Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Guardian
Pitchfork Media	7.5/10
PopMatters	7/10
Stylus Magazine	B+
Tiny Mix Tapes

Tender Buttons is the third studio album by the English indie electronic band Broadcast. It was released on 19 September 2005 by Warp Records. The album marks a turn in the band's sound, bearing similarities to the sound of the Young Marble Giants, an early 1980s Welsh minimalist post-punk band.

Upon its release, Tender Buttons received acclaim from critics but failed to place in international charts. "America's Boy", the lead and only single from the album, peaked at number 139 in the UK Singles Chart. The eleventh track was named "Minus 3" due to the third loss of a member from the band.

Upon its release, Tender Buttons received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 76, based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".AllMusic writer Heather Phares said that the album "strips [the band's] luminous electronic pop down to its barest essence" and "has a uniquely fresh, modern feel. Sparingly applied beats, intricate but subtle guitars, and hazy synths dominate the album, providing a restrained backdrop for Keenan's quietly commanding voice and crossword-puzzle lyrics." Phares awarded it four out of five stars.The Guardian's David Peschek wrote in a four-out-of-five star review that "Broadcast's recent records have often seemed too cluttered with effects" but that on Tender Buttons the band "managed to find a halfway house between this always engaging but fussed-at sound and … resonant, muscular psychedelia". Paul Woloszyn of musicOMH published a positive review of Tender Buttons and said that it "that takes you to another planet with a sonic soundscape lent from Stereolab, but developed to be distinctly Broadcast", referring to the album as "arguably their finest moment".

Writing for Stylus Magazine, Jeff Siegel said that "on its surface, [Tender Buttons] seems like such a simple little curlicue, all Mother Goose coos, descending-scale melodies, and no-wave screech over dinky drum-machine patters … no mucking around in different time signatures, no showy genre fusions, just a single idea … most acts would falter here, but Broadcast pull it off with an easy grace and breezy elegance". Siegel gave the album a B+ rating.PopMatters reviewer Adrien Begrand wrote that "instead of finding a comfortable middle ground, there's more of a sense of tension to the proceedings, the vocal hooks lulling you, only to have electronic noise jolt you awake", further referring to Tender Buttons as "rewarding [and] their boldest album to date."

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