Alternative Press' Scores
- Music
For 3,071 reviews, this publication has graded:
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64% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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33% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.5 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: | Major/Minor | |
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Lowest review score: | Results May Vary |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 2,331 out of 3071
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Mixed: 695 out of 3071
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Negative: 45 out of 3071
3071
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
It must have been much more fun to record all of these tracks than it is to listen to them.- Alternative Press
- Posted Dec 9, 2011
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- Critic Score
A barrage of unfocused fragments that prove this album should have been condensed into a seven-song EP. [May 2004, p.96]- Alternative Press
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Trinity is almost perversely uninvolving on first listen. [Sep 2002, p.90]- Alternative Press
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Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" loosens up into a glittery anthem, while the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" should have stayed a karaoke favorite. [March 2003, p.94]- Alternative Press
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Seems like a tarted-up version of 1986's Raising Hell.... This is for diehard fans only. [#154, p.87]- Alternative Press
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The wicked dueling guitars of Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel are about the only saving grace, but even the wildest arpeggio run can't save Congregation from near-total damnation. [Dec 2009, p.116]- Alternative Press
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Longtime fans will be comforted by Nightbird, even if it comes off like the fluff Giorgio Moroder might've rejected after a coke bender. [Mar 2005, p.138]- Alternative Press
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The sound of an artist losing the qualities that made him unique to begin with. [Apr 2006, p.216]- Alternative Press
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The biggest failure of This Is PiL, sadly, is the band's centerpiece: Lydon. As fine as he can be (see again "Deeper Water"), he sounds downright unhinged. Not in the puckish, sinister way that made PiL live albums so bracing, either-no, his work here sounds tossed off, and too often just plain off.- Alternative Press
- Posted May 25, 2012
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Noel Gallagher's songwriting is more derivative than ever. [Aug 2002, p.78]- Alternative Press
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Today, yet another album filled with introverted hip-hop instrumentals--even one with occasional moments of beauty radiating from the murk--is doomed by comparison to the more innovative work the label has been offering lately. [Mar 2006, p.138]- Alternative Press
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Everything All The Time is almost pitifully lacking in soul, and it suffers from a few real snoozers, to boot. [May 2006, p.162]- Alternative Press
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When Red Bedroom ditches the choppy guitar riffs... the results are as much of a buzzkill to Bedroom's jumpin' vibe as cops busting up a raging house party. [Aug 2004, p.116]- Alternative Press
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Listening to American Central Dust ultimately feels a bit too much like working on an assembly line. [Aug 2009, p.114]- Alternative Press
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There's not a single song that's captivating enough to hold our attention. [Dec 2006, p.188]- Alternative Press
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This North Carolina sextet's satisfying angst gets replaced with tinny keyboard effects and Guster-ready bongo drums. With every song, vocakist Adam Baker oozes further into an imaginary indie-lite Pixar flick. [May 2010, p.102]- Alternative Press
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This is an album aimed at minivan-driving moms who saw Incubus live a decade ago, but the boneheaded lyrical cliches and nap-inducing arrangements are likely to bore even them. [Aug 2011, p.114]- Alternative Press
Posted Jul 6, 2011 -
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It seems like Hinson puts far more energy into conveying some sense of backwoods authenticity than writing songs that inspire any type of real emotion. [Oct 2006, p.200]- Alternative Press
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Darker, glitchier and garage-punkier... a gamble that doesn't always strike gold. [Jan 2005, p.114]- Alternative Press
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Sadly, much of Welcome Interstate Managers is bogged down by forgettable midtempo slush. [Aug 2003, p.104]- Alternative Press
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The result: a CD without hooks, impressive guitar pyrotechnics, or anything else, really. [Sep 2006, p.226]- Alternative Press
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- Alternative Press
- Posted Feb 27, 2012
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The songs sound more like a collection of B-sides than a new album. [Dec 2006, p.206]- Alternative Press
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Shawn Christensen's vocals are buried in the mix, while songs fly by with no memorable structure or hooks. [Aug 2009, p.115]- Alternative Press
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Too much of this collection tries to get by merely on Allan's mumble-to-a-scream vocals and a smothering wall of reverb, leaving the instrumentation dull and the tunes indistinct. [Oct 2013, p.86]- Alternative Press
Posted Aug 30, 2013 -
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The problem: Semi-masked in the Healers, he's short an originality chromosone. [Feb 2003, p.70]- Alternative Press
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The Church's languid melancholy sedates rather than seduces. [Feb 2004, p.88]- Alternative Press
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The majority of the tracks are watered down reminders of their indie big brothers. [Jul 2011, p.107]- Alternative Press
Posted Jun 3, 2011 -
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Dark Touches has its catchy moments, but sticking a song in the listener's head is not the same thing as creating important music. [Nov 2009, p.109]- Alternative Press
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The Nirvana box set isn't the Holy Grail. The Nirvana box set isn't even Incesticide. [Jan 2005, p.105]- Alternative Press
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Although M83's ambitions are often great, there is a problem here: Before The Dawn often drags its feet. [Mar 2005, p.138]- Alternative Press
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The other songs beg for remixes, guest vocalists or anything to give them more depth. [Nov 2012, p.92]- Alternative Press
Posted Oct 19, 2012 -
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My Damnation is destined to become another album absorbed by the sonic wallpaper of bands copying a similar, well-worn blueprint. [Aug 2011, p.112]- Alternative Press
Posted Aug 9, 2011 -
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The unpredictable edge that's helped made the series a standout is gone. [May 2004, p.108]- Alternative Press
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An album full of songs so lethargic, it sounds like it needs a nap halfway through. [Apr 2002, p.71]- Alternative Press
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Not much on Magnetophone's debut really distinguishes them from the legion of bedroom-based nerds playing with the same breakbeats and software as they do. [March 2001, p.83]- Alternative Press
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Finn employs an arrhythmic delivery... sounding like Jello Biafra covering Talking Head's "Once In A Lifetime," or a snake-oil huckster participating in a poetry slam. [May 2004, p.96]- Alternative Press
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[Dalley] repeatedly dilutes Leave Your Name with empty atmospheric exercises in barely-there vocals and shimmery keys. [Feb 2004, p.80]- Alternative Press
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An admirable effort, yet this feels like Gang Of Four taking six steps backwards into obscurity. [Mar 2015, p.93]- Alternative Press
Posted Feb 19, 2015 -
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Clogging their previously supple grooves with banal guitar bluster and noxious singing, VHS Or Beta don't set the Night On Fire; they just dampen your spirits. [Oct 2004, p.148]- Alternative Press
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Sadly, one can hear decent tunes struggling to get out of this mess. [Nov 2001, p.78]- Alternative Press
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Whether Black Tide are going heavy or tender, every desperate attempt to conjure a moving moment fails. [Sep 2011, p.110]- Alternative Press
Posted Aug 19, 2011 -
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Dominated by sparse instrumentation and lyrics that are merely good... relatively lifeless tunes. [12/2000, p.115]- Alternative Press
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While they are accomplished musicians and combine their growling, death-metal-influenced moments with a wealth of shiny hooks, they fail to do so in a way that counts. [Feb 2012, p.84]- Alternative Press
Posted Jan 4, 2012 -
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There's little sign of life here, only gently unassuming arpeggios and blanketing softness. [Jan 2004, p.98]- Alternative Press
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Too many songs rely on sappy love-song cliches, bland arrangements or saccharine lyrics. [Mar 2007, p.135]- Alternative Press
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Blood is a disappointing step backward from a band that showed real greatness only two years ago. [Sep 2012, p.90]- Alternative Press
Posted Sep 4, 2012 -
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On Disco Volante, [David Gedge] sometimes becomes as tedious as a typical pick-up line. [Jan 2001, p.86]- Alternative Press
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The mood, talent, and energy are present, but the lack of lyrics is off-putting and relegates the band's seventh proper LP to B-team status. [Feb 2009, p.103]- Alternative Press
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Posted May 16, 2013 -
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Hypnotic Nights has the feeling of an album created by Venn diagram, with the outer edges of glam, psychedelia, garage rock and hard rock connecting to create "the ultimate rock album…you know, for kids!"- Alternative Press
- Posted Jul 17, 2012
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Even [Haines'] coos about war can't make Live feel urgent or save its slanted art-rock outbursts. [Dec 2005, p.214]- Alternative Press
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Amon Tobin and Joe "Doubleclick" Chapman have created some truly interesting sounds, but the end result is sadly just another trip-hop excursion with lame rapping over the top. [May 2009, p.123]- Alternative Press
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If vocal distortion is to indie rock what the vocoder is to commercial pop, then Pleasure Forever's Alter is Sub Pop's answer to Cher's "Believe." [Jun 2003, p.97]- Alternative Press
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Maybe if Keith had spent more time on his lyrics and less time watching reality TV, this would be a better album. [Dec 2008, p.152]- Alternative Press
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Songs like "Electric Chair" show the promise of this project, but unfortunately, the rest of the disc is fan-only filler. [Apr 2005, p.130]- Alternative Press
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Bianchi's hackneyed lyrics... often overshadow the music's subtle pleasures. [Oct 2005, p.170]- Alternative Press
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Cellar Door is clearly the work of a musical mastermind who has never met an instrument he didn't like--or a song he couldn't ruin with it. [Mar 2004, p.96]- Alternative Press
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Offers few intriguing instrumental twists and only the faintest percussive pulse. [Aug 2004, p.106]- Alternative Press
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A bit too cleverly loaded with cultural critiques, winks and nods. [Apr 2006, p.207]- Alternative Press
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What's left are halfhearted Hold steady wannabes and dull stabs at poignancy.- Alternative Press
Posted Jan 9, 2012 -
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Could pass for a set of lo-fi synth demos Sir Paul McCartney cooked up one long weekend for shits and giggles. [Feb 2006, p.130]- Alternative Press
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It's hard enough to decipher his demented verses without constant interference from squelchy synth-bass farts. [Aug 2006, p.222]- Alternative Press
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While the band's heritage has been hanging on by a thread for decades, The Devil's Rain is but an undercharged defibrillator to its decomposing corpse.- Alternative Press
- Posted Oct 7, 2011
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Bull drags on with minimal memorable hooks and far too much guitar feedback. [Jun 2012, p.76]- Alternative Press
Posted May 2, 2012 -
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For all of his wild swinging, Jones never fully connects. [May 2005, p.136]- Alternative Press
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There's no trace of the zany sass that made the Go-Go's an institution to begin with. [Jul 2001, p.68]- Alternative Press
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Most of Ward's quiet, contemporary folk songs are mere sketches, mediocre if not unmemorable. [Apr 2005, p.126]- Alternative Press
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The vibe on Broken Bellls is so mellow and laid-back that the album dissolves into mere ambient wallpaper. [Apr 2010, p.122]- Alternative Press
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This isn’t a record to slap on for kicks or to challenge the bass response of your car stereo; this is the album that makes you want to scowl under gray skies as you slog to your day job.- Alternative Press
- Posted Apr 2, 2014
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Tortoise sound remarkably un-Tortoise-like on nearly everything... [and] Oldham's stunning vocals are rarely allowed the space they deserve. [Mar 2006, p.126]- Alternative Press