“This is an instant indie-rock classic.”
–Allan Raible on ABC News, Dec. 30, 2016
“…one of the most critically acclaimed indie albums of the decade.”
—CEG, December 27, 2016
“As a wordsmith and ideas man, Toledo is up there with a clutch of maverick geniuses…”
–Tony Hardy on BestNewBands.com, Dec. 24, 2016
“Car Seat Headrest’s Talking Heads Cover ‘This Must Be The Place’ Is The Best Cover You’ll Hear This Year”
–Caitlin White on Uproxxx, Dec. 22, 2016
“The Will Toledo-led band covers a lot of different tracks during their sets, and at their homecoming gig at The Neptune last month, they covered the Talking Heads’ Speaking In Tongues track ‘This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)’ with the help of their opening band.
–James Rettig on Stereogum, Dec. 22, 2016
“…there really is something jubilant about how Will Toledo takes that Pavement style of indie slop to such anthemic levels here.”
–Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone, Dec. 21, 2016
“Teens is a voice-cracking classic.”
–Abram Scharf on Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), Dec. 21, 2016
“Through changes of pace and intelligent, introspective lyrics, Car Seat Headrest have created a work of raw depth and beauty.”
—GIGsoup, Dec. 21, 2016
“The song simultaneously inspires feelings of dread and hope.”
–Darryl G. Wright re” “Fill in the Blank” on Spectrum Culture, Dec. 20, 2016
“Car Seat Headrest’s ‘Drunk Drivers /Killer Whales’ is an alt rock masterpiece and the linchpin of Teens of Denial, one of the year’s best albums.”
–Grant Ridnor on Spectrum Culture, Dec. 20, 2016
“These songs rock with a fuzzy-yet-clear intensity; they retain their DIY spirit, but the focus is sharper, as are the hooks, even when songs stretch past the seven-minute mark.”
–Steve Klinge in Magnet, Dec. 19, 2016
“Teens of Denial takes the verbosity of artists like Jonathan Richman and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff and combines it with a classic rock-sized sound to create one of the most enthralling records of 2016.”
–Terence Praet in The Manuel, Dec. 19, 2016
“Teens of Denial is a complex, smart, catchy record with some of the year’s best tracks on it.”
–Rich in The Revue, Dec. 19, 2016
“Utilizing the classic quiet-loud-quiet structure, ‘Cosmic Hero’ plays with emotions more than it has any right to.”
—Dozens of Donuts, Dec. 19, 2016
–“‘Destroyed By Hippie Power’ rocked, revitalizing Indie Rock in one fell swoop.”
—Dozens of Donuts, Dec. 19, 2016
“While the entirety of Teens Of Denial could be seen as a magnificent journey through an adolescents growing fears, ‘The Ballad Of The Costa Concordia’ organically put it in one paranoid package.”
—Dozens of Donuts, Dec. 19, 2016
“…my favourite album and one to buy all your favourite people this Christmas is ‘Teens of Denial’ by my current favourite band Car Seat Headrest.”
—The Only Indie Boy in Old York, Dec. 18, 2016
“…packed with great songs combining anthemic song hooks and shout-along choruses with smartly crafted lyrics of alienation, depression and survival.”
—KEXP (Seattle) re: Teens of Denial, Dec. 16, 2016
“As Teens of Denial presents Car Seat Headrest (aka Will Toledo) in a full-band setting following a string of Bandcamp albums, it’s hardly the sound of bending to convention.”
–Hays Davis on Under the Radar, Dec. 16, 2016
“…Toledo applies his encyclopedic rock knowledge to writing indelible, engaging songs that manage to sound so big and yet feel so personal.”
–Steven Hyden on Uproxx, Dec. 15, 2016
“Rookie of the Year: Car Seat Headrest”
–Lior Phillips on Consequence of Sound, Dec. 15, 2016
“This first studio-recorded LP from the band, Teens of Denial is frustration, confusion and humor in one of its best rock interpretations.”
–Skye Leppo on The Key, Dec. 15, 2016
“When that crunching and cathartic ‘it doesn’t have to be like this’ refrain finally kicks in, it’s nearly as bracing as any face-slapping Nirvana chorus.”
—Farce the Music, Dec. 15, 2016
“This is 23-year-old Will Toledo’s 13th album, a tale of 20-something lives and 90s influenced American indie rock par excellence.”
–Kernan Andrews in the Galway (Ireland) Advertiser, Dec. 15, 2016
“‘Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales’ was essentially indie rock’s anthem in 2016.”
–Eli Enis in The Alternative, Dec. 14, 2016
“Every generation gets the bookish, depressive indie-rock superstar it deserves, and you could scribble out the margins of every notebook inside a Staples with all the soul-scraping lines packed into Car Seat Headrest’s Teens of Denial.”
–Jeremy Gordon on Spin, Dec. 13, 2016
“A feel-good album about people chemically incapable of feeling good, Teens of Denial reckons mental illness, alienation, and a blooper reel’s worth of false epiphanies without angst or coddling…”
–Mike Powell on Pitchfork, Dec. 13, 2016
“Teens Of Denial is that record I never got tired of.”
–Steven on 107.7 The End (Seattle), Dec. 13, 2016
“Teens Of Denial is a massive statement, proof that the scruffiness of those old songs was more necessity than style.”
–A.G. on Uproxxx, Dec. 12, 2016
“…to paraphrase one of Toledo’s ancestors, a perfect sound is a perfect sound forever, and Denial found him honing it into his most cohesive, most endlessly replayable set yet.”
–Sean O’Neal on The A.V. Club, Dec. 12, 2016
“As a songwriter, Toledo captures what it’s like to be an awkward but thoughtful and intelligent man in his twenties in the modern era.”
–Bdog on The Gourmet Bachelor, Dec. 12, 2016
“…with Teens of Denial, Will Toledo has crafted a lofty, lyrically observant, melodic heavy and fun-as-hell album that does its predecessors well.”
—Aquarium Drunkard, Dec. 12, 2016
“The chorus of the song…hits at the feeling of being an anxious millennial directly.”
–Corey Leung re: “Fill in the Blank” on Twin Sheep, Dec. 12, 2016
“Whether he’s lamenting his lost backpack or pondering that next glass of beer, Toledo makes the mundane sound brainy and cool.”
–Marcus J. Moore in Spin, Dec. 12, 2016
“His music is moving and even deeply affecting at times.”
–Joshua B. Hoe on On Pirate Satellite, Dec. 11, 2016
“Thank you, Car Seat Headrest, for delivering the best indie-rock album in years.”
–Jim Harrington in the (San Jose) Mercury News, Dec. 9, 2016
“Teens of Denial collects a still more impressive dozen artful packed-with-ideas songs that never trip over their own ambition.”
–Dan DeLuca in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 9, 2016
“We followed everyone’s favorite new rock band Car Seat Headrest around SXSW 2016, just as they broke through.”
–Chris Chafin in Brooklyn Magazine, Dec. 9, 2016
“They’re basically everything you ever wanted in a band, and will hit that spot for a music craving pretty much every time you have one.”
–Jackie Yeager in Bands in Town, Dec. 9, 2016
“Toledo’s vivid lyricism pumps Denial’s 70 minutes full of heart and humanity…”
–Eric Renner Brown in Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 8, 2016
“‘Vincent’ starts with 2½ minutes of gathering guitar Minimalism, adding a motor beat; then Will Toledo’s voice arrives, with bipolar confessions of self-doubt and excess, as the music just keeps building.”
–Jon Pareles in the New York Times, Dec. 7, 2016
“Toledo is one of those rare talents whose precision as a songwriter is matched by his gift for arrangement.”
–Andrea Domanick on noisey, Dec. 7, 2016
“…he managed to make a record that was as good as any rock record, maybe one of the best rock records of the century, and maybe one of the top 10 rock records ever made.”
–Bob Boilen on NPR, Dec. 6, 2016
“The record is a near-masterpiece, big and ambitious but still precise in every moment…and if he’s going to be the voice, or even a voice, of indie rock moving forward, I feel like we’re in good hands.”
–Nate Scott in USA Today, Dec. 6, 2016
“The complexity of the songwriting on Teens of Denial isn’t just a craftsman showing off; it’s the work of someone building something elaborate enough to hide inside.”
–J. Edward Keyes on Bandcamp, Dec. 6, 2016
“One of the best rising acts in rock.”
–Scott Russell re: Will Toledo in Paste Magazine, Dec. 6, 2016
“…someone who can express the torments and depressions of a generation with a twisted sense of humor and music that shambles as recklessly as life itself.”
—Bitter Southerner re: Will Toledo, Dec. 6, 2016
“I admire a lot of music, but this is what I want from music.”
–Bob Boilen on NPR Music, Dec. 5, 2016
“If this doesn’t make you wanna crank the car stereo and go all Cannonball Run, you need new ears.”
–Matt Reilly re: “Vincent” on NPR Music, Dec. 5, 2016
“‘Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales’ says something about every year, every day, and every waking moment in our life, and that’s such a hard thing to do as a writer.”
–Michael Roffman on Consequence of Sound, Dec. 5, 2016
“…it simply and positively rocks.”
–Patrick Green on Crave, Dec. 5, 2016
“Car Seat’s entire set was pristine, and the band has clearly grown into their skin as live performers.”
–Dylan Sies on Northwest Music Scene, Dec. 4, 2016
“My good friend and roommate Julia always insists that the success of a first date can be determined by turning on the song ‘Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales’ in the car and seeing if they’re singing along by the end.”
–Adrienne Hohensee on KXSU (Seattle University), Dec. 2, 2016
Will Toledo’s review of Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo”
—Talkhouse, Dec. 2, 2016
“Toledo may posture as an underachiever, but with Teens Of Denial, he’s achieved something great, transcending his Bandcamp origins to create a work that rivals its lofty influences.”
–Peter Helman on Stereogum, Dec. 1, 2016
“Toledo’s open-book approach to personal struggles provides a scarred but triumphant human heart at the center of these 11 blazing epics, all of which find a radio friendly angle in the uncertainties of youth.”
–Jeff Terich in American Songwriter, Dec. 1, 2016
