| Quarantine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 21, 2012 | |||
| Recorded | July 2011–February 2012 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 41:19 | |||
| Label | Hyperdub | |||
| Producer | Laurel Halo | |||
| Laurel Halo chronology | ||||
| ||||
Quarantine is the debut album by American electronic musician Laurel Halo, released on May 21, 2012 by Hyperdub. It received acclaim from critics, and was named release of the year by British magazine The Wire .
Halo recorded Quarantine between July 2011 and February 2012 primarily in her home studio, with some instrument tracks also recorded in London. [4] She made over thirty demos, eighteen of which were deleted. [4] In November 2011, Halo sent the LP demos to Hyperdub label head Steve Goodman, who responded with positive interest. [4]
Initially applying extensive echo and reverb to her vocals, which she found "supremely boring", Halo instead opted to leave them dry and unadorned, stating that "it was tempting to use autotune but I decided against it because there's this brutal, sensual ugliness in the vocals uncorrected, and painfully human vocals made sense." [4] Speaking to Fact , she described the album's thematic focus as "contrails, trauma, volatile chemicals, viruses." [4] [5]
The album cover features an adaptation of Harakiri School Girls, a work by Makoto Aida which Halo chose for the artwork after seeing it at an exhibition on Japanese pop art in New York. [6] She stated that "I love that it's brutal and violent but colourful and slow to sink in." [4]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.7/10 [7] |
| Metacritic | 80/100 [8] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| Fact | 4/5 [2] |
| The Guardian |  [5] |
| The Irish Times | [10] |
| Mojo | [11] |
| NME | 6/10 [12] |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10 [13] |
| Resident Advisor | 4.0/5 [14] |
| Spin | 7/10 [15] |
| XLR8R | 8/10 [16] |
Quarantine received positive critical reviews from critics, with an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic. [8] The Wire named Quarantine as the "release of the year" in its annual critics' poll. [17] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork called the album "something definitive" and Halo's "best and most cohesive work to date." [13] The Quietus called it "one of this year's most intriguing and divisive listens," and noted that "what's blasted her music headlong into the future is its re-integration of those most ancient of musical devices – the unadorned human voice, verse/chorus structures – into environments they’re usually so thoroughly unfamiliar with." [18] The Guardian wrote that "it manages to sidestep pretension at almost every turn, partly due to the near-naive vocals that dominate the warm crackle and glow." [5] Resident Advisor states "Quarantine binds her past sounds into a toxic, lush blend of ambient suspension and disorienting detail," and called the album Halo's "most immersive and beautiful work to date." [14] The album was named the 25th best album of the 2010s by Tiny Mix Tapes. [19]
| Year | Publication | Work | List | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Pitchfork | Quarantine | Overlooked Records 2012 | -- | |
| The Best Album Covers of 2012 | |||||
| Albums of the Year: Honorable Mention |
All tracks are written by Laurel Halo
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Airsick" | 3:58 |
| 2. | "Years" | 2:52 |
| 3. | "Thaw" | 5:59 |
| 4. | "Joy" | 3:27 |
| 5. | "MK Ultra" | 4:17 |
| 6. | "Wow" | 1:23 |
| 7. | "Carcass" | 4:30 |
| 8. | "Holoday" | 1:50 |
| 9. | "Tumor" | 2:40 |
| 10. | "Morcom" | 3:03 |
| 11. | "Nerve" | 2:31 |
| 12. | "Light + Space" | 4:49 |
| Total length: | 41:19 | |
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Quarantine. [23]
Hyperdub is a British, London-based electronic music record label and former webzine, founded by Steve Goodman, a.k.a. Kode9. The label was formed in 2004, and grew out of the UK's early dubstep scene. Artists signed to the label have included Burial, Cooly G, Dean Blunt, DJ Rashad, DVA, Fatima Al Qadiri, Ikonika, Jessy Lanza, Klein, Laurel Halo and Zomby.
Kevin Richard Martin, often known under his recording alias The Bug, is an English musician and music producer. Martin moved from Weymouth to London around 1990 and is now currently based in mainland Europe. He has been active for over three decades in the genres of dub, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall, and dubstep.
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English electronic music producer Burial has released two studio albums, two compilation albums, one mix album, sixteen extended plays, and fourteen singles. Burial debuted in May 2005 with the release of his extended play South London Boroughs on the Hyperdub label. His eponymous debut studio album followed in May 2006 and was praised by music critics for its unique incorporation of 2-step garage, ambient, downtempo, dubstep, and trip hop styles. Following the releases of the extended plays Distant Lights (2006) and Ghost Hardware (2007), Burial released his second studio album Untrue in November 2007 to critical acclaim. It peaked at number 58 on the UK Albums Chart and at number 57 on the Ultratop 50 chart for the Belgian region of Flanders. Untrue later received nominations for the Mercury Prize and the Shortlist Music Prize, with the album experiencing a 1004% sales increase in the week following the Mercury Prize awards ceremony.
Laurel Anne Chartow, known professionally as Laurel Halo, is an American electronic musician currently based in Los Angeles, California. She released her debut album Quarantine on Hyperdub in 2012 to critical acclaim; it was named album of the year by The Wire.
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