Radio 4 photospread in Amp magazine
Amp magazine's new issue includes a page full of live photos from Radio 4's San Francisco show back in June.
October 18
NME Grooves On 'Packing Things Up'
"A terrific slice of rabble-rousing dance rock in the Big Audio Dynamite stylee - cheesewire guitars and Television bass criss-crossing over a deceptively funky undercarriage."
NME, Oct 21
October 17
One Week To Live Loves Loving Hand
"Vocalist Anthony Roman, with the swagger of a nomad in-the-know, is set adrift over Goldsworthy’s oasis of bobbing bassline and bounty of different percussions, setting off spirals of colder synths to give a hallucinatory, nerves-playing edge."
One Week To Live magazine, reviewing the 'Packing Things Up On The Scene' remixes.
September 28
Update up On Packing Things UP
"...stunning new 45 from Radio 4... remixed by The Loving Hand aka one half of DFA, Tim Goldsworthy. And as you might expect it blends together a fabulously funky collection of raw rhythms which draw influence from everyone from Liquid Liquid to Public Image Ltd, plus of course plenty of its own original thinking."
Greg Fenton, Update, UK.
July 20
Belfast Boys
"There's a swaggering panache to Radio 4 that makes you want to like them – right from the off. Enemies Like This - the follow-up to Stealing A Nation - unleashes a series of pulsating ridiculously catchy tracks recalling early U2 and The Clash."
Nigel Gould, Belfast Telegraph. Read full review here
July 20
Amplifier turns it up
"What the group does best, both live and in the studio, is blistering, abrasive post-punk, with more guitars than groove boxes. From the opening drum crashes of the title track on the group's latest, Enemies Like This, it's clear that Radio 4 realized that as well.
Jeff Terich, Amplifier. Read full review here.
July 11
CD Times on Enemies.
"As the opening and title track Enemies Like This bursts from your speakers you instantly get the impression that they're back on track; the anger, the spark that had been missing is back and firing the band up."
Read Michael Hughes' full review in CD Times here.
July 11
Album Of The Week in DMC
"‘Enemies Like This’ is Radio 4 back on top of their game, having the time of their lives."
Dean Thatcher, DMC Update. read the full review here.
July 07
NY Press interview
Read an interview with Anthony Roman in the New York Press here.
June 26
Bigshot PJ
"The songwriting, riffs and choruses are all stronger, and the best tracks (like “This Is Not a Test”) show off P.J. O’Connor’s percussive prowess, a longtime selling point of the Radio 4 live show."
Christian W. Smith enthuses about Enemies in the new issue of Bigshot. Read the full review here.
June 23
NPR makes Enemies Song of the Day
"A sleek, drum- and bass-heavy single, the song benefits immeasurably from new guitarist Dave Milone's biting contributions and the tight production of Jagz Kooner. It's a raw, emotionally charged track, with smart lyrics laid over funk riffs and deep, pulsating dub grooves -- as thoughtful as it is danceable."
Read John Richards' full review here
June 22
Barnes & Noble.com finds "deep pleasure"
"The release from formulaic constriction provides Enemies Like This with its deepest pleasures. Sure, they still owe a sonic debt to bands like Gang of Four and their brand of nervous, atonal funk. But the considerably more polished disc (thanks to production by U.K. remixer Jagz Kooner) indulges in more space than this claustrophobic crew had previously allowed -- witness the powerful dub tracks "Everything's in Question" and "Ascension Street" (the latter boasts melodica!) and the Echo & the Bunnymen-styled "The Grass Is Greener.""
Mark Schwartz, Barne & Noble.com. Read the full review here.
June 22
Handbag: Not 'wanky'
"This album is a treasure: funky without being er, wanky, intelligent without being snotty and stuffed full of infectious tunes... Major highlight 'All in Control' will have you howling along."
Read Sarah Bee's full review at handbag.com here
June 20
Urb hears longevity.
“When Radio 4 go full dancefloor on ‘This Is Not A Test’ they sound like LCD Soundsystem sounding like Kid Creole sounding like Liquid Liquid. Radio 4 borrow, like everyone else, but they had the idea to borrow before most on the map. At four albums, this almost indicates longevity rather than trend.”
Jim Fever, Urb, June 06. (4.5/5 star review.)
June 20
944 gets the 411
“Radio 4 has found a way to package their exuberant and raw live performances into Enemies Like This. Jagz Kooner had a hand in providing that little extra touch that goes a long way.”
944 Magazine, June 2006
June 14
Finetuning Pitchfork
OK, it's obvious that Enemies Like This doesn't just get the glowing reviews we've featured below. We get our share of negative reviews too and as long as they have something constructive to say, we take it on board and move on.
Every now and then, though, you get a review so negative you have to wonder at the writer's motivation. That was the case with the Pitchfork.com review of Enemies Like This, which you can read in its entirity here. Fortunately, not everyone believes everything pitchfork writes, and another site has already responded in Radio 4's defence. Read Tuning Fork's review of Pitchfork's review of Enemies Like This here.
June 09
DJ sees '12" Glory'
"Three years ago Radio 4 heralded the arrival of New York punk-funk into clubs... Producer Jagz Kooner does well catching their testosterone-driven guitar pop and 'This Is Not A Test'
is destined for 12" glory."
Ben Osborne, DJ Magazine, UK, June '06
June 07
Rif-Raf Cover Story
Belgian rock magazine puts Radio 4 on its front cover and says of Enemies Like This,
"Car les Radio 4 savent y faire pour se faire aimer à la première écoute : du rythme simple, sobre mais qui provoque une explosion de saveurs dans l'oreille, et plutôt des saveurs qu'on voudrait goûter encore et encore."
Precisely. Read the accompanying interview here
June 06
Jive talking...
Jive magazine has an online interview with Anthony Roman here.
June 03
Flying High
"Tinged with disco sensibilities and hard, clockwork drums, 'Enemies Like This' is bulging with some of their best work to date." Jenny Pashkova, Fly, UK.
June 02
"Lethal" Mirror
"The title track of their latest album is a lethal single.
Sleek and as propulsive as a rock'n'roll exocet, it is sprung with a throbbing bassline, possesses a nuclear-powered spleen and slicing guitar that will have fresh-faced dark rock newbies such as The Editors cowering behind their stylist."
Read Gavin Martin's full review in The Daily Mirror
here
June 01
Uncut hears a "spirited return"
"Clearly reinvigorated, Enemies comes closer to capturing their arse-shaking performances than any of its predecessors." April Long, Uncut, UK, July 2006.
May 31
Outburn feels the force
"Between percussion and Anthony Roman's rebel disco bass, rhythm drives this album to rousing moments of activism." Outburn, USA, June 06.
May 31
In Dallas, New York is all broken bottles
"Radio 4 portrays that NYC combination of something both dirty and beautiful, like a streetlight refracted into a prism through the fragments of a broken bottle."
Maria Tarradel, Dallas Morning News. Read full review http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/features/poprock2/053106cckkMUSICradio.3e3594ac.html
May 26
Stylus Gets The Point
"Using disarming, straightforward rock with some unique touches, the New York four-piece crafts an impressive political statement while abstaining from didactic prose." Ayo Jegede, Styus.
Five-piece, but hey, we appreciate the compliment. Read the full Stylus piece about Radio 4's mix of pop and politics here
May 25
German Online reviews
Radio 4 are playing four shows in Germany this week. You can read some of the accompanying German online press at these sites:
If you can read these reviews, let us know what they say: we have no idea!
May 25
Playback time
"The Personal Is Political": Interview with Anthony Roman at Playback magazine here
May 17
A positive Spin on Enemies Like This
"Trailblazers for the funky post-punk sound eventually launched into the mainstream by Franz Ferdinand, Brooklyn's Radio 4 turned heads with 2002's DFA-produced Gotham!, only to go all electronic on their 2004 follow-up, Stealing Of A Nation, and lose their way. Here, they've returned to the frantic music of original heroes Gang Of Four, banging out songs that vibrate with exactly the tense energy they'd mislaid." John Harris, Spin
May 16
Radio 4 gets Curbed
"It’s not often we get the chance to write about music, but we can be convinced when the music in question touches on Brooklyn development and gentrification."
Read real estate web site Curbed's piece on Enemies.
May 16
Treblezine uses the C-word
"Still surging forward with the political-minded polemics of Nation and Gotham, Radio 4 offer an album that rivals Gotham as their best, mixing Clash-like hybrids of dub and punk with danceable post-punk jams, as one should expect from R4 at this juncture."
Read the full feature here
May 14
Play(that funky)music
"The band have gone back to the foundations they laid in 2002 and emerged with an album that captures the full force of their live shows. From the incendiary title track to the spiky, groovesome Too Much To Ask For, Radio 4 have lost none of their vitriol, spitting sonic fire wit every chord change... This still a truly essential album."
Hannah Hamilton, Playmusic, UK, May 2006
May 12
EW finds "funky joyousness" in ELT
"Any CD that starts with the declaration ''I was a prisoner in a factory!'' and concludes with a song about Hurricane Katrina is never going to be voted Happy-Go-Lucky Summer Album of the Year. But there is a definite funky joyousness to be found in Enemies Like This, this latest collection from the post-punk-loving Radio 4. Particularly fine are the Talking Heads-influenced ''Packing Things Up on the Scene'' and ''Ascension Street,'' which we'd happily wager is the first reggae song ever written about gentrification in Brooklyn. Grade: B. CC"
Read full review at Entertainment Weekly
May 10
The Tripwire on Enemies...
"What once seemed to be straight, dub reggae inspired dance-punk for Radio 4 has now morphed into a sharper rendition of civically charged shots and embraceable funk on the new record, which covers topics from Hurricane Katrina and the military to such simple thangs as matters of the heart."
Full review here
May 08
Radio 4 Gets Robotified at Sub-Inev
"...The artwork on this record is great. It's what I've wanted their artwork to be - very close to that of their fantastic posters with utilitarian angular lettering and two-color perfection. A very nice touch."
Sub-Inev finds a new look Radio 4. See it for yourself here
May 04
Filter Mini grades Enemies 91/100
"Remember when it was so cool to ape the Gang Of Four's dance-punk vibe that it actually got the old coots recording and back on the road? Well do ya, Franz? NYC's Radio 4 has been hosting that sonic disco since the last decade, kids. Proficient as ever, if these 42 minutes of sharp guitars, yummy beats, and tasty grooves don't get your hipster hooves dancing uncontrollably, nothing will."
- JR Griffin, Filter Mini, May/June 2006
May 03
CMJ Attends Radio 4's Astralwerks party
Read the report and see photos at
www.cmj.com/relay/?p=429
May 03
CMJ Gets All Mildly Excited
"While this might be Radio 4's best album, the breakup with neo-wave and post-punk is still too fresh in our minds for this to leave a lasting impact. Still, we'll settle for frenemies like this."