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For 5,888 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 60% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.6 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Everything's The Rush
Lowest review score: 0 Fortune
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,429 out of 5888
  2. Mixed: 1,419 out of 5888
  3. Negative: 40 out of 5888
5888 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Lady Killer
    It doesn't have any pretenses about being great and achieves in the most basic way possible: by being impeccably organized, well-sung, and well-written, with not an ounce of filler in sight.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Big Black Coat
    It’s a slightly uneven collection with some weaker tracks, but nevertheless its creators remain artists whose ability to construct slinky, agile grooves with a dark underbelly is still well worth seeking out.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
    X is their 10th album, and although some of the youthful bombast contained in the likes of Richter Scale Madness or Perfectly Natural might have been toned down somewhat, the band has managed to retain the essence of what made them such an exciting proposition back at the end of the 1990s.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tell Me How You Really Feel
    Tell Me How You Really Feel is a wonderfully curated record, which manages to be both cynical and whimsical at the same time. The depth of musical ambition and of poetic expression deserve a suitably large audience’s attention.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Utopian Ashes
    It’s immensely, moreishly listenable. Gillespie and Beth work well as narrators and protagonists. She spritely and unbowed; he simultaneously vengeful and regretful.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    You're Nothing
    It’s an intriguing mixture of pure punk, post punk, and first-wave emo--think Fugazi or Rites Of Spring--though the moments of deliberate discordance are as frequent as the buried melodic gems.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hundreds of Days
    If there is a critique to be made it is that the bass is sometimes a bit muddy, as the production can contain bass notes that clash with the lower notes of Lattimore’s harp. This is not an overwhelming flaw, however, as the mix is on the whole clear and pristine, and as the final piano and harp notes fade out at the end of On The Day You Saw The Dead Whale the lasting effect is one of calm contentment.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Americana
    Americana is consistently melodic and witty, even if its mellowness sometimes verges on the sedate so that you fancy a burst of garage-guitar power chords from “baby brother” Dave to fire things up a bit. It’s an impressive comeback.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bedroom
    Thankfully though, less worthy moments are heavily outnumbered by their more interesting peers and, for a first full collection, Bedroom is a resounding success. bdrmm have chosen a well-worn path, but there’s a freshness here nevertheless.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Praise & Blame
    If you've never even considered owning a Tom Jones record before, give Praise & Blame a try. It may well surprise you.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Marissa Nadler
    The album sees a succession of warm, hushed acoustic guitar textures provide an accommodating bed in which Nadler's flawless vocals can rest. The hazy sound and crepuscular feel to parts of the album recall fellow vocalist Hope Sandoval, or occasionally a more fragile and more gothic Cat Power.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Transference
    Even Spoon's nice sounding (albeit always obtuse) lyrics can't make up for the generally flat music here, and with Transference, Spoon's undeniable swagger has taken a considerable hit.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Flamagra
    The album sags in a way that his previous work never did (much like Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, which inspires its artwork). He remains an inventive and interesting producer, however, and there are significant patches of brilliance on Flamagra that make it a worthwhile listen.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    My Maudlin Career
    It's the musical equivalent of the death of Bambi's mother: exquisitely rendered, but, once experienced for the first time, you need to steel yourself for subsequent visits.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Drunk
    Thundercat has, by skirting around the edges of darkness, created a moody, magnificent, endlessly replayable record that also makes sense in late February.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Snake
    It's a challenging but ultimately very rewarding listening experience.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cupid's Head
    The occasional deployment of distortion maybe hints at a lingering anger or resentment, whilst the presence of detached, ghostly human voices shows Willner is a master controller of his music’s constituent elements.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Golden Age
    The Golden Age is a bewitching and thoroughly addictive record that proves that even when they push themselves out of their comfort zone, American Music Club can still come up with a classic.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Finest Work Yet
    My Finest Work Yet an album that will immediately appeal to Andrew Bird’s long-term fans, and may well attract a few new ones as well.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spiderwebbed
    Those looking to capture a mood, to dive in to something soothing for just over half an hour, would be well advised to kick back and let the music wash over them
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Chants for Socialists
    Chants For Socialists is full of beautifully written and well-crafted tunes.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Godmother
    The addition of electronic elements to her sound here suggests Godmother to almost be like a set of vintage photographs that have been digitally restored. It might not be enough to move her out of the musical shadows (a place she may well feel content to stay) but it shows her capable of pursuing idiosyncratic alternative paths while consolidating her position as a distinctive, singular artist.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    & The Charm
    Stylistically Avalon Emerson was taking a risk on & The Charm, but with this engaging, surreal, infectious music it pays off massively.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Hum
    Whilst the debut got tongues wagging, the follow up is sure to get hearts pounding--a superb collection of tracks that points to a band that knows where it’s going.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Songs From The Year Of Our Demise
    This is a more mature, Baroque record, at times reminiscent of the best, new wav-ish tracks from The Posies' 1998 album, Success.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Stay Gold
    With its innate sun-necked nature and social atmosphere, despite its throbbing introspection, Stay Gold is perfectly poised to knock you for six this summer.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Return To Form Black Majick Party
    Pop Levi is an oddball, an eccentric in the finest English tradition and a man who evokes the effortless, timeless cool of many and varied heroes of modern music's life and times.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Modern Mirror
    For Drab Majesty to take the next step, with an album that resonates with a larger audience, you feel that more depth is required along with more of the melodic excellence provided a handful of times here. If that happens it could even rival some of the best albums your dusty collection from the 80s boasts, such is the potential here.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Modern Nature
    Wholly unexpected and majestic, repeated plays will reward tenfold as song after song worms itself under the skin to create a thoroughly rewarding experience.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Goodbye, Hotel Arkada
    All of these tracks are elevated considerably by Lattimore’s production chops, as the skilled performances are turned into vast ambient soundscapes and she proves herself to be her best accompanist. If anyone in the alternative electronic world has been unaware of Mary Lattimore up until now, this album is a perfect insight into her creative abilities.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything in Between
    By the time the vocal duet and droning guitars of Chem Trails come around, you'll realise that this is the sound of a band who are going from strength to strength.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Reflektor
    Reflektor is not the vintage record the hype would have us believe. But it will, if nothing else, get your feet moving.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    C'mon
    C'Mon is a pause for breath, a likeable but slight addition to an impressive back catalogue.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Sun Coming Down
    It’s a very special second album that will resonate deeply both with early adopters and the wider audience that Ought will surely capture.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic
    Despite the strength of this first offering, you can’t help but feel Foxygen haven’t quite reached their full potential.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Greatest
    Simultaneously the most-fully-realised of Chan Marshall's seven albums and yet one of missed opportunities.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Get to Heaven
    The results may on occasion be fraught with discomfort, and feel like a caffeine overdose, but in that respect Get To Heaven is an accurate reflection of life today, with its overwhelming tags, mentions, likes, unread messages, stimulants and stress relievers.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Candylion
    Qualities like intelligence, eclecticism and imagination sometimes seem to be in short supply in the music industry - Candylion encapsulates all these qualities and more and deserves a far wider audience than the cult status it will undoubtedly settle into.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    White Chalk
    Constantly brilliant. White Chalk is an amazing album, racked with beauty, stricken with fragility and haunted with something otherworldly.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mr. M
    This isn't an album that's likely to change anything, but nor does it deserve to just pass by unnoticed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Green to Gold
    After such a traumatic few years, it’s a minor miracle that Silberman is now back in The Antlers fold and sounding as good as ever. What’s more, for a band who made their name playing epically sad, often emotionally traumatic songs, Green To Gold sounds positively sunny and mellow in comparison.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hideous Bastard
    At times, you do miss Romy providing the balance to Sim’s vocals, but this is, in its own way, as successful an xx side-project as the In Colour album has been. As an antidote to the long wait until the next album by the full band, this is a must listen.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Hallucination
    This is a fine and often beautiful album, full of sensual delights and productions that vary from wafer-thin to chocolate rich. Throughout the focus is on Lanza and her feelings, which are reassuringly human and grounded. Combine that with its underground origins, and you have a record for the everyday listener.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Breaking Kayfabe
    Breaking Kaytabe is without a doubt one of the most impressive releases you'll hear all year, regardless of genre.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jaiyede Afro
    This excellent record stands as a testament to the fascinating links and interactions between musical cultures.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Further
    The songs effortlessly speak to all classes, to all walks of life, from a songwriter who never sings down to his audience. As always, Richard Hawley is one of us.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beast Epic
    Beast Epic is a worthy addition to the Iron And Wine catalogue and an example of an album that improves the more and deeper you listen to it.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Grid of Points
    The relative brevity and sparseness of the album, allied to the fact that it largely extends ideas laid down earlier in Harris’s career, won’t see Grid Of Points talked of in the same elevated way as some of her other work. But it serves as a timely reminder of her ability to create beautifully slow and contemplative music.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Three Fact Fader
    The attention to detail where texture and colour is concerned is the crowning glory with the Engineers.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Jacket
    Deciding which music you listen to in a world that now benefits from so much of it is another tough choice, but in the case of The Jacket, it comfortably feels like it could be a very good fit for many.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No Home Record
    Even during the times where her restless experimentation threatens to become a bit self-indulgent, you’re never far away from a blast of feedback to grab your attention again. It all adds up to a welcome return for one of rock music’s true modern icons.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Childhood of a Leader [OST]
    The soundtrack brings together the two phases of Walker, so to speak: the rich, sweeping orchestral one heard from The Walker Brothers and through the solo Scotts 1-4, before morphing into the avant-garde, claustrophobic, doom-laden one from 1995’s Tilt onwards.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dark in Here
    Like many of their peers and contemporaries from Bill Callahan to Superchunk, the thrill with a new Mountain Goats record is just how similar it’ll be to your favourite thing they’ve done in the past. And this is, well, pretty close to your favourite (whatever that may be…).
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Warp & Weft
    This is possibly her most satisfying album to date; it is, at times, quite spellbinding.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We've Been Going About This All Wrong
    Over the last few years, she’s become one of America’s finest songwriters, and this album shows her continuing that trajectory.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
    A leisurely 77 minutes of beautifully orchestrated ballads, electronic experimentation, spoken word interludes and callbacks to previous Del Rey songs. Like the vast majority of her previous albums, there’s almost too much to take in, but you have to admire the sheer bloody-mindedness to do things her own way.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day
    Simply put, When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day is one of the best albums of the year.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lush
    Lush is an album that the devoted will take to their hearts and luxuriate in its sadness. Some may decry the lack of variety on show (there’s a definite template to a Snail Mail song and it’s stuck to rigidly on Lush), but it cannot be denied that this is a debut that promises great things to come.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Scacco Matto
    This is a strong record, and one made with a singular artistic focus. Senni clearly knows what he likes, and he does it incredibly well.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eight Gates
    It is inevitably an unfinished work. Studio banter is left in and some songs are mercilessly brief or feel like sketches. Nevertheless, its spacious textures, starkness and the emphasis on Molina’s understated but haunting vocal delivery mean that this music provides a window into Molina’s working process and creates a moving intimacy. It is like listening to the voices of ghosts.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
    Each and every song here would sound completely at home as closing credits music for any number of fantastic horror movies. Not necessarily because of the finality of the songs, but rather because they conjure an unnameable, hideous feeling that is generally only experienced after witnessing something terrifying.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Bones of What You Believe
    Those who care not to pay much attention to lyrics might just find themselves bawling on the dancefloor without quite knowing why, as these earworm tunes form a perfect delivery system for the heartbreak (and occasionally a little vengeance) contained at their very core.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
    You won't find a more compelling wall of sound in many other places this year.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Compliments Please
    Even at 16 tracks (including the little spoken word interludes that scatter the album), it never seems too long or self-indulgent.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nootropics
    If you're willing to put the effort in, then you will be rewarded with an achingly beautiful and immersive album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    One Million Love Songs
    It may last just 25 minutes, but One Million Love Songs doesn’t feel half-sketched or incomplete. On the contrary, once it’s finished, you’ll just want to go straight back to the beginning to wallow in this strange, otherworldly gem of a record.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Everything is Love
    It isn’t always the most substantial record, flexing and braggadocio abound, but it’s an enjoyable collection of tracks from the power couple.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend
    Her songs are a beguiling mix of sizzling synth-pop, and for want of a better phrase, Nordic-folk.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Assume Form
    Assume Form finds Blake sonically in a state of equilibrium, having found two niches over the course of his career that suit him equally well. They complement each other well, and as the record ends with the soothing but wry Lullaby For My Insomniac.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fresh Blood
    There was a lot of pressure on Matthew E White to deliver something as good the second time around. Yet the expectation appears to have hardly phased him, as Fresh Blood reaches similar heady heights.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Side Effects
    This is an absolute delight for a fan, but hard to recommend for anyone else. Of the entire back catalogue, Side Effects seems like the slightest of their albums, but at least its hottest moments go some way to countering how underdone the whole thing seems.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Translate
    Following some recent setbacks in his personal life, Luke Abbott has got round to making, for all intensive purposes, his impression of a breakup record, and damn, if it isn’t a total knockout.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Django Django
    Fresh, inventive and likely to be one of the more promising releases of 2012.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fuse
    If you don’t pay attention, it’s harmless background fluff, yet if you concentrate there are mysteries and subtleties to discover that demand repeat listens.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nature Always Wins
    Together with the slimmed down line-up, Nature Always Wins feels like the start of a new chapter for Maxïmo Park. They’ve always been better than a ‘landfill indie’ punchline, and they prove it in spades on their seventh album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Age Blues
    This might be blues, it might be doom, but the return of Goatsnake can be nothing other than a good thing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Citrus
    There's plenty of pop tunes here, but there's also enough self expression and leftfield rambling to make this an album of real interest.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Manic
    It all adds up to a very enjoyable record, one that fits in well with the current pop landscape while also working beyond it.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    I, I
    Justin Vernon has succumbed to his most inane impulses – and released a selection of unseasoned, lightly scented pleasantries that neither hit or miss. They just are.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Abandon All Life
    The punkier title track stands out, as does the ferocious No Surrender, both featuring in their breakdowns the standout riffs from the album. But too much of the rest is lost in a barrage of blast beats, bluster, and bludgeon.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Beggar
    Some might wish for more of the pounding drums and hellish vocals of old, others might hope for more of the experimental blasted patchwork of The Beggar Lover (Three), but the album succeeds best through its unwieldy, unmanageable length. They say Swans can break a man’s spirit with just two hours of unstinting grimness.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
    Well, in many ways it follows the same tried and trusted formula of their previous three albums - dramatic, emotive and melodic, with guitars very much the centre of attention. Yet this time around the band have progressed to produce a more varied collection of tracks.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Give the People What They Want
    A great album full of songs both uplifting and danceable, emotional and cerebral.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Denies The Day's Demise
    A tough collection to make friends with, Denies The Days Demise can infuriate and delight in equal measure, often on the same track.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Corsicana Lemonade
    Like the best Black Keys songs, the band’s tracks hold up independent of their pristine production as examples of how to combine undeniable talent, a love for the past, and a personal story to create a sound that’s simultaneously throwback and unique.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Animated Violence Mild
    Blanck Mass’ style approaches speedcore in places, but Power ultimately creates music more nuanced and vivid than that genre label ever facilitated, and as such this album is highly recommended for all fans of experimental electronic music, as well as the noise and industrial side of things.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Exai
    Exai shows they still occupy a special position in the current generation of forward-thinkers, producing music that couldn’t have been made at any other time other than now, unostentatiously trailblazing a path for others to follow in.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Magic Numbers
    Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer beauty of The Magic Numbers' music.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Progress
    It might not be the explosion many were hoping for, but Progress sees Take That exploring and experimenting.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Gob
    In trying to make himself standout as an individual, he may have gone too far on his album GOB and scared off any potential mainstream listeners with his far-out style.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Trance
    This is a brilliantly ambitious, exploratory recording that captures the pure, powerful vibe of a great ensemble.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Quakers
    Strangely enough, as short and freespirited as the tracks are, the album itself is a behemoth that takes some listening dedication to unwrap and to assign meaning to--and it's an effort that's well worth it.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Where Do You Start
    Where Do You Start is, in addition to being a superb showcase of these musicians' technical flair and expressive confidence, a typically thoughtful, informed and intuitive statement.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bushcraft
    The riffs are crushing rather than classic, and Andrew Drury’s vocals are full of conviction and spirit but perhaps a little one-dimensional. But for anyone with their toe already dipped in the metal bath, and in danger of selling their soul to the preeners and posers, Baptists might just be their saviour.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ostro
    Certainly there’s something mystical at work here, but, as with the rest of the album, the real fun is to be found when fully immersed in these hypnotic grooves.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whispers
    Even though this is her ninth album, she still sounds fresh.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Give Up Your Dreams
    It’s all rather wonderful nonsense--playful, engaging and not always entirely successful.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Blue Hour
    The Blue Hour has finesse, sensitivity and lightness of touch: all the hallmarks of a great modern classical album. In Federico Albanese, we’ve got a new name to watch out for.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Transmission
    It seems a blinkered record, which can be admired for its defiantly non-commercial stance. It won’t win Fearless any new fans, and may distance Death In Vegas into more of a cult concern. All well and good if that’s the intent; otherwise, perhaps it’s time to draw the curtains, get some vitamin D and thumb through that ‘guest vocalist’ address book.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Goat Girl
    Splitting I Don’t Care Pt 1 and I Don’t Care Pt 2 into two separate tracks makes sense; one is jerky and aloof, the other stumbling and awkward, and they make nice companion pieces. But putting the two tracks either side of the aimless piano noodling of Hank’s Theme is a mis-step. That said, there are some excellent songs here, like the bristling, melodic Viper Fish, the frenetic Cracker Drool and the brash Country Sleaze.
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