CMJ's Scores

  • Music
For 728 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 67% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 27% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.4 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 90 Harmonicraft
Lowest review score: 30 IV Play
Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 1 out of 728
728 music reviews
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Other Worlds doesn't get overtly weird, but it's surely expansive-sounding.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    And if you are a big fan of the band-and if you invested in the reissue, that's probably a given--this will give you hours of quality material to get lost in. But if you're not super familiar with the band, aside from being able to identify that Corgan is that vampiric-looking bald guy, then use this reissue as an excuse to revisit--or just visit--this album.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While Bish Bosch may not be the most easy album to digest, it doesn't lack for talent or shock value.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A World Out Of Time was recorded as a whole, a distinction that has some subtle effects on the album's sequencing and pacing without diminishing the elements of collage.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The recording quality is smart and sophisticated, and the overall feel of Our Nature is much richer-sounding than on In The Wooded Forest.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The album, titled Grace/Confusion, offers the chillwave sound that Hawk is known for but with a fuller, crisper and more melodic take.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With seven tracks, it's more assertive than an EP but without the fully developed personality of an album. It's just enough that we know where Knowles stands: on her own.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    To match the classier trappings, Bronson puts on a slightly more professional showing--gone are the botched lines, the charming flubs and the repetitive stalling of Chips--and, for the most part, he pulls it off with style and grace.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While it is nice to see MNDR's vulnerable side on slower tracks like "Stay" and "Blue Jean Youth," she is at her best with tracks that keep you moving like "Faster Horses," "Fall In Love With The Enemy" and "U.B.C.L."
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It is an unapologetically gorgeous piece of work and one that is better appreciated without considering the confines of its genre or how the chillwave brand has become passé in most circles.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    On her fifth album, she discovers a new direction--and sounds all the better for it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This lack of clear signposts can make navigating the nightmare-laden second half of Dream On a bit more difficult as the sound effects pile up and the tracks get denser.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ["Be Above It"] sets the tone for an album that follows closely in the sonic footsteps of its predecessor while occupying a more streamlined headspace.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The sound is more refined without completely losing what many listeners initially loved about the band: its natural and unstructured approach.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Though the production value is still high, the songs found here are less assertive than the tracks that were considered album material.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    They leave Soft Moon's second album on a multi-faceted, adventurous note, though one that remains dark and eerie.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While some longtime fans may find Just To Feel Anything's retreat from the cosmos a disappointment, the album's relative conceptual restraint actually allows it to be even more emotionally accessible, inviting the listener into the trio's interstellar clubhouse instead of only letting us peak in from the outside.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    His heavy use of synthesizers might pin him to an era, but his tenor is timeless.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's a wise, mature labyrinth of an album that's both filled with vibrant life and haunted by death.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Some tracks are wildly successful on an individual basis, but they're cut short or steamrolled right over as Riggins whips through what seems like every sonic concept he's had in the last two decades.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While not all of the rough edges have been smoothed out, there's a sense of soaring ambition, and there's no reason why there shouldn't be.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The passive, languid tone of this album often translates into emotionless muck.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sunshine shows a strong working dynamic between the two members of Talk Normal that can only continue to strengthen.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's definitely not pop-more like battery acid-but in such talented hands, chaos becomes catchy.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whether you are listening to the album for its monetary-political messages or just hoping to enjoy the band's indie-punk sound, Local Business will sate both sides.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Without giving up its commitment to obfuscation or its sense of mystery, the band has crafted a fun, playful and eclectic collection of songs that reveal a more focused, melody-driven approach to writing and a surprising level of thematic coherence.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    By relying on their talent and confidence, the fivesome takes the listener to a futuristic setting, one where '60s British pastoral music fuses with electro in order to fill a hole in the musical landscape.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    2
    The songs here are too strongly crafted to be mistaken for the work of some teen slacker.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The album, however, cannot shake off the feeling that it's a melting pot of Segall's previous albums from this year.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    119
    Its suicidal lyrics and aggressive guitar riffs won't disappoint current fans and will more than likely win over a bunch of kids from the Odd Future side.