Drawer B's Scores

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For 121 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 41% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 9.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 Kill The Moonlight
Lowest review score: 10 This Island
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 73 out of 121
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 121
  3. Negative: 21 out of 121
121 music reviews
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    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Neon Golden
    Every single song is an hummable masterpiece of pop experimentation.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Kill The Moonlight
    Spoon rebounds from the insurmountable challenge of following up the colossally brilliant Girls Can Tell with an equally impeccable album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A Hundred Miles Off
    This is not an easy record to absorb. The band’s rough-hewn production is tinny and sonically chaotic, but underneath the surface noise lurks one of the finest records of the year.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Apologies To The Queen Mary
    Once all the influences roll off your tongue, however, you’ll find yourself speechless before the excitement this album will invariably instigate.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Point
    The sonic consistency may bore fans thirsting for more of Cornelius’ spastic and unpredictable eclecticism, but the ensuing stereophonic experience is second to none.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Is This It?
    Plenty of bands have hooks and good songs and retro-garage sounds, but none compares to The Strokes.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Vespertine
    As difficult as it is gorgeous, Vespertine ranks among Bjork’s finest albums.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Everything All The Time
    An astoundingly seductive debut.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    In The Reins [EP]
    Gorgeous, lush, and surprisingly optimistic.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    ONoffON
    OnOffOn is the aural resurrection of a band that still matters.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Last Exit
    Last Exit is a monumental debut... on par with It’s My Life or Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Leaves Turn Inside You
    It is the band’s most fully realized musical achievement.... A monumental album by a monumental band.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Gimme Fiction
    Gimme Fiction may not be your favorite Spoon record right now, but give it a few years.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Wonderland
    The band’s finest release by far, it’s a swaggering, head-long dive into funk, rhythm and blues, gospel, roots rock and roll, and disco but with a very sleek modern edge.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Elephant
    Elephant is a startlingly dark and consistent record, incorporating frequencies never before heard on a White Stripes album.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Remote Part
    This is arguably Idlewild’s finest hour.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Group Sounds
    A classic party record from start to finish.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Obliterati
    This is Mission of Burma’s most aggressive and impassioned record to date.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Guero
    Even though Guero sounds familiar sonically, it still pushes Beck further into a league that he all but owns.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    So This Is Goodbye
    This is dance music with unquestionable soul.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    When I Was Cruel
    Costello has never experimented so freely on an album in his entire career.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Logic Will Break Your Heart
    while the production’s sleek sheen holds tight reigns over any explosive guitars threatening to get out of hand, The Stills still manage to build up enough tension to hold your attention through good old fashioned songwriting.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    St. Elsewhere
    Each listen reveals depth and texture that allow the hooks plenty of room to breathe.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mr. Beast
    Mr. Beast isn’t Mogwai’s most challenging or daring record, but it might be its most beautiful or powerful.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    First Impressions Of Earth
    The Strokes match their innate catchiness with a new found intensity that makes First Impressions of Earth sound like a band hungry for blood.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sunny Border Blue
    Sunny Border Blue will go down as her finest album outside of the Throwing Muses because it’s her finest batch of songs.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aha Shake Heartbreak
    The lyrical terrain is insultingly common (girls, life on the road, girls), yet the band has such an idiosyncratic method of expression that makes these everyday themes sound – at least over the course of each song – radically inspired.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Late Registration
    Late Registration... definitely mines familiar terrain, but West’s zeal for clever wordplay juxtaposed with his unflinching confidence makes for a charismatic and often electrifying punch.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Great Destroyer
    Low sounds fearless in its experimentation. Such personal intimacy juxtaposed with extremely haughty pretension could easily turn off listeners, but it’s all woven together so well that it’s hard to dismiss even the wrong turns.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Playing The Angel
    The album skillfully and confidently showcases all of Martin Gore’s songwriting strengths.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Complete B-Sides
    Even though this compilation doesn’t rival any of the Pixies’ classic studio albums, it is still essential listening.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
    By turns goofy, intellectual, and non-sequitur lyrics are indecipherable without the lyric sheet, but the strangely alluring charm of songs like "The Skin of My Country Yellow Teeth" will have you clamoring for more.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Happy Hollow
    An ambitious, sprawling string of songs.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tyrannosaurus Hives
    The Hives’ propulsive, polyrhythmic outbursts are so packed with hooks and catchy choruses that you can’t help but overlook the schtick and give in to the raucous delight.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Give Up
    Give Up is pure, unadulterated dance pop from start to finish.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Extraordinary Machine
    She’s clever and sharp with her lyrical daggers, and she’s frighteningly aware of the impact of her own voice.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hail To The Thief
    The biggest problem with Hail to The Thief is its lack of surprise.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Romantica
    The smarmy lyrics are back in full force, but the music is so crisp, clean, and catchy that it hardly matters at all.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Turn On The Bright Lights
    Don't be fooled by the constant references to other bands. While the foundation upon which Interpol is building, certainly is borrowed, its music is not a miming act.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Takk...
    Takk is sharper and more direct than anything the band has previously churned out, but that is not to say it’s by any means accessible by normal standards.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whenever You're Ready
    An album packed with as many irresistible hooks as Whenever You’re Ready deserves to be heard.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Demon Days
    Albarn’s ability to slither arrogantly from genre to genre while maintaining his charm is truly remarkable.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Italian Platinum
    Silkworm as classic rock? Yep, and it’s damn good, too.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
    This album is an extraordinary display of Oberst’s songwriting prowess. It’s obscenely ambitious and pretentious and ridiculous but unquestionably memorable and affecting.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We Love Life
    We Love Life trades Pulp's characteristic risk-taking for smooth accessibility, which works a gray, rainy day magic over the proceedings.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tenacious D
    Take away the insane lyrics, and you’ve still got music worth listening to. Granted, it sounds like Journey being raped by Ronnie James Dio, but you have to admit that’s intriguing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Antics
    Antics is a grower. It’s not as grandiose as its predecessor, but it still packs a lasting punch.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Woods
    Not exactly radio friendly, The Woods explores sonic deconstruction a la Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix instead of the preciously catchy indie pop hooks you’ve come to expect.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Torino
    While Torino is most definitely not a Wedding Present album by any stretch of the imagination, it should win back some of the die-hard older fans that may have boycotted Cinerama at the onset.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Get Behind Me Satan
    It isn’t until you’ve given it your full attention that the album starts to reveal its true depth and worth with songs that stick and get under your skin and make you come back for more.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Think Tank
    Think Tank is Blur’s most cerebral, wildly experimental album, ever.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ships
    It all unfurls more like a musical than an indie rock record, but don’t let the dissonance scare you away.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Absolution
    Despite the daunting Radiohead-colored cloud that hangs heavy over Muse, the band pushes the limits of its slick, pre-apocalyptic rock with a self-assured strut.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    You're A Woman, I'm A Machine
    These songs will undoubtedly knock the wind out of you, but for every dynamic explosion or screeching wall of noise there’s a hook in tow.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    604
    So yes, it has that retro-futuristic edge, but what sets 604 apart is the distinct lack of kitsch.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With Teeth
    For a guy that has so little to say with so few ways to say it, Trent Reznor has mastered the art of making what is old sound new again.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Power
    Luckily, the band doesn’t cave into the dance-punk trend without expanding upon its current ubiquity with skillful songwriting and risky avoidance of testosterone.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Maladroit
    Maladroit is a welcome - halfway - return to form.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    High Society
    High Society expands upon the hurried schizophrenia of Schmersal’s previous band, Brainiac, elevating songwriting to the same level of experimental deconstruction to both the detriment and advancement of the band’s core sound.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    i
    The only disappointment is the fact that everything sounds a tad too familiar.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Take Fountain
    On Take Fountain Gedge uses his sharpened songwriting chops to present his case and again proves himself a master of the pop song. It’s just that sometimes it feels like routine.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire
    If the fact that Albini seems to bury Falkous’ yelps behind too much dissonance bothers you, there’s plenty of joyous wreckage to revel in.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Delivery Man
    The Delivery Man is a solid, albeit slightly over-learned and patronizing, collection of bluesy rock.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    X&Y
    It’s an expansive and stupendously produced record with a handful of remarkable songs.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Counterfeit 2
    The downside of Counterfeit2 is its uniformity.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Murray Street
    With Murray Street the band has made a persuasive case for its ongoing existence for the first time in over a decade.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It'll Be Cool
    Yeah, it’s another Silkworm record. It’s not the band’s best and it’s not the band’s worst. It rocks in its own unique, world-weary way.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Photo Album
    The most noteworthy aspect of The Photo Album is the band’s upward trajectory. The music is cohesive and even, though still somewhat sluggish.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Me & Giuliani Down By the School Yard (A True Story) [EP]
    !!! fuses the Tom Tom Club’s frivolous white-boy syncopation with ESG’s polyrhythmic propulsion to make your brain feel informed while your feet work very hard to embarrass you.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Silent Shout
    And while lyrically nothing comes close to eclipsing the pop genius of "Heartbeats" from their previous release, Deep Cuts, several tracks on Silent Shout demonstrate considerable growth both lyrically and musically, making this a solid follow up from a band that has further evolved their own curious brand of synthpop.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    18
    Moby continues to do on 18 what he’s always done best, and that is to fuse disparate musical styles with a pop sensibility, while maintaining a moody, almost gothic theme.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sha Sha
    Granted, Kweller is still searching for an unique voice, as his music still wears its roots a little too blatantly, but he’s definitely on the right track.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fab Four Suture
    It is a little more scattered than the last few proper Stereolab albums in terms of musical threads, but the urbane electro-funk of “Interlock” as well as the jittery disco pomp of “Eye of the Volcano” prove that Stereolab is still tweaking the formula with one foot in Esquivel’s grave and the other several light years away.