Clash Music's Scores

  • Music
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:
3876 music reviews
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A record with a message that is so authentically her that almost has no other way but to convey a bright but somewhat melancholic future.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It’s a wonderful record, one to wrestle with, one that lingers at odd moments of the day and night. Allow it to seek you out.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With echoes of Lou Reed in many of the tracks, including ‘What Makes Him Act So Bad’ and ‘Cigarette Burns Forever’, and faint hints of Green’s previous work with the Peaches in others - ‘Oh Shucks’ - ‘Minor Love’ sees Green marry his roots with the new directions he’s taking, and comparison to the tape recorder fodder of old isn’t so hard make anymore.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The feel is consistently of an eerie twilight, perched high above a near-future city.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It’s the sound of ‘60s experimentation smashed stunningly into the present day.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    On this record Fat White Family solidify their status as a one of Britain’s most unique voices, and ‘Forgiveness Is Yours’ is the strongest example yet of the band’s caustic creativity.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While Indigo is no groundbreaker, it’s exciting for an album with so much nostalgia to sound as fresh and pristine as this.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    An emphatic show of force that frequently taps into outright brilliance. As an album it's not without fault, but as a cultural event it's largely without peer.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    [The album] adds - for the most part - a more expansive dimension to their sound.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Taught and lean, bold and mean, Blood Red Shoes are fighting fit and Fire Like This might just be their knock-out punch.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Still confused but back on form, The Streets' final album (Skinner wants to make a film) sees a return to garage beats and square-eyed observations from a life staring at pixels on screens.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Listened to while watching Georges Méliès suitably trippy sci-fi spectacle, it makes for a brief, but enchanting, experience.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Interiors is an expansive, fiercely intelligent investigative work.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    His best work since 'Black Holes In The Sand'.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dark Eyes suggests they have the potential to be massive, if they can just work that out.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The main problem with this is that her voice is too wispy to hold its own versus the maximalist rave-pop of the day.... On top of this, Delirium just hasn't got the songs.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    U&I
    Intense and claustrophobic, it's a surprisingly revelatory record that captures the highs and lows of human experience and existence.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Luckily the album is the group's strongest and most enjoyable album to date. ... There are moments however when things quite work as well as on their previous albums, but these are the moments that are the most interesting and exciting.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The first half of the LP is phenomenal.... Despite some scorching vocal interplay, there’s a noticeable drop in quality on later tracks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Taking his muse from the voyeuristic photographs of Man Ray, each note drips with sex and death.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It's a solid and honourable return for a singer who has rarely disappointed.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    With more attention paid to plucked triads and syncopation than packing any sort of resolute punch, This Is All Yours just can’t see the wood for the trees.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A curious oddity, Moonlight indicates that there’s far more to Hanni El Khatib than meets the eye.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Overall, it's the record you wanted--and expected--AlunaGeorge to make three years ago. It'd be good to see them kick on, though; you still get the feeling they've an even better record in them.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There's nothing that innovative or thought-provoking, but that's hardly the point. It’s freaky, it’s naughty, it’ll get your head nodding.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Taking listeners on a trippy journey through a landscape of organic musical complexity, there are also Beastie Boys vocal nods similar to those found in ‘Sadie Sorceress‘ from last year’s ‘Omnium Gatherum‘ release. Combining techno, disco, electronic and rap, this makes for a truly special combination.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    These twelve abstract and minimal tracks rather act as perfect soundscapes to accompany your dreams and introspections.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Who cares if Stoltz listens to the Kinks and Beatles too much when he sings like an angel?
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The chilled, languorous template delivers on value, but offers little else and you can’t help but feel like these are unnecessary filler tracks. At its core, ‘Scarlet’ is an interesting exploration into the world of ego trips, the trappings of fame, escapism and novelty, a welcome deviation with a heightened sense of maturity and finesse.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With more revealed in every listen, Another Eternity shows that there's much more to Purity Ring than initially meets the eye.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    New fans will not be won, but the initiated will be delighted.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Its relentless energy is utterly addictive.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This a confident and beautifully made record and props for a band evolving their sound as any group with real longevity tends to do. There’s not quite the cohesive drama of their first effort but there’s plenty of gems to be found here.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    For the most part, though, this seems like a step in the wrong direction: a Nicki Minaj album from somebody who’s thoroughly fed up of being Nicki Minaj.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    CALM is a refreshing evolution from the days of their self-titled debut. Their latest effort is by no means perfect, but the album is a testament to their growth.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If perhaps lacking something as standout as ‘Mess Around’ or ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’, it is a welcome return for the Kentucky rockers showing after nearly 20 years together they still know how to groove.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    As The Last Shadow Puppets, Kane and Turner have served up an exquisite offering that is melodically rich, diverse, and more complex than its predecessor, centred around a collection of undeniably terrific tunes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Even at its worst this hotchpotch collection is pleasant fare.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Most of the tracks’ narratives are undecipherable and consistently scatterbrained. Not to mention that the panoramic mixing of the guitars, while being a band trademark, make it difficult to focus on more than one aspect of a song at a time.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    An undeniably innovative slant lies at the forefront of this LP, as well as a warming glow to soundtrack impending winter nights.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ‘Serpentina’ speaks to her craft, elevating her talents as a musician as she sheds through her layers and births a new and transformed performer.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Madame X isn’t just an album (if it is that at all) – it’s an opera, or a comedy of errors. It’ll make you feel confusion, frustration, happiness and maybe joy, but it will definitely make you feel.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Crafting a solid set of songs that hold their own among break-out singles is no mean feat, but the Sydney trio have pulled it off--in the main, at least.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love him or hate him, you can't deny that Ronson can certainly put an album together.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A contemporary-pop triumph.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The understated nature of the score makes it doubtful this will bag many awards or turn many heads but, never mind: grab some headphones and enjoy the ride.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Organic, intimate and well worth adding to anyone's collection. Grab that jumper and enjoy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The album not only delivers O’Connor's signature use of bubbly synths, electric pianos and programmed beats that instantly make you feel good, but it also serves as a lesson on learning how to heal and move on.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A magical insight into the development of Rossen's creative genius.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Splicing the spirit of ancient Viking alcoholics with some red-hot Jamaican jah, BSP are finally having fun.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Four is an accessible album, filled with heavy questions about what love really means, posed through sensitive and dramatic arrangements.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While Bailey’s true-to-self, organic approach on Revelations should be celebrated, the record serves more as a transition than a defining peg in Bailey’s young career.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    ‘Actual Life 3’ confidently guides us into an exciting future for UK club culture and encourages us to never forget what we nearly lost.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    It’s the ninth studio album to bear the Pumpkins brand, and probably the seventh that wouldn’t find a single track making most fans’ side-of-a-C90 best-of. But it delivers what it promises: songs by Billy Corgan that sound enough like the ones you recall loving as a teenager.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It seems to fall between two stools, not supplying enough arena-filling arrogance while never truly indulging the more surprising elements of their record collections.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything about it works, from the lo-fi artwork, to the lingering samples, measured basslines and sedate beats, but there is a feeling of urgency and gravity to these tracks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    From the shoegaze-tinged jangle-pop of 'Future Love', to the dreamy indie of 'Clouds of Saint Marie', Ride sound incredibly fresh-faced.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Never deviating from course, Sugar At The Gate adds one more stitch to the tightly-wrapped DNA that makes TOPS so immersive and enjoyable, its ten glossy songs bearing all the marks of a band that has taken yet another step toward mastering their craft.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The sound of bliss.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Amen & Goodbye is undoubtedly a strong return but also one that’s just a couple of tracks short of something genuinely great.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It’s when EOB dares to experiment that 'Earth' really lifts off. The erratic, rumbling distortion of 'Mass' is as eerie as the thought of space itself, where his sounds tell a greater story than words ever could.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Twilight techno at its most haunted.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    ‘Born Pink’ gifts fans a mixture of commanding hip-hop tracks, satisfying pop tracks and affecting piano ballads.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Despite his obvious talents as a pop-soul vocalist, you're left with the impression that Woon is far more interesting when he's wearing his producer hat, but we'll keep a sturdy eye on his every move regardless.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    We really want to like Lantern for its originality; its bravery and its attempt to grasp a genuine uninhibited euphoria that isn't easy pull off. Sadly it just misses the mark way too often and leaves you with fleeting glimpses of what could have been a very exciting album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At times it's testing, but there are flashes of phenomenal creative genius here that are destined to manifest further.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    For the most part Know-It-All is a debut that allows the unfiltered voice of a refreshingly real, young star-in-the-making to shine through.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The world of hip-hop and rap is changing and, while Future’s pattern works well, it becomes slightly repetitive with every listen.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It is so easy to reach in blindly and pull out a well-produced track with a decent guest appearance and Smoke at his lyrical best. However, the album doesn’t stray too far from the genre, it isn’t by any means innovative.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This is a splendid debut.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ultimately, this album is a timely, much-needed, reminder of the fact that while suffering is inevitable, so is our resilience in the face of hardship.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At times, ‘Only Built For Infinity Links’ leans too heavily on the past, and comes close to being simply Migos without Offset – as opposed to a project with its own taste and flavours. At its best, though, the record more than justifies the excitement – the post-Migos landscape is looking very inviting indeed.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Over the course of the album, the grandiosity gets wearying, and Jamie Sutherland occasionally sounds like Vic Reeves in full club singer mode. But, at its best, Let Me Come Home is a thing of troubled beauty.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Together with bassist Micayla Grace, their second album is an all-round punkier, slicker, catchier and heavier affair.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's dramatic, emotive, a little cheesy, but magnificently good fun.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Overall, whilst Semicircle does contain obvious flaws, this chapter of The Go! Team is here to have a good time and hopes you are too. And who can knock them for that?
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The self-confessed non-DJ plays stylishly to the dancefloor's edge, flirting a little with the background before headline interjections from Bok Bok, Untold and 2562 yank you back to centre square.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This sixth album by the band is a well-rounded proficient release.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sleigh Bells might have got a little softer on us, but they haven’t lost their charm.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Richly textured and finely detailed, Invisible In Your City goes moreishly deep.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While it may not quite measure up to their very best work, this is still utterly unlike anything else you’ll hear this year.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It's a real labour of love where every track has not only been meticulously thought about and placed, but it's clear that Hopkins has thought tirelessly about how it fits into the wider picture of the collection as a whole.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crafted to perfection, Silhouette is outstanding in its audible beauty.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Apollonia is for fans of Jamie xx, Tame Impala, and SBTRKT, and all its elements have been combined and thoughtfully arranged in a way that makes sense. A solid debut for Garden City Movement.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Some of the tracks are so light and delicate, you worry they might blow away in the breeze. But the pace occasionally picks up, as on ‘Highway Blue’ which whistles along on a jaunty groove, while a punchy horn section on ‘Good Ol Night’ adds further colour.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Though they might be mellowing in their age, that doesn’t mean to say they’ve compromised an inch, and 'Beneath The Eyrie' proves just that.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The project doesn’t really find the band moving outside their comfort zone – indeed, ‘Candid’ is defined almost by how resolutely ‘Whitney’ it feels.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Despite the few forgettable moments in the middle, ‘Scaled And Icy’ remains mostly strong in terms of sonics and lyricism throughout, and though it does end all too quickly it is an impressively cohesive production that doesn’t reveal even for a single beat that it was the product of long-distance virtual sessions.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    ‘Heavy Like A Headache’ takes the musical intricacies that The Ninth Wave are cherished for into new territories. Lyrically, this is The Ninth Wave’s strongest album yet – they’ve never been more open about themselves as artists.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    ‘Invisible Forces’ is a complicated album, but not cluttered. James Heather’s elegant runs, and elegant is the only real word to describe his playing, are thought-provoking and moving. Throughout the pianist delivers emotion-heavy music that is oddly catchy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The album wears a multitude of influences on its sleeve, containing elements of hip-hop, house, disco and funk, but ultimately there is a distinct lack of variation amongst the thirteen tracks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While her debut could in places feel slight, this new record feels lived-in, and true.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There’s quiet beauty here.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Littered with hyper-stimulants and the minutiae chaos of modern living, and where Ernest Greene, purveyor of faded daytime psychedelia, once spoke to romantic stasis from his internal landscape of unseen tropics, his diverting third effort sees him taking a heavy blow from reality.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    LAHS is the sound of a band in transition. A record where the sunshine is too few and far between. They’ll surely be back on track before long, but for now, we’re going to have to look elsewhere for that aural vitamin D.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Glorious singalong hooks and unashamed sass dominate the debut offering from indie writer Elizabeth Sankey and indie cult-hero Jeremy Warmsley.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Its cleverness and humour burst like springs from an overstuffed rococo couch.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With a plethora of guest spots adding some serious variety to the already sonically multifarious album, hearing Big Boi go back and forth with the likes of Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, Eric Bellinger, and even Adam Levine of Maroon 5, makes it all the more fun.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Conversations is an impressive album, in many ways a unique one in this current landscape--though you sense that the best may be yet to come.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Refusing to be hemmed in, it’s a record of real ambition, an example mirroring fan-pleasing tendencies with actual artistic growth. Sometimes the sequels really are better.