"Once in a while a new artist comes along who simultaneously wows you with his ingenuity and pop appeal. John Vanderslice is this guy, the one who makes you forget that disappointing new album from a longtime favorite singer. Vanderslice's sound combines dynamic guitars, piano, evocative lyrics, off-key vocal and sporadic electronic touches, all with a sincere, geeky charisma that makes Beck's shtick seem trite."  (Digital City)

"As the chief knob-twiddler at San Francisco's (MK) ultra-indie recording studio, Tiny Telephone, free music-MP3 advocate John Vanderslice has a pretty good grasp of the possibilities of lo-fi pop. That's why it's no surprise his own albums are a cut above the rest of the crowd, filled with catchy, off-kilter melodies and wholly original hooks. Better still, Vanderslice's lyrics actually seem to be about something, setting them apart from the tediously oblique word jumbles that seem to typify the lo-fi genre. Worth checking out."  (Slipcue)

"...vulnerability is the heart of Fourtracker: underneath all the layers of sound, all the analog synth bubbling and piano and brass and strings and meticulously recorded track after track of percussion, there's an enormous heart and all-encompassing humanity to this album. And with all the sounds that swells and builds through the record, when the narrator's untimely but not unexpected end arrives, everything distorts and dies out with him, and as the bookending "Fiend In A Cloud, Pt. 2" begins, all that's left is Vanderslice's slightly roughened voice, shouting into an unearthly silence. And you get the sense that along with his studio and his songs and arrangements, John Vanderslice genuinely loves his narrator, despite all his instability and melodrama; it's all both technically stunning and emotionally draining, and beautifully crafted pop as well."  (Splendid E-zine)

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