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REVIEWS:

About.com:
In 2000, Cantagallo and Page moved to the more artistically friendly climes of Philadelphia, a city with an active space rock/psychedelia scene. Those influences are obvious on Mall's second full-length release, 2001's cryptically titled 05.17.2012 01.34.28 PM -0400 CD. Darker and dreamier than Special Education, with barely audible voices murmuring through most of the tracks and a woozy feel of stoned ambience, the album was an intriguing new direction for the duo.

Exclaim.ca:
Philadelphia-based producers, Mall opens with several voice samples making pseudo-philosophical and spiritual remarks then veers into synth-line sweeps followed by an electronic instrumental take on slow jams, or so it seems. Mellowed, tripped-out techno, sometimes sounding like science documentary music for a high school physics class and other times as a playful video game soundtrack, yet sometimes still and cleverly layered in a manner comparable to the Orbital. The producers made a point of informing the listener in their liner art that they used "cracked programs, unauthorised samples, fucked equipment and illegal substances," the latter could explain the constant derailments of perfectly good rhythmic and sound progressions, which dissolve into synth-ambient deconstruction or noise. There seems no plausible reason for this, other than it might sound cool if you're on something. There are some good ideas on this album, if only the producers were sober enough to see it through.

FAC193:
A trio operating out of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Mall shroud their music (strange, untranslatable song titles) and very identities (first names but no photo—definitely not designer electronic music). The important thing here is the music, right? Yes, it is.To some degree, I’d call this “subtractive music”. The spaces and holes that exist in the music’s structure are just as important as the beats and watery movements. Analog sweeps and oscillator-flavored bleeps wander around in each song’s environment. There’s a lot to try to ingest in just one listen. In fact, this is the kind of record where you hear something new every time you listen to it. It’s enigmatic, sneaky, and most definitely a trip that doesn’t require acid. If you need some sort of label, you could call this “ambient”—but think of that word in a way that conjures some of The Orb’s early work. There’s a lot going on here and it’s beat-driven at points—it’s just driven very slowly. It sounds like that period in between three and five in the morning when you know the sun’s on its way and you start to go a little crazy, but it’s a beautiful insanity indeed that populates this recording.

Popmatters.com:
The opening track on Mall's second album, 05.17.2012 01:34:28 PM -0400, sets an unmistakable mood, through recorded dialogue and atmospheric based music: People hanging out late at night, smoking and having deep conversations. With glowing synth in the background, two pairs of men are talking, one in each speaker. On the right side, they're discussing spirituality. On the left? Dope, dreams and revolution. One man asks, "What are you up to?" "Planning a revolution," the other wickedly replies. While the set-up for the album is a portrait of independent-minded intellectuals expanding their minds, through words and chemical substances, the album on the whole is more an instrumental musical backdrop for such activities than a depiction of them. For close to an hour, Mall create dreamy, laid back, electronic soundscapes. They surround you with electronic fuzz, glimmer and beats, using computers, synthesizers and other technological tools. Throughout there's a melodic side, but the tracks aren't lead by melodies. However, they are lead by pounding beats, either; outside of a few dance-oriented spaces, the beats come and go with a certain lackadaisicalness associated more with mellow, after hours chillouts than dance floor sweatathons. Mall are based in Philadelphia, a city with a continually growing group of talented electronic musicians, many of which have been released through the tbtmo label (formerly known by its spelled-out title, The Blind Man TM Organization), which is run by Rob Cantagallo, one of the two central members of Mall, along with Mike Page (on both 05.17.2012 and their debut album Special Education, they were aided by Sean O' Neal of Flowchart). This is a spectacularly creative and diverse scene, one recently showcased on the stellar Vibon compilation. While Special Education had a more giddy, playful feel, exacerbated by samples from children's television programs, 05.17.2012 is thoroughly dreamy and blissfully mellow. It feels more like entering a zone than listening to a collection of songs. Everything flows together and forms a cohesive feeling. Throughout this enchanting and fun album, Mall sound as interested in people and ideas as in computers and technology, and use all of these interests to draw you into a comfortable aural space.
- Dave Heaton

Boston's Weekly Dig:
Bliss out Philly style through the alliance of Rob Cantagallo and Mike Page, who recently reemerged as the duo Mall. It’s been three years since their first official release, Special Education, and it’s obvious that the group’s sound has matured. Composed with cracked computer programs and arranged with samples, synths and some analog gear, the new album 05.17.2012 01:34:28 PM -400A is an atmospheric departure into the depths of late night make-out sessions or the winding down of an after-hours aural orgy. Whether it’s dark outside or the sun has just begun to permeate your drawn blinds, Mall lays down the perfect soundtrack. Spacey cerebral beats interlaced with occasional harmonic keyboards provide a trippy, mellow mix of both ambient and danceable tracks. Special Education, which was released by Fuzzy Box in 1998, had a similar sound, but its aim was more playful. Mixing in samples from Sesame Street and Flash Gordon, the album lacked seriousness and danceability—two things that the new album incorporates quite well. 05.17.2012 01:34:28 PM -400A marks the first real production on Mall’s own label, tbtmo, which prior to this had been a mail-order operation that sold mixtapes and CD-Rs. Co-released with the pretty pop/beat purveyors at Darla, the new Mall album provides their best work to date. Philly boys make beautiful noise, and while the city continues to build on its reputation as a headquarters for underground electro-chill artists, Mall continues to play an active role in the movement. Welcome to Etherea.
- Nolan Gawron

Phila Weekly (Brainsoap.com): [part of dual mall/vibon cd reviews]
... Cantagallo's own project, Mall, maintains a playful touch while still shooting for the trippy stuff. Vacillating between oddball jokes and humble stabs at mind-blowing, the trio boasts of using cracked software to layer keyboards and loops that are panned and swished around some pretty good drum programming and samplitude. The slobbery synth resembling a revving engine in "Fucker One" can induce one hell of a case of the giggles. And cranking "High and Outside" could get people dancing, so long as they remember to laugh at the whale sounds. You have to go online if you want to make sense of the track listings for these records, and Cantagallo's hysterical Web site at http://tbtmo.com illuminates Mall's wiseass world.

Speck fanzine:
Low-key beat oriented ambience loops about a sci-fi movie set. Mall Shares some elements carried before on Planet Dog's label with artists such as Eat Static, Timeshard, Banco de Gaia and Children of the Bong. I seem to be collecting wads of this stuff but rarely ever seem to play much of it and I suppose it's because it sounds so much better in the hands of some capable, late night radio DJ. Overall I find this sort of thing very soothing and appropriately humble.

Indieville.com:
[Genres: electronica, ambient, experimental]
I'm sorry, but I have to keep this brief. Perhaps I will write a second review another time. This is fairly inspired electronica from a group known as Mall. It is very, and I mean very, reminiscent of some of Aphex Twin's ambient work. I would have preferred more samples, like their previous album, "Special Education," but this is good nonetheless. For example, the first song, "E+w" uses a mixture between spoken word and instrumentals, which is very effective. All the pieces very nicely done, and very soothing to listen to, but I think that it was a bit more unoriginal. Even when there is less ambience, and more beat, the beat is soft and relaxed, with a more light approach as a opposed to a stronger, bass-y approach. As well, some songs, while remaining calm and soft, can still be more kickin,' for example, "6uo5-3," a meaty little entree that puts a little fun into it.   As well, "Z > l5!p!u!w" is a more abrasive, experimental piece, using more samples than most of the other pieces. Overall, the similarities to Aphex are just too strong to be ignored, it makes this seem less original than it actually is. If you like Aphex Twin, or various similar ambient/idm musicians, as well as some glitch-y experimental stuff, I'd say this is a great choice. Otherwise, I doubt this is for you. 74%

Informativos.net:
El enigmático sello Tbtmo, parcela de Darla dedicada a los sonidos más planeadores, toma poco a poco forma definitiva. Ubicado en Filadelfia, ciudad que con su electrónica o psicodelia ya ha dado recopilatorio para Rocket Girl, Tbtmo llamó la atención con un recopilatorio de grupos en la mayoría de los casos de la propia ciudad (Printed Circuit, Transient, Pacifica, Flowchart,...) que compiló Rob Cantagallo, el personaje que se esconde tras el trio MALL.
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TRIC zine:
More ambience from the guys that define tbtmo. For those that have been listening for a few years, you can definitely sense the maturity and the growth of their compositions in this new cd. More textures and fades, along with too many samples to count, most too torn up to recognize. This is good sleepytime music, totally unaggressive and wistful. I've seen these guys provide broken beats for Tremolo, and it was unbelievable. Trying to review it if you're not baked up though, it inevitably gets a little too tripped out, but that's just the flavor, I guess...

Intellectos:
Ambient textures and lovely soundscapes from Rob TBTMO and others, this cd ventures from soft lilting passages to breezy yet energetic beats similar to the Remote Viewer and Flowchart. Very good!!!!