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Contact
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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

  • Summary: New York noise artist Margaret Chardiet explored trance states for her third full-length release as Pharmakon.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Exclaim
    Mar 29, 2017
    90
    As listeners lose more of themselves, their fleshy armour useless in the face of absolute desolation, Contact rewards them with the knowledge of what wicked horrors they can endure. It's the bad head-trip we need to truly understand ourselves.
  2. Paste Magazine
    Mar 29, 2017
    81
    Though the message in all the static and clanking chains isn’t humanist, there is a humanity that comes through in everything she does. There is a spirituality too, though it’s the kind that is rooted in the material world.
  3. Tiny Mix Tapes
    May 12, 2017
    80
    Contact is aggregated purge and celebration past the self, flesh seared back and stomp soldered to somnambulism.
  4. Pitchfork
    Mar 30, 2017
    79
    The music hammers with industrial heft, vibrates with nervous pulse, and envelops with tactile atmosphere. Even when her songs achieve moments of transcendence, they still strike you directly in the gut.
  5. Under The Radar
    Apr 4, 2017
    75
    This is also the most varied Pharmakon album to date, bringing insistent rhythms closer to the fore more than on previous efforts. Not for the faint of heart, but maybe you're looking to leave your heart with the rest of your body, anyway.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Mar 31, 2017
    75
    Like all things Pharmakon, Contact is a challenge, but a worthwhile one.
  7. Consequence
    Mar 30, 2017
    67
    Contact just finds a way to pull it off without sounding like she’s on the verge of collapsing--which, for the sake of everyone’s well-being, is a surprisingly good meeting point. There’s just a small space left unused that finds listeners wanting more.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. andrevictor
    Apr 13, 2017
    9
    One of the best experimental albums ever released. It is a chaotic, claustrophobic and disturbing record. Unique features, present in a workOne of the best experimental albums ever released. It is a chaotic, claustrophobic and disturbing record. Unique features, present in a work that on top of any criticism, has become something true and courageous. Nowadays, few artists allow themselves to innovate, but Pharmakon, the opposite of this, manages to transcend their sonority through their musical experiments. It may seem a little desperate, but this record is the representation of a diversity of feelings.… Expand
  2. TheKritikonCo
    Jun 1, 2017
    6
    John - Let me just say that if I were rating this from my actual enjoyment of it, it would be receiving a 1. Noise music just isn't for me I'mJohn - Let me just say that if I were rating this from my actual enjoyment of it, it would be receiving a 1. Noise music just isn't for me I'm afraid. The actual instrumentals weren't the problem - it's just that Chardiet's vocals are bit of an acquired taste. I do very much appreciate this album though, don't get me wrong. Each track made sense, especially Sleepwalking Form, which perfectly encaptured the feeling of staggering around sleepwalking. Sentient was the best track on the album for me however. I found it oddly relaxing, maybe verging on trance-like. In my opinion, it embodies the record - technically very, very good, but at it's best when no vocals are present.

    I'll be giving this a 3. A strong album, well produced, well put together, and one that I'm sure fans of the genre will enjoy. But be warned - Pharmakon's music is not for the faint of heart!

    Overall Score - 3/5

    Tilly - I'm no expert on noise music, so take this review with a pinch of salt. Pharmakon's Contact album was mental. Not necessarily in a bad way. Her vocals are at times - okay, the majority of the time - off-putting, aside from on Sleepwalking Form where I do feel like they added something special. Vocally, she oddly reminds me - and please forgive me, fans of the noise genre - of Maria Brink from rock band In This Moment. In fact, at times it genuinely could have been her. I did find the songs without her 'singing' a lot better, and a lot more listenable I guess? Which I know is not exactly the main goal when creating a noise album. Overall Contact was a technically good record, but not one that I will ever, ever play again.

    Overall Score -3/5    … Expand

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