Harp Magazine

KOF's great strength is that they don't know how to be boring. They'll throw in a little down-tempo, nouveau-noir here and there ("What's Your Name") or a burst of flat-out histrionics ("Just A Body") and not miss a heartbeat. Singer-guitarist Steve Salad has a voice that melds shenanigans and shoulder-shrug desperation as easily as slapping on a hat. Incontrovertible proof that the best music these days is being made out beyond the walls.

CMJ

"Their musicianship and 60's-pop stylizations are impeccable"

Nylon Magazine

"Celebratory" and "instantly engaging."

The King of France writes catchy, intelligent, highly melodic pop-rock songs with a strong and welcome dose of Midwestern angst (its front man and primary songwriter Steve Salad did time in the Twin Cities). Proving that a person can do two things well in life [is] the propulsive drummer and indie-rock historian Michael Azerrad...

Spin Magazine

"With plink-plonking keyboards, vocals that waver between Leonard Cohen smooth and Jeff Mangum frantic, plus the occasional lap steel, this New York trio are such blithe troopers that they'll even whistle to win you over.

"...In an age of overwhelmingly derivative rock music, the King of France is simply a great rock band, one that draws extensively and subtly on the great rock bands of the past without ever allowing the weight of history to overwhelm its singular vision. There are three demos available for free on their Web page, but I urge you to spend a couple dollars and hear this band at its best. Download "The Beast," "Notion" and "Sick of Life" from iTunes, all off the King of France's as-yet-untitled new record..."

King of France, a New York rock trio, is the polar opposite of a shoe-gazing trance band – their music is so engaged and emotional that at first you may feel yourself pulling back, the way you would from a drunken uncle at a family reunion. But all it takes is a few listens and King of France's intelligent magic takes over. You capitulate to the band's playful/majestic melodies, the finely detailed performances of each player and the music's tightly controlled explosiveness.

PopMatters
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A far cry from post-collegiate postpunk poachers with guitar riffs as jagged as their high-maintenance hairdos, King of France are immediately identifiable as mature and laid back, 100% unconcerned with trend chasing. (Powers) 3/04

Village Voice

There's something lovably resolute about the King of France's intelligent, off-kilter pop songs. Like the best of us, they're down but not out. Bittersweet at times, boisterous and shimmering at others. (Rosen) 2/04

Village Voice

King of France summon rock royalty from the Kinks to Pavement with an offhand shake. 1/04

New Yorker

Timeless, shimmery indie pop. 1/04

PopMatters
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It's easy to forget the boundless potential of the pop song until you've seen the King of France perform their smartly skewed take on the form.(Harold Liu) 10/03

The Onion

The King of France is a great local indie-rock band that hints toward Pavement and Neutral Milk Hotel while cleaning up and hanging its heart on bigger hooks. 10/03

Village Voice

"The King of France’s retro-flavored indie-pop sparks and dances in all the right places."(Catucci)10/03

Entertainment Weekly

Finally, a New York City band that isn't consumed by image. The Kings' debut has all the nasal whine and new-wave '80s guitar noodling of fellow scenesters Interpol and Elefant, though their less-manicured sound (and look - the singer has a beard!) owes more to the likes of '90s alt-rock nerds Neutral Milk Hotel and the Sea and Cake. Little pretense, much jangly finger-snapping rock. B+

Hartford Courant

"One of the finest new bands of the year..."
(Canfield) September 29, 2003

PopMatters.com
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Best Band the New York City Band Craze Left Behind
"rarely has there been such a fortuitous, and entirely bizarre, meeting of musical minds..."

The City Pages
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...the effortless gorgeousness of guys who never had a hope of becoming Pavement or Liz Phair, and outdid them all (in my humble opinion) as a result.(Scholtes)

The Pulse of the Twin Cities
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...the deliciously pop-py trio combines their various influences (Ray Davies, The Pixies, Nilsson, The Faces, early punk, ’80s heartbreak beats) to create a sublime pastiche of sound and substance. Salad’s smooth-as-silk, Nick Cave-meets-Ric Ocasek vocals, which he delivers with a sly softness, stand in sharp contrast to the razor-edged lyrics he sings on KOF’s debut release, Salad Days (2003 Egret Records).(Hallet)

The Pulse of the Twin Cities interview
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The Village Voice

Minneapolis transplant Steve Salad has the charming drawl that indie-rock fans have come to love in Luna and Pavement. The fact that he met up with a bandmate at a Pixies reunion seems appropriate given KOF’s music. Rumor has it that there’s a noted scribe somewhere in their ranks but they like to keep that hush-hush. (Gross)

Delusions of Adequacy
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Fuck the Strokes as the "forbearers of the New York rock revival," is King of France just lying low to avoid the press? While eschewing the raw sounds of "Sister Ray" for the autumnal winds of "Sisters of Mercy," King of France's sparseness belies a quiet fire that razes your preconceptions as soon as it is unleashed.

Yahoo Internet Life

The King of France - "Notion" mp3 review from Yahoo Internet Life:
[The King of France plays] melancholy cabaret rock whose intelligence and atmosphere are oases in a vast wasteland of prefab pop. True to the spirit of indie rock's past, the weepy slide guitar and honky-tonk piano of this glam ballad suggest a rural Velvet Underground wandering the watering holes of the wilderness.