"The Goodbye Radio" was also recently reviewed by Michael Henaghan at Angry Ape.  Here's what he had to say about it:

"Though Arc Lab’s 2007 release No Spectre displayed potent levels of production prowess, the emotional aspects one has come to expect from an n5MD release didn’t quite reach the same mark. On his second outing for the Californian imprint, Torontonian Medard Fischer has struck the perfect balance between the two aspects. Authoring a certain career best piece of work, if not one of the most original releases in the IDM field in some time.

“The Goodbye Radio” runs very much like the title suggests, as if Fischer is slowly guiding us through a variety of channels or stations on the radio spectrum. Confounding the set-in-stone rules of a stagnant IDM genre, hisses of static, soft piano sonnets, distant, grainy monologues and tranquil orchestral segments all weave their way throughout Fischer’s rich, intricate tapestry. To say the variety on the 50+ minutes of music here is remarkable would be doing Arc Lab a disservice. The way so many styles are uniquely incorporated is downright ingenious. “Transients” establishes the mood early on mixing radio interference with grainy, melodious drones, soft twilight tones and indecipherable speech, as if the radio dial has absent-mindedly been left between stations. From there, Fischer ushers us towards the serene pairing of “Reflexives Part 1 & Part 2”. The first part introduces a soft piano led melody and sombre orchestration, while it’s accompanying second part finds Fischer adding subtle electronics and soulful chimes and tones.

In keeping with the radio concept, “Song for Oleg” is a haunting electro pop number, as Fischer spins that dial towards a style that vaguely resembles his label mate Tobias Lilja. While, “I Wish I Could Tell You” pleasingly mixes chilled male/female vocals with a velvet synth backdrop to produce what can only be described as the album’s radio friendly unit shifter.

The fact that these differing styles are seamlessly blended is testament to Fischer’s production capabilities, a lesser musician may well have folded under such an ambitious concept. Given these sentiments, the strange “Recidivist Waltz”, a medieval sounding harpsichord piece, and the poignant “Like Conquistadors”, augment the overall flow rather than hinder. If anything, they add a personal touch, as if Fischer has invited us to trawl through his listening habits. As the closing number “Departure Music” fades into quiet, the only cause for concern on this release is possibility of a cryptic message in the album title (and indeed the last track). On this form, we really can’t afford to lose Arc Lab."

The review page is available here.  The review is also available at [SIC] Magazine here.

Textura recently reviewed "The Goodbye Radio".  Here's the full text of the review (which you can visit here):

"Medard Fischer's third Arc Lab album ranges so widely, it invites descriptors such as “genre-defying” or, perhaps most appropriately, “genre-transcending.” Some common threads do run throughout, however, one in particular being the material's oft-classical feel. And if the tracks do feel somewhat classical in spirit, they should as Fischer based their structures on the sonnet form. In many pieces, multiple vocal and instrumental melodies interlock in intricate and graceful counterpoint, and often the compositions feel reminiscent of gamelan and Asian music in their clockwork rhythms and overall delicacy. Though piano is the nucleus, the arrangements are rich in evocation, something that also doesn't surprise given that Fischer works field recordings, radio noise, male and female vocals, and bits and pieces of ancient recordings into the material's fabric.

There's much high-caliber music-making on display, with its emotive electronic character representative of n5MD in general. Following an overture of electro-acoustic haze (“Transients”), the album proper ensues with the melancholic piano-based ballad “The Secret Lives of A.C. Wuornos” (yes, the serial killer) whose haunting effect is undercut slightly by the robotic filtering of the vocal (“I am the movie with no sound / I am the girl you dream about”). Other highlights include “Reflexives,” an impressive two-part composition that begins as a classical sounding piano-and-strings setting before turning pensive in part two and gradually evolving into a gamelan-flavoured setting for mallet instruments, and “Departure Music Part One,” featuring an arresting mix of harp, glockenspiel, acoustic bass, and even castanets. Memorable vocal pieces appear too, specifically the elegant ballad “Small Numbers” and “I Wish I Could Tell You,” whose melancholic electro-pop style brings Styrofoam to mind.

Might this be Fischer's adieu, as the album title suggests? Stay tuned…"

Dominic Umile at PopMatters recently reviewed "The Goodbye Radio".  Here's what he had to say:

"Evocative symphonies meet stationary ambience on The Goodbye Radio, with Medard “Arc Lab” Fisher’s interest in classical music outweighing his affinity for miniature, Morr Music-styled electronic pop. The most engaging track on this, Arc Lab’s third album, is a slowly churning beauty called “The Secret Lives of A.C. Wuornos”. Its static-loaded percussion punches in and out like Morse code, and a female vocalist named Svitlana helps steer “The Secret Lives...” along its verse-chorus-verse route, rather than on the experimental road taken for most of Goodbye. The lyrics, already coded in metaphor ("I am a movie with no sound / I am the girl you dream about / I am the feathers of a bird"), lap against lush electric piano tones and are rubbery and fluid, suggesting they’ve been overprocessed with the ever-popular Auto-Tune software.

The same effect lent a chilly air to Nanko’s “Lucky You” from 2006’s Serious Times compilation. While “Lucky You’s” protagonist grappled with his jealousy of nearby lovers, Svitlana’s cloaked contributions to “The Secret Lives...” blanket further the mystery at hand when she reveals that the limited impression we have of her—in this case, she’s the convicted serial killer/prostitute Aileen Wuornos—isn’t remotely accurate.

“Small Numbers” partners Svitlana’s un-touched vocal with beatless charm for another Goodbye collaboration. Arc Lab’s shared compositions yield the most pleasant moments here, but a couple of Goodbye‘s instrumentals, are spellbinding in their digitally rendered wonder. The more straightforward, classically-launched efforts are pretty dry alongside the title track’s warm allotment of field noises and the fuzzy backdrop of “Transients”—Arc Lab would do well to expand on impulses like these or, at the very least, book more studio time with Svitlana."

You can visit the review page here.

Friends,

I'm happy to report that The Goodbye Radio has been included in XLR8R Magazine's most recent Top 10 list (April 29, 2008).  Here's what they had to say about it:

"This is the third full-length for Medard Fischer under his Arc Lab guise, and it finds the producer constructing endless layers of radio static, field recordings, eerie, vocoder-processed vocals, and his signature drum programming. Throw in a harpsichord and some lyrics about the Russian space program and female serial killers, and you've got a intricate, pensive album that makes us hope this isn't the last we hear from Arc Lab, despite the title of this release."

You can view the entire list here:

http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2008/04/top-10-flying-lotus-arc-lab-free