MILES OF TRANE: YES. Worthy of its high marks on Pitchfork, The Radio Dept gives something on all levels to the indie pop genre. I like this blip from the BBC review, saying they "cleverly managed to conjure up music with a thoroughly minimal feel, despite this hive of activity instrumentation-wise." The less impressed reviewers use terms like safe, comfortable, and samey -- but I assert fully it is excellent and worthy of repeated listens, and doing so makes me feel safe, comfortable, and samey. When I listened to it the first time on iTunes, it got to the end and rolled into Radiohead's Amnesiac without me realizing it was finished. I perked up instantly and thought "OK, this is familiar, who are they ripping off?" After a few percussive sounds I realized what was going on, but frankly the music is fairly compatible. Don't get me wrong, they have not shown signs they have the ability to rise to the level of a Radiohead (who could?), but if you like the Britons lead by Thom Yorke I'm predicting you'll like the Swedes of The Radio Dept. Wait, this kind of non-comparison is distracting, so forget I mentioned it.
Clinging To A Scheme reviews at Metacritic.com 78/100 (generally favorable reviews)
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