Clash Music's Scores

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For 3,876 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 57% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Dead Man's Pop [Box Set]
Lowest review score: 10 Wake Up!
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,246 out of 3876
  2. Mixed: 601 out of 3876
  3. Negative: 29 out of 3876
3876 music reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tribe
    The real issue with the album though, more than any other, is its length (and the inconsistency that this brings with it). Few albums ever benefit from being 17 tracks long, particularly when there are obvious candidates for exclusion. And without wanting to sound too dismissive of the aforementioned chart ambitions, it’s here that sacrifices could have been made for the benefit of a more coherent and engaging record.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    World Peace Is None of Your Business
    So the bleakly beautiful is still there, but the flashes are sporadic.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Faith
    Ending with an attempt to find hope amid despair on ‘Darkest Hour’, ‘Faith’ is tailor-made to thrill their mass army of fans, balancing fresh ideas with that glamorous melancholy.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cranekiss
    Artistic development and risk-taking is to be applauded. With risk, though, comes the possibility of mis-steps. Sadly, here, this is what it feels like Tamaryn's done.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Between Waves
    Between Waves is an album created by a man who knows what he’s doing; and that’s the problem. He could create satisfactory albums till the end of days, but he’ll need to rip up the rulebook if he’s to grab people’s attention in this fickle age.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Colors
    There are plenty of hooks and the pace rarely relents, but it’s hard to ever imagine Colors ever being in anyone’s top five favourite Beck albums.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Universal High
    Unfortunately, with much of the record polished to a dull gleam, there’s little else that succeeds in rising above a pleasant but otherwise unremarkable album.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Portamento
    Everyone loves to reminisce, and we're suckers for well-crafted songs, but we also need to be challenged a little more than this boys.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    To Those of Earth & Other Worlds
    Like acid (which, again, he never touched) this record is illuminating, often inaccessible, often scary and most people would hate it. But it's still one hell of a trip.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dusty Notes
    Dusty Notes is an easy listen, but a Meat Puppets album shouldn’t be easy--it should be a hot mess. Somewhere along the way the Kirkwood brothers lost the ramshackle charm that made them everyone’s favourite musician’s favourite musician.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mirror Traffic
    Malkmus' third (or fourth depending on which folklore you believe) outing with The Jicks, is a disappointing collection of hits and misses--with the latter winning on points.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Family Jewels
    Marina describes the album as “intricately produced” and that’s where the problem lies. Such attention to detail leaves some of the songs feeling pretty sterile and, as a result, it’s a frustrating listen.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Himalayan
    The first half of the LP is phenomenal.... Despite some scorching vocal interplay, there’s a noticeable drop in quality on later tracks.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sky at Night
    Whilst each track delivers exactly what is to be expected from an IAK album it is a little disappointing that there seems to have been no development from the previous outing.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Harkin
    It’s an accomplished album, but it feels like a debut and there is nothing here that gives any kind of excitement or majorly distinguishing feature that comes with time.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    At.Long.Last.A$AP
    As a collected body of work At.Long.Last.A$AP is far from dreadful, but taken as a whole it lacks the elements of depth and star quality that--having set the bar incredibly high with his debut--many expect from A$AP Rocky.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mainstream Sellout
    This awareness of his public perception seems to dominate the album, even in the tracks that don’t outright address it. As a result, the overall mood is far less authentic.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sun Comes Up Again
    Sharing the pop soul sensibilities of Squeeze with just a dash of Brendan Benson, there's even a soupçon of harpsichord in there. What's not to like about these small songs with a big heart?
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Celestial Electric
    Lee ... continues his proclivity for sonic innovation with a plethora of funky grooves and drum lines - with no loops in earshot. AM's psychedelic guitar licks, basslines and vocals underpin an overriding '60s vibe.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cadenza
    The grooves might be intelligently crafted, with plenty of interesting rhythmical quirks throughout, but the songs themselves hold little water.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Slow Gum
    It all feels a bit too calculated at times, though when he ventures into the realms of floral Kinks-y psych pop on 'Mystic Mile' or the slack Beach-Boys-via-Mac-Demarco style surf of 'Never Gonna Hold You Like I Do', there's a promising glimmer of the discrete and intrepid artist he could be.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Disconnect from Desire
    For all its forward thinking, the combination of shoe-gaze and synthy electronica leads the record inevitably back to the 1980s, mirroring the haunting sound that M83 have perfected so well.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Time Is Now
    The Time Is Now hangs together relatively well, and achieves what it sets out to do.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
    Lyrically, there are interesting ruminations on the trappings of fame ('(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine') and his troubled mind ('Broken Arrow'), while the album is all the better for losing some of the bravado Noel hid behind while writing for Liam--but there are admittedly some clunkers.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Odd One Out
    At times this record appears confused and lackluster but its solid moments show GIRLI’s capability at being a rebellious and riotous pop star--qualities that were so prominent on her early singles.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Yours, Dreamily
    The whole album somewhat lacks the same energy, punch and pure magic that The Black Keys have.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Slow Knife
    You can't help but feel that the teasing at euphoria on Slow Knife would be a little less frustrating if the thing were allowed to crescendo further, and for some of that drumwork to be incorporated accordingly.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lovegaze
    As with the twin EPs that preceded it, however, the glimpses of originality strewn across ‘Lovegaze’ are too often sparse islands in a sea of pleasant but generic etherea.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Everything I Thought It Was
    ‘Everything I Thought It Was’ can sometimes be forgettable across its 18-track largesse, while thematically it feels bunched around a cluster of feelings.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    On Blonde
    They've birthed a catchy and danceable summer record which shows plenty of promise but falls short of something great.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    True to Self
    ‘Run Me Dry’ plays a la mode with a loose dembow rhythm, but, as with the rest of the album, there are plenty of others out there who’ve not only done this already but done it more engagingly.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There's More to Life than This
    Yes, the album title is an apt one; but despite its predictability, it proves to be surprisingly fulfilling as a run-of-the-mill house album.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blood Red Shoes
    Intimate moments, however, like the haunting, heartbroken folk of ‘Tightwire’ show how primal this fourth studio collection could have been.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    TLC
    Album closer ‘Joy Ride’ does exactly what it says on the tin; it’s a joyous, perfectly assembled pop track. That’s not to say that the Kickstarter-funded LP is hit after hit--the bright and brash ‘It’s Sunny’ with its oddly theatrical tropes is a cheesy misstep.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    EVE
    Whilst previous albums were energetic and exuberant in scope, Eve largely lacks the duo’s trademark vigour and moments of originality.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Daze
    This is electronic music both messy and menacing. Listen if you dare.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
    We get a less focused effort, with peaks and troughs in its quality. Yet the best tracks off the album are better than any of the band’s previous work. It’s just a shame that the weaker songs fall below the standard The 1975 set for themselves.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Body Music
    Reid’s soundtrack is vibrant, but it can’t save the album from its own tedium.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Careful You
    Whilst her lyrical ability is still under question, there’s no doubting her ability to arrange a band and alter the mood and meanings of some undying classics.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Voyage
    It’s a theatrical 10-piece song cycle that neatly extends their work, while nodding to what came before. At its best – opener and lead single ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ for example – it comes close to reaching the transformative peaks ABBA scaled all those years ago. Yet for a piece of fan service ‘Voyage’ remains confusingly slight.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    I Love You, Dude
    I Love You, Dude feels as blunt and oafish as its name, and weirdly dated in its sonic palette. Sporadically engaging, but sadly nothing more.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Red Lips
    The problem, however, is that the record suffers from a lack of variety and an overkill of nostalgia, while of a raft of identikit, if solid, guest vocalists it’s only Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor who really stands out.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Marshall Mathers LP 2
    Some decent-enough songs on an overly long album mostly containing sub-par tracks from an artist capable of much more.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Alone Aboard the Ark
    The songs are simple sing-alongs with some lovely hooks--but trying to open his sound to random ideas and new styles just doesn’t seem to suit.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Destroyed
    A grandiose, instrumental finale, they're a reminder of the divinity that Moby was once capable of.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In Our Heads
    ["Night and Day" and "Flutes"] are glimmers of liveliness on an otherwise decedent record.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In Plain Sight
    Not without its faults, In Plain Sight sees Honeyblood explore new avenues and break-out of any box they were previously placed in, with a genre-less collection of honest, futuristic-sounding songs.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Best of 00 - 10
    All the usual suspects are in place as you would suspect from a band with, let's be honest, not that many hits of the great variety.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Peanut Butter
    Producer MJ (of Hookworms fame) and the band intended to strip things back and become more economical with their sound. While they certainly have achieved this, in this instance it has arguably starved the songs and disallowed them the space to breathe.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Curtain Call 2
    ‘Curtain Call 2’ is at its most engaging when the Detroit figure simply cuts back on the Billboard tie-ins, and reminds us all why he became such a revered rapper in the first place. ... As a project, however, ‘Curtain Call 2’ is weighed down by its flaws. There’s no ignoring the wayward path Eminem has taken over the past two decades, and the tracklisting reflects this.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Komba
    Meh. It's alright, but I'm like... I'm like a bit bored, actually.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Is the Is Are
    While sweetened by a potent handful of emphatic guitar romps, DIIV’s latest record quickly overstays its welcome, and ultimately would do well to be remembered as more than just a watered-down collection of indie rock songs.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Why You So Crazy
    Why You So Crazy? is a mixed bag, but the scales are tipped too far towards the underwhelming. Too much is poorly executed and feels incomplete, with an air of self-indulgence.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In the Lonely Hour
    Apart from perhaps three exceptions, most of these tracks get lost in their own elegant, introspective and lovelorn swirl of tedious easy listening.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Black and White
    So par for the course, it should come with its own small pencil and scorecard.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Quaranta
    This album is a step in the right direction in terms of mood, but it’s an overstep in terms of the emotional burden Brown is offering. The choruses are repetitive and don’t fit, and the take away should be focusing more on balance. However, it’s not a question of if he can get that balance right, but when.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Violence
    Rather than a coherent and recognisable new sound, it seems as though all manner of ideas are being thrown at the wall to see what sticks.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Do It Again
    There’s nothing inherently bad, but the whole venture feels akin to buying a Lamborghini and then driving it in a way that will maximise fuel efficiency.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    La Di Da Di
    Like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, La Di Da Di too often feels like a soulless automaton tearing around on autopilot. If only it had a heart.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Inside the Ships
    The results are mixed.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Only She Chapters
    Alas, a good third of the album meanders and there's a drab formlessness to his sonic fog. Fascinating but flawed.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    May You Marry Rich
    Where previous Colourmusic albums were spiky, unpredictable things, this set often feels content just to wallow in an amorphous sonic soup.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Keep It Together
    When it’s good, it’s very, very good, but for most of the time it’s really quite bland.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    http://www.itstartshear.com
    Unfortunately, the resultant package is very cleverly constructed and yet maddeningly dull.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    ...Featuring Norah Jones
    The musical equivalent of a coffee table book this is a poised, polished album of covers and collaborations spanning a decade.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied
    This sense of rejuvenation is somewhat stunted by the inclusion of some Fratellis standards. The results range from the exhilarating 'Baby Don't You Lie To Me!' to the tediously dull plod of 'Rosanna'.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Uncle, Duke & The Chief
    Trading the band’s raggle-taggle instrumentation for vintage echo, Mac DeMarco slick and C86 crunch only oversaturates this occasionally loveable, mostly feeble effort.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Aa
    If imperfection is what Baauer was looking for, then he has succeeded; but that doesn’t resolve the disappointment with what could have been a brilliant album.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Black Rainbows
    Nearly twenty years on from Suede's debut and he sounds pretty much unchanged.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wonderful Wonderful
    Aside from a few big hitters, Wonderful Wonderful has too many middle-of-the-road moments. ‘Life Itself’, ‘The Rut’, and ‘Have All The Songs Been Written’ are barely distinguishable, and instantly forgettable.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    It's Real
    In these trying times, it’d benefit from being a whole lot more confrontational.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Fifth State of Consciousness
    The dirges are ditched, yet the previous elements they made their name with are overdone.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ibifornia
    This album unfortunately lacks the depth of both the Mediterranean and the Pacific.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dame Fortune
    RJD2 has made a bold statement with Dame Fortune but sadly one lacking in much resonance.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Knockin' Boots
    The plethora of guest vocalists (J'Danna, BIXBY, Okmalumkoolkat, Heavy D. & the Boyz) means things stay relatively fresh, but more often than not, it's not enough.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ex
    EX will neither enliven classicists nor win new fans. We need challenged by this artist, who normally thrives on doing exactly that.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dead Hand Control
    The act of combining musical stylings that range from African tribal beats through to Talking Heads inspired synth pop, with lyrics that seek to overcome a divisive social culture is an intention nothing short of universal. It’s just in the execution where he falls short, leaving little to the imagination of the listeners on an album that strikes a rather predictable tone.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Jordi
    Continual evolutions has pushed them away from their roots, feeling less like a band and more like a committee, marking out different strategies without truly owning one themselves.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sheezus
    While it has it moments, Sheezus is largely devoid of Allen’s pragmatic charm of 10 years ago.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Same As You
    With Polar Bear being fully paid-up jazzers, there's more of an understanding and utilisation of dynamics, which add to the pervading mood, yet the overall feeling is one of ennui.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Meteorites
    Meteorites is the sound of a once-great band bursting into flames on re-entry.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Don't Forget Who You Are
    It’s a dispiriting affair--a mishmash of glam rock, lad rock and heavier indie rock that fails to ignite.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hope St.
    It's all pleasant enough, but is clearly trying to be something it isn't, coming off rather shallow and lightweight as a result.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sonic Highways
    Eight songs, many of which feel too long; recorded in eight cities that don’t really leave their unique mark on the sonic side of the experience; each with a guest who is, at best, an apparition dancing in the shadows of the spot-lit stars; yielding eight largely forgettable arrangements that won’t make a dent on any fan’s all-time top 10.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    3.15.20
    ‘42.26’ - unmasked as the previously released ‘Feels Like Summer’ - and ‘47.48’ (which features his son Legend Glover) are the only other enjoyable tracks on the project. The other songs seem to fade and ultimately becomes background noise with no proper substance compared to Donald Glover’s other projects. Lacking the strong narrative thrust so apparent on his past albums, the project is incredibly disappointing.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In the Belly of the Brazen Bull
    It all feels a little weary and, whilst there's clear commitment and execution, the material suddenly sounds oh so dated.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Paradise Again
    At best a fiery evocation of the electronic elements that team thrive on, ‘Paradise Again’ isn’t hell-on-Earth, but it doesn’t leave you enraptured.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Battle at Garden's Gate
    Hemmed in by their own ambitions, ‘The Battle At Heaven’s Gate’ is an oddly contradictory experience, one that finds Greta Van Fleet truckin’ on up a one way street.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Move Through the Dawn
    Move Through The Dawn is an album sadly bereft of impact, from its lacklustre cover onwards.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Every Now & Then
    Every Now And Then takes the form of a transcendental equivalent of the longest summer. Wavelengths stretch leaving you feeling worked over, fatigued and ready for a taste of something new.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Don't Let the Kids Win
    As a whole the LP’s similar tempos and approach cause the whole thing to float by like a long-lost memory, nice when you’ve clasped on to it but soon it’ll be running through your fingers and out of sight.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lighting Matches
    Lighting Matches isn’t a bad album, but sadly it doesn't excel either.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ricky Music
    For all its crystallised pop production, ’Ricky Music’, can’t help but feel flat. More concerned with evoking a feeling and mood rather than say anything explicit about the sadness, confusion and joy that Maine has experienced in the creation of the record beyond broad stereotypes of sadness.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Air
    At times pretty, at others curiously appealing, ‘AIR’ is more-often-than-not simply boring, ca selection of mood music that fills up space without every truly saying anything.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In My Defense
    Additions such as Kash Doll and Juicy J are perfect on paper, but beyond justifying their individual presence in the rap realm, do little to save a project which unfortunately suffers from the sophomore slump.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Let's Rock
    With a low-fi high-five feel, The Black Keys appear to gentrify the rock’n’roll rodeo with an album of carefully poised tunes adhering to the rock-pop formula they spent their golden years trying to avoid.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Night Time, My Time
    This is cheap theatrics masquerading as inspired art.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Optimist
    O’Connell colours firmly between the lines. His ideas do not stray beyond the conventions you’d expect for each singer-songwriter outfit he puts on from song to song.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    England Keep My Bones
    His camp fire ramblings and angry rants soon become tiresome with much of Turner's fourth album feeling like material he has trod before.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Education, Education, Education & War
    Kaiser Chiefs fall further into the abyss of bands that have little new to offer in a current musical climate where progression is more closely measured than ever.
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