HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Operator'' is the third
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by Canadian
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
duo Mstrkrft. It was released on July 22, 2016, by
Last Gang Records Last Gang Records is a record label formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald K. Tarlton in the fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival. Last Gang was nominated as Independent Record Label of th ...
.


Promotion

The album's first single "Little Red Hen" featured on Canadian DJ A-Trak's
Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...
(now ''Apple Music 1'') radio program on March 5, 2006. The band performed six songs from the album on CBC Music's ''First Play Live'' program on July 29, 2016.


Release

On May 13, 2016, the band announced they were releasing their third studio album. Jesse F. Keeler said of the album:
"The ''Operator'' concept for us was essential in the creation of the music on this album, but I’m not sure what came first, the title or the idea. While browsing military related websites and blogs, mostly consisting of vets talking to each other like any civilian I suppose, I noticed repeated reference to something they called "operator culture". As we had decided to work entirely with hardware, all our old drum machines and modular synth collection, we had begun to feel more like operators than musicians"


Singles

On March 6, 2016, Mstrkrft released "Little Red Hen", the band's first song in five years. The second single "Party Line" was released on May 13, 2016, alongside the announcement of the album. The official music video, released on May 26, 2016, was directed by Brooks Reynolds and produced by Joe McLaren. The third single "Priceless" was released on June 9, 2016, and features English musician Sonny Kay. The music video, released on July 9, 2016, was directed by Nick Sewell. On July 20, 2016, the band released their fourth single "Runaway".


Tour

In support of the album, the band went on a North American tour from June 1, 2016 at the U Street Music Hall in Washington, D.C. to June 14, 2016 at The Horseshoe Tavern in
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada.


Critical reception

''Operator'' was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an
average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
score of 55 based on 18 reviews. At AnyDecentMusic?, the release was given a 5.3 out of 10 based on a critical consensus of 22 reviews. Writing for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, Neil Z. Yeung said the release was the "most difficult listen to date, droning with hypnotic repetition and no outright bangers." He went on to say, "Much of the fun is also gone and listeners are ushered from the EDM arena and into the shadowy back room for much of this affair." Josh Gray at '' Clash'' said: "''Operator'' boasts by far the most aggressive, noise-ridden collection of tracks the pair have ever managed to grind out. MSTRKRFT themselves have quit trying to mask anything about their sound or approach, electing instead to deliver the turbo-aggressive noise record they’ve always threatened to make." Kyle Eustice of ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'' explained: "''Operator'' drags the listener kicking and screaming into what sounds like the soundtrack to the depths of hell, where the only music available is an unrelenting, want-to-bang-your-head-against-the-wall symphony of noise. It's difficult not to imagine Keeler dropping several hits of acid and then zoning out with his synthesizers and 808s. ''Operator'' is overpowering enough to make a casual listen impossible and an intense listen painful."


Track listing


Charts


Release history


References


External links

* * {{Authority control 2016 albums MSTRKRFT albums Last Gang Records albums