New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores
- Music
For 6,017 reviews, this publication has graded:
-
55% higher than the average critic
-
4% same as the average critic
-
41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.9 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: | to hell with it [Mixtape] | |
---|---|---|
Lowest review score: | Maroon |
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 4,237 out of 6017
-
Mixed: 1,627 out of 6017
-
Negative: 153 out of 6017
6017
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
-
- Critic Score
Through glowing stasis and solemn ceremony, Divide and Dissolve’s sonics of despair and destruction have been crafted into a remarkably life-affirming experience, and it’s never been more needed.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 28, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It might not hold any firm answers or blazing rebuttals to the world burning up like a flaming, stinking trash can, but crucially it refuses to look away from the mess, and confronts it instead.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 28, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Parks has a singular talent for tapping into sadness and turning it into something uplifting. ... Arlo Parks may be the voice of Gen Z, but there’s no doubt that this is a universal collection of stories that’ll provide solace for listeners of all ages and backgrounds for decades to come.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 26, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This album is a huge leap forward for Baoi. The record teams with hope, which couldn’t be more apt for a moment in which a new political era dawns and light, albeit slowly, finds its way through the darkness.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 26, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
As they prove across ‘Isles’’ 10 intricately-crafted tracks (which were whittled down from more than 150 demos), few other artists can conjure up these much-missed moments of patiently rapturous rave ecstasy quite so artfully.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 21, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Cheater’ is one hell of a trip with a rare band who are singularly themselves. No-one else could do what Pom Poko do.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 19, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
A debut album proper in all but name, in fact, ‘Demidevil’ shows that Ashnikko’s far more than a two-trend wonder – with a tank full of intriguing bangers that evade living under ‘Daisy’s formidable shadow.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 15, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This is massive leap on from ‘Songs Of Praise’ – ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is more ambitious and more accomplished than its predecessor, showcasing a band brimming both with ideas and the confidence to pull them off. ... ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ confirms Shame’s status as one of the most exciting bands at the forefront of British music.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 15, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It’s rare for a rock record to feel this exciting, especially coming from a band seven albums deep and, y’know, from Surrey, but every track ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ feels inspired in some way.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 14, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Here’s your prescribed dose of reality with an unmistakable and intoxicating Sleaford Mods flavour. The extraordinary ‘Spare Ribs’ is graffiti on a concrete wall; there’s no manifesto, no easy answers and nowhere to hide.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 12, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Welfare Jazz’ sees them sidestep any so-called second album slump. There’s no huge reinvention of sound – except for some country-ish sounds, typified by the Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn-style call-and-answer ‘In Spite Of Ourselves’, a punk hoedown with Amyl and the Sniffers‘ Amy Taylor – but a definite reinvention of mindset.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Jan 6, 2021
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Irrespective of the permanently changed world it’s now entering, Park Hye Jin’s second solo release demonstrates her confidence to create free from the confines of categorisation.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 23, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Along with its album-ending coda, it helps to shroud the album in a rootsy, pastoral intimacy fitting for the times and akin to (although significantly meatier than) ‘McCartney’. In between, as you’d expect from a legend who’s been pushing his electronic boundaries on recent albums such as ‘2018’s ‘Egypt Station’, Sir Paul approaches the record with the same adventuring spirit as he did ‘McCartney II.’- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 15, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Kid Cudi gives us every part of himself, laying out his insecurities and inner demons in the hope that it might help someone else, his words etched into a vivid backdrop of intoxicating melodies and palatial riffs. No one does mood music quite like Cudi.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 14, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
If ‘Folklore’ is an introspective, romantic older sister, ‘Evermore’ is the freewheeling younger sibling. ‘Folklore’ was Swift’s masterful songwriting spun through a very specific sonic palette; ‘Evermore’ feels looser, with more experimentation, charm and musical shades at play. The new album reaps the rewards the stylistic leap of faith that ‘Folklore’ represented, pushing the boundaries of that sonic palette further still.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 10, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
After all these years, the songs still stand up, even in a different dimension. ‘Black Stallion’ can either be listened to as the twisted inner monologue of a masterpiece, or a standalone rattling gun of gnarly and weird electronica.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 10, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The diversity of guest musicians, expertly woven music and compositional strength of the tracks on offer here add up to a journey well worth taking. ‘We Will Always Love You’ completes The Avalanches’ 20-year triptych on a hopeful note.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 10, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘ALIAS’ proves that Shygirl is in full control of her artistic vision no matter the scale.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 9, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The band operate in the same art-pop playground as bands like alt-J and Field Music, with guitars popping and chiming over Andrew Thompson and Bryn Jenkins’ rhythms, only taking a moment to change the pace for tracks like ‘Out to Get You’, with its prettily plucked pastoral guitar strings and close, breathy vocals, and ‘Smorgasbord’, which makes sparing use of anguished, weeping piano notes.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 7, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Taking everything that’s brilliant about Yungblud and amplifying it, album two is Harrison at his most extreme. It’s exactly where he belongs, too. Yungblud’s never seemed more inspiring or vital as he proves himself as one of the most important rock stars around. ‘weird!’ really is wonderful.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 4, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
While Nasty’s catalogue has found her focused on pushing to the extremities of self-expression – baking rock, screamo and punk directly into her rap with reckless abandon – with this record she flexes her chops as an artist with mainstream appeal.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Dec 4, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Plastic Hearts finds the pop-star-turned-rock-star going hell for leather – and when Miley Cyrus is at full throttle, it’s an absolute blast. Life has imitated art, and she’s become her very own Ashley O.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 26, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Language barrier or not, it’s a divine second album.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 25, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Rarely does a remix EP recalibrate songs so thoroughly while maintaining every inch of their magic, but we should expect the unexpected from Phoebe Bridgers by now.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 23, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Just as ‘BE’ cycles through the various ever-changing moods the pandemic has made a constant in our lives, it’s also finds the band constantly moving between genres, each attempt a triumph.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 20, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Opener ‘Shots Fired’ is a signal that Megan is not messing around. ... Yet it’s not long before she returns to the salacious songs that we all love Megan Thee Stallion for. ... For all the sex positivity and club-ready anthems, though, there are glimpses of that tone was first introduced with ‘Shots Fired.’- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 20, 2020
- Read full review
-
- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 17, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Intimate and inventive, it’s a beautiful exercise – and one that could provide a bridge between last year’s ‘Any Human Friend’ and the musician’s planned return to melancholic material on her next original work. For now, though, she’s given us a rich new world burrow into, filled with soothing familiarity but brimming with the excitement of the new.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 13, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Seriously brilliant stuff. ‘Send Them To Coventry’ promises that Salieu is unbelievably gifted with a ceiling nowhere in sight. He carries the entire mixtape with his singular voice oscillating between conventional rap flows, dancehall toasts and ice-cold venomous lyrics.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 13, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This is an ambitious, adventurous feat that shows off Benee’s pop-hook panache and genre-bending range.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 12, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
While far from a reinvention of the wheel, ‘Power Up’ is a joyous celebration of the unbridled heavy rock that has served them well for almost 50 years and, we can hope, a unifying cry for the future.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 11, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Positive Mental Health Music’ is chaotic and warm at the same time but there’s star quality at every turn. It’s not always comfortable, but this is a confident and brazen debut that channels emotional turmoil into something positive and familiar.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 6, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘ELE 2’ finds Busta Rhymes reseated at hip-hop’s top table – until the world comes to an end, of course.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 5, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The result is a consistently uplifting set that feels like Minogue’s best album since 2010’s ‘Aphrodite’.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 5, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
For an artist who has long revelled in gruesome imagery and high concept, this feels like a surprise peek behind the curtain, and yet another sonic boundary crossed.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 2, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It’s underpinned by a sense of homecoming for the rapper. On ‘E3 AF’, he marks his territory, coming back to a sound he grew up with while tipping his hat to the future. He recognises his enormous contribution while reminding everyone that he’s not done, not yet.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Nov 2, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
What could have been an act of self-sabotage or self-indulgence – or both – has transpired to be a welcome reminder of all that this band does best, rooted in raw relevance for today and the cyber-punk energy of tomorrow.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 30, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Wachito Rico’ exudes a breadth of musicianship that proves Boy Pablo is no flash in the pan, despite having found viral fame overnight.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 30, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Eels’ most complete and self-contained record, arguably the epitome of their ouvre and a record that places E – in his own gruff, xylophone-toting way –alongside the great downtrodden romantics: Cohen; Rufus Wainwright; Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields; Nick Cave.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 29, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
There’s sure to be filler across 25-tracks. However, when Ty is at his best, he soars vocally and continues to prove that he is both a hook and melody juggernaut.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 28, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Two empowering protest-techno-with-a-message juggernauts, ‘They Told Us It Was Hard, But They Were Wrong’ and ‘Megapunk’ mark a distinction and sonic evolution from the floaty dream-pop of 2017’s ‘Adapt’ EP and 2018’s rumbling club-driven ‘OK/‘So’. ... This debut harnesses the spirit and will to overcome forcefully and with inclusivity.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 23, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Strange Timez’ is yet another worthwhile endeavour, the band keen not just to match the skill and pace of modern pop outlets, but to outlast the competitors. Whether your consumption method was more traditional, or you’re perhaps tempted to binge every episode in this album format, there’s joy aplenty here.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 22, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
With ‘Songs’ and ‘Instrumentals’ – the first comprised of acoustic singer-songwriter ditties, the latter a musical sound collage with no vocals – Lenker fashioned timeless, tender snapshots of grief that are grounded in healing.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 21, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
A powerful synthesis of past and present, ‘Letter To You’ shows us the strength that can be found in sorrow. The result is Springsteen’s finest album since 2002’s ‘The Rising’.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 21, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
From the start, it’s clear that this isn’t some posthumous dig around in a bucket of old offcuts in an attempt to bleed some money out of dedicated fans, but rather a slick and gratifying fulfilment of one of Petty’s long standing wishes. ‘Wildflowers & All The Rest’ feels less like grave-robbing and more like bringing back one of the all-time greats back to life.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 19, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Morning Pageants’ is a thought-provoking and totally unique body of work, one that will likely continue to inspire and confound as much as its subject.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 16, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The leap from bedroom-dweller to teenage riot instigator has been a swift and fruitful one, and what could be considered derivative is genuine in every sense. Circumstance might dictate that bedroom songwriting is back on the cards for Bea as the slow crawl to the return of live shows continues, but there’s a rock-solid foundation for the years to come.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 15, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Sure, it rests in a lot of the sonic territory of The National, and this isn’t the departure that his peppy indie-pop side-project EL VY represents, but what we do have is an intimate and generous offering from one of 21st Century rock’s most prominent voices.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 15, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
20 tracks long, ‘Couldn’t Wait To Tell You’ is sleeker than the artist’s previous releases, but just as challenging and expectation-defying.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 14, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This isn’t merely a record by a good band. This is a record by an important one that is now teetering on the edge of greatness.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 9, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Edna’ is proof that he’s the unmistakeable, global ‘King of drill’, and much more besides.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 8, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘As Long As You Are’ maybe an unexpected handbrake turn for Future Islands and it may not be as hit-laden as its predecessor, but it’s a refreshing record in its own right and one that throws up plenty of existential quandaries.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 8, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
As a whole, the album is confirmation of two young artists at the top of their game, watching the landscape unfold from the throne they earned themselves four years ago.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 8, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘CMFT’ isn’t the most profound or intense album Taylor has put his hand to, but it’s certainly the most fun. He sounds in love with life, a man finally free of his darkness.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 7, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
From the rebellious energy that dances across the album to the twelve-minute shape-shifting epic of ‘Angel’ that closes out the record with giddy excitement, Working Men’s Club don’t know how to be boring.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 2, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Shamir’ is the sound of a consistently evolving artist reclaiming their path and making the music they want to make. His seventh, self-titled album is the sound of an artist who’s finally found his musical home.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Oct 2, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Boisterous, full of sincerity and exciting enough to make you jump on a table in the middle of a board meeting, ‘Tickets To My Downfall’ is an album that not only proves MGK can do whatever the hell he likes, but that also maybe pop-punk still has something important to offer the world.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 28, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
During the album’s second half, the energy increases even further as Murphy and Sheffield-based collaborator Crooked Man (aka DJ Parrot) throw the party of a lifetime.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 28, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
With each song so different to the last, ‘Renegade Breakdown’ is one of those rare records that will have listeners discovering new intricacies on each listen.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 25, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?’ is Public Enemy’s best effort since 1998’s ‘He Got Game’.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 24, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
A smooth gear shift from 2013’s ‘The Best Day’ and 2018’s ‘Rock and Roll Consciousness’, ‘By The Fire’ manages to stand out with ease. Here Moore elegantly channels his sense of poise and calm in a word going to shit, easily proving why he remains a hero in the world of alt rock.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 24, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It’s maturer in sound and ideas, but retains all the hallmarks of what made Fleet Foxes so great in the first place: rich and studied folk compositions, unrivalled harmonies, stories that strike to the core of nature and human existence, and a dedication to art that emotionally lifts you off this planet.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 24, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It is wonderful to once again hear a Deftones record as heavy as molten lead, as furious as an enraged honey badger.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 24, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Alongside stripped-back, warm and hazy versions of the always powerful ‘Ohio’, ‘Alabama’ and ‘Southern Man’, Young’s new take on 1977’s ‘Campaigner’ hits especially hard.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 23, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Anxious instrumentals echo the album’s uneasy outlook and fear of the future, and when they combine forces it often makes for an astonishing listen.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 23, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This record fuses the first album’s goofy sense of humour with ‘Joy…’’s brazen manifesto for a healthier society. Despite their imperfections and the often justified criticism, IDLES are ultimately a good thing. The band want to take you on a trip and for you to enjoy the ride, and for the destination to be serene. Hold on tight.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 21, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Aside from some uninspired, though pretty acoustica (‘Someone Else’s Trees’, ‘Laundry And Jet Lag’), ‘BREACH’ is a stellar progression overall. Lily’s lurch to zestier compositions is a welcome divergence.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 18, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This is an album that shimmers with warmth and cautious optimism from start to finish.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 18, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Tinny edges became velvet borders, vintage synths took on new wave flavours and plush theatricality beckoned. ‘Host’, however, marks their emergence from their pupae stage.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 17, 2020
- Read full review
-
- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 17, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Fearless in their desire to break out of any pigeonholes but smart enough to play to their strengths, Haiku Hands’ self-titled debut does good on all that live promise and takes on new challenges as the trio adapt to the world around them.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 14, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
If ‘Re-Animator’ felt like it was lacking the kind of knockout blow that Everything Everything have provided on every album, they saved it until last. Recent single and album closer ‘Violent Sun’ is the biggest revelation here. You could mistake its opening seconds of The Boss’ ‘Dancing In The Dark’, or its propulsive surge of drums and synths for New Order.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 10, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
While chaos and confusion may surround us, Manson’s response this time is a dose of respite, mercy, clarity and his most human work so far.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 10, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘American Head’ is a soft, reflective moment of taking in and appreciating the vista once the trip has worn off – when king’s heads and evil pink robots have melted away – and the dust has settled.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 9, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It may have taken over a decade for Doves to pour their souls into ‘The Universal Want’ but if it turns out to be their final transmission, it will be a worthy closing chapter to their epic legacy.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 8, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The 21-year-old might be trying to shake off any unwieldy labels from critics this time around, but he’s doing so in electric, entertaining and thought-provoking form. Climb aboard McKenna’s space shuttle, and let him transport you to a place where dancing and getting deep are equally encouraged.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 4, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Gold Record’ finds him ploughing firmly against the grain. As the wider world collapses all around him, the prolific singer-songwriter has released the warmest, wittiest and most comforting work of his career.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Sep 3, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Part Brooklyn-punk, part folk-troubadour, ‘The Baby’ marks the coming-of-age of an intriguing songwriter, who isn’t afraid to take on the anxieties and uncertainties that keep you awake in the small hours.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 31, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
A charged effort with dynamic results, ‘Karma 3’ may not be as flawless a spectacle as ‘Survival’, but it’s not all that far off. And it’s definitely the best entry in the ‘Karma’ series. East remains consistent, unapologetically flying the flag for New York hip-hop.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 31, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It was a savvy decision to recruit The Blessed Madonna: the result is a collection exciting, genre-splicing remixes that you could genuinely imagine hearing in the club. It may not have been the album celebration Lipa was planning, but ‘Club Future Nostalgia’ feels like a party all the same.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 28, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
This collection encouraged them to follow their instincts and embrace the melodies, choruses and beats that arrived the fastest. The result is brilliant, bruising dance music right from the gut.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 28, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The largely well-executed ‘SuperGood’ provides enough evidence to suggest he’s en route to bigger and better things.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
By marrying their fun-lovin’ musicality with songs that stand up to injustices, Dream Nails rollicking debut will rattle around your head for days on end – for more reason than one.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Here The Magic Gang have acted on pure instinct and feeling. This is an album that, despite its recognition of the downside of things, ends up as a more reassuring – and more real – listen than their debut. With its collage of genres and refusal to co-opt modern trends, album two finds the band moving towards something timeless.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Use Me’ is the sound of an artist flexing her muscles, making sense of and peace with her past and, most importantly, embracing a new future.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
If ‘All Mirrors’ took you to a lavish, creaky ballroom, then ‘Whole New Mess’ tucks you away in the cupboard under the stairs, the door slammed tightly shut.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
By allowing her songs to breathe, leaving space for contemplation, ‘Inner Song’ is a perfectly-arranged album where each track has a part to play: an emotive-yet-euphoric collection that’s made for late-night reflection, Kelly Lee Owens has made one of the most beautiful records of the year.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The album is stuffed with this kind of lyrical proficiency, which demands high levels of dissection. ‘King’s Disease’ is an acutely perceptive and culturally relevant body of work that finds its author willing to try out new ideas. There’s a genuine conversation to be had about whether it’s the best rap album of the year so far.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 26, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘In Sickness & In Flames’ is a defining work that showcases a sonic universe, rather than a structured set of songs, expertly capturing the inescapable tension of 2020.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 25, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Blush’ shows the work of a songwriter who, even as something of a rookie, can command your attention and emotions with the most effortless of lines and make you consider your own life and relationships with the gentle encouragement of a close friend. Hold ‘Blush’ close – it’s a special one.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 25, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Source’ is a reflection of Nubya Garcia’s hometown; a mirror spotlighting London’s skilled musicians and a reminder of how thrilling this scene can be. The project’s urgency is baked in calming undertones, forcing listeners to be meditative and to connect, and a sense of rejuvenation, providing a call towards a larger sense of community.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 20, 2020
- Read full review
-
- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 20, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
As with the best of Bright Eyes, there’s a bittersweet meeting of macabre words and folky tunefulness.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 19, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The Killers have made another dazzling statement of ultra-modern pomp, and one arguably even more in step with new generations of alt-rock. It’s a musical DeLorean: rooted in mainstream Americana but speeding into adventurous horizons.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 18, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
There are many marvellous things about Orville Peck’s new six track EP, ‘Show Pony’, which shimmers as brightly as a cowboy’s pair of freshly polished spurs.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 17, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Comprising of 14 scorching, razor-sharp vignettes – some scarcely a minute long – this is the sound of a songwriter standing on the top of their mountain, chest puffed-out and giving it the biggun’. Those confrontational moments are spiky and fun.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 17, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
On her second album, Kiesza has defied the odds and made a solid comeback to the pop world. ‘Crave’ is a very promising – and very fun – hint at even bigger and better things to come.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 17, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The result, the 11-track ‘A Celebration Of Endings’, is the band’s most concisely satisfying audio adventure since 2009’s ‘Only Revolutions’.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 13, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
‘Open Up Your Head’ is an accomplished debut that takes Sea Girls’ brand of indie-rock on countless new adventures, and leaves plenty of doors ajar for further exploration for a genre in dire need of a kick up the backside.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 13, 2020
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It’s a deft, heartfelt and above all personal record that pays fitting tribute to Jara’s immense legacy, all the while providing a platform for some of Bradfield’s finest songwriting in recent years.- New Musical Express (NME)
- Posted Aug 12, 2020
- Read full review