Clinging To A Scheme

Radio Dept. | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Labrador Sweden
• ASIN: B0015WJBVG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,948 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Radio Department's releases have been referred to as The perfect mix between Saint Etienne and early The Jesus and Mary Chain and The best songs Pet Shop Boys never wrote and the album you'd hoped My Bloody Valentine did after "Loveless". And perhaps both comparisons makes sense. In a way. But the truth is that Sweden's No. 1 alternative pop geniuses only sound like one band - themselves. We've waited four long years for this brand new masterpiece, but a simple press on Play and you'll know it's been worth every second. "Clinging to a scheme" combines the best components from their previous albums "Lesser matters" and "Pet grief" with soul guitars, P-funk, cut/paste-beats and 70's futuristic orchestra sounds. Breathtaking!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Sound of a Radio Dept. December 18, 2010

By Kevin

Format:Audio CD

Like the alums before it (Pet Grief and Lesser Matters) The Radio Dept. Sound is solidly set in Dream Pop aesthetic and that is just fine. They make great dream pop, songs that are airy and light that boom with the occasional bass drum beat. but otherwise very calm and soothing. And to match sound with style, The Radio Dept., continues to contrast that sound with lyrics that harbor regret and ennui. But whether your a beat person or a lyric person, The Radio Dept have crafted an album worth buying.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular! Great Album! April 23, 2010

By Rafael Cova

Format:Audio CD

As artists can take as long as they want to produce an excellent ALBUM.

ALL GOOD THINGS TAKE TIME!

One of the things that I really love of "THE RADIO DEPT." is that each song is able to immerse yourself in a particular atmosphere, I think that is the subject of music in general (in my personal opinion), that makes us feel happy or sad, for it depends on you transmit the content, that makes you think and also make us vibrate inside.

I fell in love with "RADIO DEPT." since I first heard that, I have enormous respect for his work, to handle creative freedom in their work, and most importantly they are committed to a particular discourse.

As with their previous two releases, each song is separated and distinguishable by subtle hooks and catchy riffs while maintaining the mystery that defines a Radio Dept song. Clinging To A Scheme seems to be looking ahead which I can only guess is due to the band getting older and growing up. Songs like Domestic Scene, Memory Loss, and Heaven's On Fire show me that the band is no longer concerned with 1995 and what happened 8 years ago (Its Been Eight Years). Where Lesser Matters (2003) was filled with a lot of discovery and coming of age, CLINGING TO A SCHEME seems to be past all that. Providing commentaries on big business and getting political are things we do when we get older and look around our environment. We all have regrets about lost loves and the hastey youthfull decisions we made.

At some point we need to accept who and what we have become and just say screw it. I think that this is the place that The Radio Dept is coming from in 2010.

Highly recommended, leave behind prejudices, listen to music without any kind of preconceived judgments.

Enjoy!!!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme April 20, 2010

By Andrew Vice

Format:Audio CD

So if the world is coming to an end in 2012 as the Maya predicted, or whatever, a whole boatload of brilliant artists picked an excellent year to drop excellent albums for us to enjoy on our way to doomsday: Hot Chip, Los Campesinos!, Eluvium, the National, Broken Social Scene, Band of Horses, Caribou, Delorean, the Depreciation Guild, and so on and so forth. Add the Radio Dept. to that list at this point. Clinging to a Scheme is a lush, beautiful little dream pop gem, blending the heavier shoegaze style of their earlier works with a vibrant new sound. The instrumentation recalls classic albums from artists like Cocteau Twins and Lush, and this record is a MUST HAVE for any dream pop fan. Pacing is excellent, and the band save some of the best songs for the middle an end, but with no drought of excellent songwriting from the get-go. The spoken-word excerpt courtesy of Thurstoon Moore at the end of the first track is great for illuminating the goal of this album: "we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture." And the Radio Dept. are nothing if not the exact opposite of the kind of cookie-cutter garbage you'll find on modern pop and rock radio. Another great album for 2010. The year only gets better and better.