GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Music

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Scale
by Matthew Herbert

Matthew Herbert reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 81 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.9 out of 10
based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Like a more accessible, poppier version of Matmos, UK electronica artist Matthew Herbert likes to record concept albums with instrumentation derived from real-world objects. 'Scale' (which again features Dani Siciliano on vocals) samples 723 items (including coffins and fuel pumps) in its 11 politically-charged dance tracks.

LABEL: K7
RELEASE DATE: 30 May 2006
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Electronic

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
musicOMH.com
Inspiring and ingenious, this is an album you shouldn't be without.
Read Full Review
100
NOW Magazine
Think of it as avant-garde composer John Cage trying his hand at disco and getting it right.
Read Full Review
95
Lost At Sea
One of the best albums of 2006.
Read Full Review
90
Prefix Magazine
A lean, focused record, Scale is Herbert's best record to date, and a must-buy for any dance-music fan.
Read Full Review
90
All Music Guide
Though Herbert has outdone himself and matches his ambitions with his achievements, the songs are unmistakably his and Siciliano's, sounding like no one else, twisting and swinging and drifting with optimum vibrancy.
Read Full Review
90
Under The Radar
It's too early to call Scale a classic, but... Herbert has achieved one of the deftest balances of pop music and politics heard in some time. [#13, p.86]
88
Pitchfork
Herbert has outdone himself when it comes to his usual conceptual three-ring circus. But, crucially, this time he's put all that theoretical effort into his most memorable songs.
Read Full Review
87
cokemachineglow
Inch by inch -- concept, production, groove -- Scale will measure your desires and dole out exactly what you want: depth, politics, creativity, or club-ready curios.
Read Full Review
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Some of his recent work has prioritized conceptual aims at the expense of his formidable musical talent, but Scale strikes a balance with songs as melodic and inviting as any he's ever composed.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly
Herbert sneakily subverts Scale's apocalyptic thematic thread into something warm and danceable. [2 Jun 2006, p.83]
80
BBC collective
Warm and quirky. Pleasantly bizarre. Sophisticated and daft. Herbert at his best.
Read Full Review
80
The Guardian
His most accessible album to date.
Read Full Review
80
PopMatters
[The songs'] politicism is woven so masterfully into the lush electronic pop medium that you’re never coerced into consideration of any one issue.
Read Full Review
80
Q Magazine
A pleasure, featuring some of his most winging music since [Roisin] Murphy's Ruby Blue. [Jul 2006, p.118]
75
Almost Cool
A highly enjoyable album that doesn't beg to be parsed too deeply.
Read Full Review
70
Uncut
Entertainingly eccentric pop, even if at times it seems to pull in too many directions. [Jun 2006, p.103]
60
Urb
Scale slips into un-passionate, boring territory--in part due to the vocalist, who make sthe whole thing sound somewhat homogeneous. [May 2006, p.86]
60
The Wire
Herbert still seems like the same oddball he ever was. But the first half of Scale underlines how much fun there is to be had in playing the misfit. [#268, p.56]
60
Tiny Mix Tapes
If Dani appeared on a few less tracks here, Scale may have been one of the year's finest.
Read Full Review
50
Stylus Magazine
So we've got pop music too lightweight to do much more than fancy up the background and a conceptual underpinning, that, due to the seamless way it's blended into these songs, is near imperceptible.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay T gave it a9:
Yes, some of the elements here are familiar, but anyone calling this abum predictable doesn't listen to anything but the most surface elements. It's a deceptively accessible and glitzy album with an increible amount of depth of arrangement and composition. Very close to being an absolute classic, but kind of loses steam in the second half.

matt t gave it a10:
great and creative masterpiece, one of the best of 06. definitely deserves more listens in 07. I agree with Javier on the Knife and Junior Boys but I'm From Barcelona is by far one of the best new bands and has one of the best new releases.

Javier M gave it a0:
Probably the worst album of the year beside the I´m from Barcelona one...Matt, is that electronic?..C´mon!!! This is cheap and awful.There was a time when u used to be cool and good enough, but now u´re terrible. Forget the critics, this is bad and predictable music, created with the worst taste on earth. Please!! Do the critics listen to the music the review?, Do they know anything about electronic?.. Check The Knife or Junior Boys new releases...Matt and the critics, you all just pull people´s leg... Don´t buy this album, just ignore it.

Matt A gave it a10:
The sheer uniqueness of Herbert's methods in Scale is reason enough to praise this avantgarde effort, but it's the fact that such a bold concept ended up sounding so wonderful that makes this album shine and shine and shine. This is easily the best album of the year.

Alex V gave it a9:
I get chills listening to this album. It's as jazzy and soulful as ever despite the glitchy sampling.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
more listenable than any of his previous releases, Scale is the quintessential blip on the radar indicating the approach of an ominous force.

Karyn W gave it a0:
Initially boring but after a few listens the vocals make you want to tear the stars down from the sky and crush them.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this album in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use