Clash Music's Scores

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For 3,871 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: 3,241 out of 3871
  2. Mixed: 601 out of 3871
  3. Negative: 29 out of 3871
3871 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    For Those That Wish to Exist
    Soaring vocals and clean-cut production allow for an easy listen where listeners can grasp the feelings of the collective. This new release was needed, not just for the fans who have been dying to hear new music, but needed for the music community in general. The current climate is dark, moody, uncertain with the pandemic in mind, but this new album brings joy and happiness in a time where it is needed most.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    23 [Mixtape]
    With ‘23’ Cench truly puts his name at the top of the leaderboard. The ear for production, vulnerability, braggadocio, and likability make him one of the UK’s premier artists, not just in drill or rap but UK music as a whole.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    CHAOS NOW*
    Never once is Jean Dawson restricted by any instruments or styles. Instead he crafts a nostalgic, and sometimes aggressive, world, matched beautifully by the well-thought-out visuals. It took everything that made ‘Pixel Bath’ so incredible and just elevates it. 8/10
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Aşk
    An urgency and classic rock vibe, noticeably missing from recent atmospheric releases, is back in full swing here, and it works to their advantage.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Panther: The Album
    Black Panther: The Album is an instantly enjoyable project that allows its featured artists to shine under the watchful eyes and ears of Kendrick Lamar.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    UGLY
    A bold attempt to embrace his contradictions, this is a project held together by the brutal strength of slowthai’s performances.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Honest
    An early contender for this year’s big summer rap album, we won’t be surprised if we are still hearing about Honest when the winter cold returns.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Patina
    Patina is a solid sophomore effort, and perhaps hints at the promise of a greater sonic exploration to come with their future releases.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pleasure
    Emerging from the murk and into the new-found quiet of middle age, Feist’s Pleasure is a document of stark beauty that’s entirely and unequivocally her own.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    American Slang
    It's less immediate than previous material, but nevertheless absorbs the magic of the world, distilling it into ten slices of trembling, impassioned rock 'n' roll.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Ooz
    The OOZ is undoubtedly another thought-provoking entry into the discography one of Britain’s most exciting and challenging young artists. An intense, yet rewarding listen.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Invisible Cities
    ‘Invisible Cities’ is a beguiling album that is as rich as it’s subject matter. A Winged Victory For The Sullen designed 13 piece of music that are architecturally sound but tap in directly, and build from, their enchanting debut album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mars Volta
    The Mars Volta have hit upon an incredibly surprising new phase in their multi-faceted evolution.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Atlas
    A thoroughly worthwhile listen for ambient fans that value a narrative.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Build a Problem
    A beautiful vessel for messy emotions, 'Build A Problem' is a tour of the highs and lows of living and loving in your teens, twenties and probably beyond; raw, full of questions and yet celebratory as it revels in its big emotions.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Perpetual Motion People
    An enlightening journey through the mind of an outsider, but an entirely relatable one.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    7
    The Baltimore duo have somehow gifted us their masterpiece, and though the rain outside has now stopped, new heavens have opened.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After the Party
    While nostalgia does play a prominent role in ‘After The Party’, the record manages to avoid getting bogged down in it thanks to its ability to keep one eye looking forward.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This Ain't Chicago
    Armed with some equally intriguing sleeve notes, This Ain't Chicago is more than just a collection; it's a journey.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Face Your Fear
    With Face Your Fear, Harding has given us a captivatingly concise project brimming with soulful and pensive reflection.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Lucky Shiner
    Lucky Shiner is one of the most innovative and mind-melding albums of the year and one that just keeps on giving.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Heaven Knows
    A long time coming, ‘Heaven knows’ is a debut album that was well worth the wait from PinkPantheress, and a sign of a promising career from the singer.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tassili
    The result is an album of intimacy, introspection and incredible beauty; a communion with the sands.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Outside Society: Looking Back 1975-2007
    There's nothing here for the existing fan base but enough to entice new arrivals and strong enough to furnish a fresh interest from them.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Power
    Lotic has pushed the envelope sonically, and compositionally, to create a brave and breathtaking view of gender in 2018 and, ultimately, what it means to be alive.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Book of Souls
    In fairness, we have heard the duelling solos, galloping Guitar riffs and Dickinson’s operatic Rock vocals all before, in that sense there’s nothing particularly new in form of style (but that’s no bad omen). Upon The Book of Souls the band do, however, sound tighter than ever, offering a raw atmosphere that makes the album sound as though it was almost written in order to be played live.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oshin
    It's an album in the true sense, each song a building block on an overall journey.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After Hours
    Production-wise especially, this is The Weeknd’s strongest project yet, and deserves all the recognition.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Chubbed Up +
    Serious though he may intend to be, through the combination of Williamson’s Mr. Angry rants and Andrew Fearn’s tinny keyboards, Sleaford Mods do have a tendency to sound like a bit of a novelty.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Animism
    Indulgently arresting stuff.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Little Fictions
    Little Fictions, in the end, though a welcome sign of elbow gently progressing with their formula, is a step forward feels too hesitant.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Incessant
    The Incessant has a wealth of great ideas baked into the sediment of a wholly unremarkable collection of songs but boasts enough personality to still be worth giving the benefit of your doubt.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    1 2 Kung Fu!
    A record that spirits the listener along at quite a pace, its already relatively concise thirty-five minutes stirring a melodic whirlwind.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Air Con Eden
    'Air Con Eden' is an album that knows what it is: a story. Although it may be a surrealist story, something difficult to penetrate, it’s a delicate and genuine debut, filled with warbled and gentle soundscapes.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mind Hive
    ‘Mind Hive’ will be remembered as an album that reminds us a price tag still can’t be put on our integrity – artistic or moral.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sideways to New Italy
    Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have produced an album that dangles a carrot of the possibilities of exploration at the time of the impossible, but they are absolutely better off for doing so.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Quickening
    An album that leaves a profound impact in the softest manner possible, ‘A Quickening’ thrills with its pin-prick intensity, with its phantom-like layers of sound. In documenting fatherhood, Orlando Weeks has emerged as a songwriter renewed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Someone New
    Some fans may be disappointed by the more subdued nature of ‘Someone New’. Yet her ability to combine woozy guitars with killer synths and endlessly catchy melodies hasn’t disappeared, only softened and matured, as the title track, the brilliant ‘Pale’, and ‘Dog’ prove.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Good Woman
    These thirteen tracks, detailing joys and sorrows, love and loss, indicate that The Staves are as vital as ever.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Perfect [EP]
    Clocking in at less than quarter of an hour, the ‘Perfect’ EP is another jukebox roll through the band’s quieter and louder moments, both of which are largely on target from start to finish.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
    It won't appeal to those who prefer his party anthems and vibrant disco, but for those who want to see yet another side to this most prolific of musical minds, it's a voyage worth taking.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Continuance
    A hugely effective partnership, Curren$y’s raps – weed, women, the trappings of fame – don’t dwell on subtlety, but it’s the manner in which they are presented that affords ‘Continuance’ its depth.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spell 31
    Ibeyi has continued to present the bejewelled depths of their spiritual and ancestral heritage with great success; it's clear that their source is not only deeply personal but boundless too.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Palomino
    Whilst other songs such as ‘Turning Onto You’ don’t particularly inspire and feel somewhat under-produced, the album remains pensive, zesty and delicately crafted. This is truly an album to draw comfort from throughout winter.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Yian
    An album that leaves you in a different environment than where you entered it, ‘YIAN’ will surely rank as one of 2023’s most impressive British debuts.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aperture
    The record could almost be split in half as it takes a rockier tone in the first tracks, which is gradually reduced to captivating stripped back endings. A true musical journey indeed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Big Sigh
    A gorgeous album, ‘Big Sigh’ is a winter treat for the long January nights.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rest
    Outstanding work with the sound, abundance of catchy tunes and thoughtful, memorable lines make Rest an engaging experience for any listener, guaranteed to evoke or further develop the interest for the story of the illustrious Gainsbourg family.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Lady Killer
    As attempts at storming the mainstream go, this looks like a surefire winner, but musically it feels like a lesser take on Outkast's The Love Below.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tell Me How You Really Feel
    After the cheap--but definitely magical--thrills of her debut, this is a slow-burning triumph.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Utopian Ashes
    Aiming to pin down essential emotions in a personal way, ‘Utopian Ashes’ succeeds beyond their imaginations – a crisp, entrancing song cycle, it’s unaffected feel helps it linger long in the memory.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ruinism
    Although at times the sound experiments can feel too inward-looking, Howard balances the darkness and lightness of his palette with relative ease, producing a record of imaginative depth and danceable surface.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bedroom
    A heady, forward-thinking shoegaze distillation, ‘Bedroom’ is a vital listen, with bdrmm allowing their early promise to fully develop. Much more than a genre piece, it’s a vital delve into the power of our communal isolation.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Collector
    Collector is clever, catchy and addictive, and gets better with repeat plays. You can only imagine he and Disq know exactly what they’re doing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Flamagra
    Flamagra reminds us just how good Flying Lotus sounds when soundtracking transcendence.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spiderwebbed
    It may be a tried and tested formula but inspiration as beautifully realised as this is hard to ignore.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Wild
    The Wild offers solid proof that rappers in their middle ages are far from a spent force.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    High Risk Behaviour
    ‘High Risk Behaviour’ clocks in at under half an hour which is a good job considering The Chats only have one trick, but strewth they do that trick well.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    & The Charm
    This notable departure from the dancefloor not only brings fans of her previous music and live sets along for the ride, but also wholeheartedly welcomes those who might never have set foot in the club.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All Her Plans
    ‘All Her Plans’ is a triumph, a record that will certainly send these Aussie rockers to soaring new heights.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Peacemaker
    The record holds a conciliatory anger at a civilisation that can’t save itself from itself. And through an exploration of war, bloodspill, loss and confusion Vera Sola has continued to tell her story, and invite us into her arresting world.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Hum
    Hookworms have a huge, infectious energy, best evidenced on the wild organ grooves and ridiculously weighty drumming of ‘Radio Tokyo’, but some of the finest moments come when they adopt a more considered, less-immediate approach.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Stay Gold
    With lyrics dripping with casual poetic nuance and bold, full arrangements, Stay Gold is at once an arresting set of classic country reference points as well as a towering body of stirring, beguilingly original songs.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Free for All
    Free For All is a debut album from a producer continually finding new perspectives on your favourite sounds.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    African Giant
    African Giant is a cohesive piece of work. The tracks have a subtle dancehall theme which threads through them. 19 tracks may have been too ambitious in this case but Burna Boy is an example of why African music is gaining popularity and becoming more mainstream.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Modern Nature
    Modern Nature is a significant step forward for a band dogged by being seen merely as Britpop survivors that have never really moved on. This is evidence that they truly, distinctively have.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Out in the Storm
    There’s still moments of fragility that populate the record (‘Fade’), but for the most part it’s a brazen and self-assured release, and it’s all the better for it.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything in Between
    The album is a bold step, Spunt and Randall striving to write songs they would be psyched to listen to, and moving in a direction that will fail to disappoint fans of earlier releases 'Nouns' and 'Weirdo Rippers'. Rad.
    • 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.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Reflektor
    ‘It’s Never Over’ is this band’s best TV On The Radio impression, and ‘Porno’ almost goes G-funk: a pleasant surprise. But undercooked electronics, impotent rhetoric, too-familiar crescendo-ing structures and an overall feeling that this needs further post-production attention render Reflektor an entirely substandard album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    C'mon
    C'mon is such a delight, simultaneously luscious in their orchestration and muted in their delivery. Beautiful.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Distractions
    Without getting too deep and meaningful and forgetting that Distractions is simply an album of indelible punk jams, it's also the sound of a disillusioned and discontented generation, and their collective vitriol speaks volumes for the rest of us.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jinx
    Jinx isn’t really a narrative anyway, more a fine assemblage in which a slightly eldritch weirdness is balanced with pop nous. It certainly feels like Crumb are on the cusp of something here.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Get to Heaven
    There is a Big League sheen to much of this record which, mercifully, at no point saps the band's wildly abandoned creativity.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cashmere
    At times the clash of rhyme and sonic styles is too full or disjointed, sounding like the Boys are still finding their stride and working out how to cram everything in. Plenty here though to be blasted throughout Suburbia.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Hallucination
    ‘Love Hallucination’ is further evidence she’s now one of the label’s strongest artists, and also one of the most consistent creators of the past ten years. She may have slowly left her bedroom and found her way into the club, but Jessy Lanza continues to produce intimate moments you can get lost in.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings
    Although coming quickly off the back of their debut might give people a cause for concern, the conviction with which it’s delivered should put to bed any negative preconceptions. An absolutely vital record.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beast Epic
    While Beast Epic doesn’t quite match the strength of those records, it still remains his most pleasing work since 2007’s ‘The Shepherd’s Dog’.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Home Record
    It’s a record that makes incisions into the staid, one that knocks over the steadfast; it’s a bold, thrilling construction, one that pushes her history to one side in order to build anew.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Thank Your Lucky Stars
    It's a damn fine record and manages to avoid treading exactly the same ground its older sister did.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
    Framed by twin poles of classicism and experimentation, ‘Did you know…’ never truly succumbs to either. An often-unsettling river of song, it finds Lana Del Rey discussing uncomfortable truths, while denying the use of easy answers. What she chooses to reveal is profound, occasionally disquieting, and never dull.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Disco's of Imhotep
    A premise so potentially sprawling is over and done with after 35 minutes. As the conduit probably has his next spiritual plain and energy source in mind, it all adds to the enigma.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lush
    It’s fair to say Jordan has delivered an album worthy of its 90s indie antecedents, even surpassing some of these.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Maya
    Frusciante has managed to pay ode in a way which sounds original, yet adheres to the formula... all in all making for an impressive electronic album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Imitation of War
    Itasca’s ‘Imitation Of War’ is a wonderful record, one whose spell only reveals itself over countless enraptured listens.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    On Purpose, With Purpose
    ‘On Purpose, With Purpose’ shows an artist who continues to be authentic, whilst also realising that at this stage of his career he needs to adapt his style in order to achieve greatness.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
    While it’d be difficult to proclaim it her finest work, ‘She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She’ is certainly Wolfe’s most ambitious and careful-constructed album. Deliciously-dramatic in its nocturnal flair, it cracks open a whole new set of tantalising sonic possibilities for Wolfe’s and her collaborators’ future.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Bones of What You Believe
    The Bones Of What You Believe is an exceptionally strong debut where every track is a potential single.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fixed Ideals
    Whilst sonically Fixed Ideals can vary in its impact, Lande Hekt’s lyrics tell a relatable story in a crafty way, carrying the record all the way through.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    BE
    No, it may not necessarily have many outside their core fanbase reaching endlessly for the replay button, but its therapeutic nonetheless as the band delivers what they’ve promised ; a personable, relatable collection of tracks that strip away their blinding shine as idols, replacing it with their warm glow of humanity.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    3001: A Laced Odyssey
    The impressive chemistry the trio displayed on their earlier work continues here.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Assume Form
    Assume Form isn’t a radical reinvention, but more a refinement. Live strings, for example, bring an organic warmth missing in some of his formative work.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Side Effects
    Whilst for the most part this jam-session approach results in captivating instrumentals and intriguing points of sonic experimentation, at times it can become rather muddled, confusing and drawn-out.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Fuse
    One of the best albums Everything But The Girl have put their name against. A rich, atmospheric song cycle, it has the emotional heft of The Blue Nile and the production nous of Massive Attack. In the end, it could only be Everything But The Girl.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Performance
    For a four-piece rock band from Texas, they still remain pretty difficult to classify and almost impossible to ignore. Play loud and enjoy.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nature Always Wins
    A band whose early commercial ubiquity shouldn’t obscure the continued creative vitality of their work, Maximo Park open a fresh era with some of their finest work in a decade.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lifeforms
    Big, bold and ambitious, it’s both a welcome return and a statement of intent.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Manic
    Manic is an imperfect collection of tracks - with high peaks of sheer genius along with the low falls - but it still manages to fill eyes with tears, hearts with love and minds with thoughts as it explores the life and times of a 25-year-old in startling, stark detail.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I, I
    This is a sound of a warm, human futurism. A record that feels impressionistic and abstract, dominated more by feeling than theme. Heavy sounds deployed deftly. Sometimes it feels a little fragmented (like on the slightly off-kilter swagger of ‘We’).
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hollandaze
    A blindingly good debut.
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