Archive is a London-based collective built around Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths. They've already been around for a couple of years, released a bunch of albums but if I'm right "Controlling Crowds" is going to be the album that will definitely launch them all over Europe.With their feet firmly planted in the electronic scene, these dudes don't shy away from incorporating hiphop ("Razed To The Ground") or indierock a la Secret Machines in their songs or from using a full choir. This results in an album where you're never sure which direction a song is gonna go in. Which in turn allows Archive to keep things interesting for a whopping 78 minutes.
Archive knows how to whip up a storm like Mogwai, they can get trippy with the best of them (think Massive Attack), they know where to use which vocalist (5 or so in total) and - most importantly - they have a knack for writing beautiful melodies. Put it all together and you've got an album on your hands that you're best off listening to as a whole. If you insist on skipping straight to the best, check out first single "Bullets" (one of the most beautiful songs I've heard this year), "Dangervisit" which is like a 7-minute showcase of Archive's sound or "Collapse/Collide", another definite highlight on an aleady basically flawless album.
Score: 9 out of 10
http://www.warnermusic.fr
http://www.archiveofficial.com
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