For the most part, ‘The Official Body’ is simply a continuation of ‘Why Choose’, at its worst turning the band’s gobby London punk from a portrait to a caricature, at its best continuously proving how fiery and determined Shopping really are.
60
The 405
You can’t listen to the music found here without dancing, which is a blessing and a curse. It’s fun at first, but eventually you’ll need a breather.
60
Exclaim!

As it stands ... Shopping's constraints still define them on The Official Body. Economy can be great, but it's starting to limit this band.

60
NME
This is a record to dance to, but it’s also a record to help you question the world around you.
60
God Is in the TV

The Official Body is pretty timeless in its feel – it would be hard to pin it down to a year or even era if listened to in isolation – many of its lyrics would have been just as fitting against the politically dark times of the mid-80s as the troubled times we live in today.

50
No Ripcord
This party feels less exciting than the night before.
40
PopMatters

For fans, The Official Body is worth surviving the sullenness for the respites. For newcomers, stick to their old stuff, and let Shopping sell you on their next record. Hopefully, they'll approach the project rejuvenated and well-rested.

Valeron21
74

those guys ripped off Gang of Four's Entertainment! in not a very good way. Anyway, the second part (songs 6 to 10), is quite enjoyable.
"Discover", "New Values", "Overtime"

xcomebackkid
88

The Official body takes the note bending dance punk from Why Choose and refines it to a set of super solid and catchy songs making it a really cohesive listen all the way through. The stripped down tone translates so much heart in their playing and artfully draws the line between simple and tasteful.

MasterCrackfox
66

An album that will likely fly under the radar entirely, which is quite the shame. It's pretty groovy.

Favorite track: Wild Child

xcomebackkid
88

The Official body takes the note bending dance punk from Why Choose and refines it to a set of super solid and catchy songs making it a really cohesive listen all the way through. The stripped down tone translates so much heart in their playing and artfully draws the line between simple and tasteful.

Contra92
77

i'M GOING SHOPPING

MasterCrackfox
66

An album that will likely fly under the radar entirely, which is quite the shame. It's pretty groovy.

Favorite track: Wild Child

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Track List

Year End Lists

#36/Treble
/AllMusic
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Added on: October 25, 2017