Critical Reception
"Frontier Psychiatrist" was acclaimed by music critics. Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle gave the song a positive review, declaring it "hands down the best example of the sheer giddy pleasure of turntablist art you've likely ever heard." Matt LeMay of Pitchfork Media described the song as "one of the funniest songs I've heard in ages", complimenting its use of vocal samples, including "brilliant scratching on a sample of a parrot." Christine Hsieh of PopMatters wrote: "Most impressively, though, is the way the Avalanches make things like whinnying horses and spoken word sound kooky and fresh instead of recycled and stale." She cited "Frontier Psychiatrist" as a "perfect example of this aesthetic". Matthew Horton, writing for the book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, described the song as "the album in microcosm—busy, daft, composed of countless unconnected parts, yet somehow entirely natural as a whole."
"Frontier Psychiatrist" and Soulwax's "No Fun / Push It" were the subjects of a short essay written by English writer Nick Hornby as a part of his book Songbook, a collection of similar short essays on songs with particular emotional resonance to Hornby.
Read more about this topic: Frontier Psychiatrist
Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or reception:
“Most critical writing is drivel and half of it is dishonest.... It is a short cut to oblivion, anyway. Thinking in terms of ideas destroys the power to think in terms of emotions and sensations.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)