Top 10 Hits of the End of the World is a studio album by psychedelic dance duo Prince Rama consisting of sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson.
"[3] In making the LP, the group also read about the concepts of Hauntology, Jean Baudrillard's theories about history, and essays by visionary artist Paul Laffoley on "Thanaesthetics," "Zombie Aesthetics," and time travel.
[3] The use of fake band stories and the duo taking photos of themselves as these groups was compared by critic Amanda Farah to the project Strange Little Girls (2001) by Tori Amos.
"[4] Top 10 Hits of the End of the World is a psychedelic indie drone rock album in the style of music from the cassette tape compilation C86 (1986) using raga compositional structures and a "Hindu atmosphere," wrote Paul Lester of The Guardian.
"[2] Top 10 Hits of the End of the World has garnered comparisons to artists such as Bananarama,[7][8] Siouxsie & the Banshees,[7] Haysi Fantayzee,[7] Kajagoogoo,[7] and Zodiac Mindwarp by critics.
[16] Lachlan Kanoniuk wrote a mixed review of the song for Australian magazine Beat upon its release; she praised the group for decreasing the "more obnoxious" aspects of their previous works but also found the track "forgettable" overall.
The contest ended on October 1, 2012,[18] The video was released on December 11, 2012 and received a positive review from critic Amrit Singh who called it "exploratory, unserious, diffuse, and most importantly, perfectly silly, which is nice counterpoint to the self-seriousness that usually accompanies concept projects.
[2] Despite mixed to decent scores from review aggregate sites,[24][25][26] Top 10 Hits of the End of the World garnered generally baffled opinions from professional music journalists.
[4] AllMusic's Thom Jurek wrote that while some tracks were decent, Prince Rama was "so involved with their campy concept, they neglected to write and record music capable of carrying its weight.
[30][31][5][6] An article in The Guardian stated the album was just "10 variations on a theme" of an "average" indie style, not following the genres of "ghost-modern glam" and "cosmic disco" as promised by the press release.
[30] No Ripcord analyzed that, despite following an apocalypse-based idea, the LP only had very few parts which were apocalypse-like and was nothing "more than a passable yet not entirely memorable collection of gauzy bedroom pop songs that barely separate themselves from the countless other acts following in the footsteps of more innovative predecessors like Ariel Pink and John Maus.
Some of them noted how the concept influenced the quality of the music,[33][34] some found it superior to Prince Rama's best albums,[27][34][30] and others praised the visual aspect of the LP's physical release.
[8] A reviewer for Impose magazine described the album as "a polemic on the flagging state of culture and its lack of meaning in spirit and heart" and praised it as "at times meditative, often high-energy, and with an excellent through-line that rarely leaves the listener disengaged or disappointed.