An Awesome Wave
by alt-J

An Awesome Wave by alt-J
Year: 2012
Release date: 2012-05-25
Overall rank: 259th   
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 1,006 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 2012 (6th)
Award Top 50 albums of the 2010s (30th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (259th)

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Alt-J An Awesome Wave - 10th Anniversary OOP Purple Swirled Color Vinyl
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alt-J bestography

An Awesome Wave is ranked as the best album by alt-J.

alt-J album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (259th)
An Awesome Wave
Lower ranked (1,199th) »
This Is All Yours

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Mar
01
Sun
19:00
Three Days Grace - Alienation Tour
GIANT Center, Hershey, United States. United States
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Feb
06
Fri
21:00
Dillon Francis
South Shore Room at Harrah's Lake T, Lake Tahoe, United States. United States
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Feb
06
Fri
20:00
Kevin Ross
The Post Oak Room, Houston, United States. United States
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An Awesome Wave track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Average Rating: 84 (206 votes)Comments: View 0
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2.
Average Rating: 78 (179 votes)Comments: View 0
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3.
Track pick (860 - 253 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (253 votes)Comments: View 1
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4.
Track pick (880 - 293 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (293 votes)Comments: View 2
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5.
Average Rating: 77 (169 votes)Comments: View 1
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6.
Average Rating: 85 (227 votes)Comments: View 0
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7.
Average Rating: 84 (205 votes)Comments: View 0
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8.
Average Rating: 85 (228 votes)Comments: View 0
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9.
Average Rating: 79 (191 votes)Comments: View 2
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10.
Average Rating: 84 (221 votes)Comments: View 5
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11.
Average Rating: 76 (161 votes)Comments: View 0
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12.
Average Rating: 81 (193 votes)Comments: View 2
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13.
Track pick (860 - 226 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (226 votes)Comments: View 2
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

An Awesome Wave rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 259th | 2010s rank: 30th | 2012 rank: 6th

An Awesome Wave collection

An Awesome Wave ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 1,006 votes)
   Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 1,006 ratings for this album.

Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !
01/14/2026 12:24 Exist-en-ciel   7,14770/100
 
75/100
 !
12/29/2025 17:23 mutant   1,67156/100
 
100/100
 !
12/10/2025 12:25 Borislav   7100/100
 
80/100
 !
12/07/2025 21:28 Araldo   1,47180/100
 
50/100
 !
12/03/2025 22:45 evo   15375/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.1/100, a mean average of 76.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.5.

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An Awesome Wave comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 73 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
80/100
From 04/24/2022 14:26 | #284575
Cracking album with unique vocal - seen it described as Folktronica. Only got to it in 2021 so need to follow up on this to check their sound out further
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 12/28/2021 17:50 | #278128
What a unique sound - don't even know how to describe it, you'll just have to listen for yourself. My highlights are Dissolve Me, Bloodflood and Something Good. Very consistent album - no filler tracks.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 11/24/2021 00:22 | #276623
This album has a lot a lot of fun and quirky moments that will make you want to come back for more. Songs like Breezeblocks and Something Good really demonstrate how sonically pleasing the record can be. The vocal is very unique and while it can be annoying in places it is also incredible at certain points. Atmospherically, it creates a joyful but relaxed vibe which is consistently maintained. It can feel a little slow at times as well and some tracks do feel like filler. Overall. a pretty good album that shows a lot of potential for the future.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 11/05/2020 16:16 | #260213
One of the best british indie albums of all time, with very unique vocals.

Top tracks:
- Intro
- Tesselate
- Breezeblocks
- Something Good
- Dissolve Me
- Taro
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 09/19/2019 02:23 | #242792
Highlights:

Breezeblocks
Taro
Tessellate
Something Good
Matilda
Intro
Fitzpleasure
Ms
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 07/22/2019 23:16 | #240221
An awesome wave is based on dreamy atmosphere and liltly vocals. The effect is very sweet but sometimes it comes on a little to strong.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/29/2019 21:25 | #235646
Pleasantly surprised. Not meaning that I expected shit, but fairly worthy of the hype it gets. Enjoyable experience.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/23/2018 20:30 | #211580
Best pop record of the decade?

Top 3:
- Something Good [9]
- Dissolve Me [9]
- Intro / Breezeblocks / Tesselate (can't decide) [9]

Worst:
- Ms [7]
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (1 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/20/2018 14:16 | #211336
This album will always have a special place in my heart. I remember when my brother came into my room, plugged his phone into my Stereo and played Breezeblocks. I was absolutely amazed. A while later I bought the CD, which is now married to my car.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 01/22/2018 18:24 | #206297
Just love this album, very good interesting songs that are put together very well. Breezeblocks and Matilda are the only songs that I don't really enjoy. Maybe because they are too poppy. Saw them at a festival when I was on xtc. Amazing. Cant wait to see them soon when I will probably be sober.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 2012
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2. Lonerism by Tame Impala
3. Channel Orange by Frank Ocean
4. Bloom by Beach House
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