New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores

  • Music
For 6,005 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: 100 to hell with it [Mixtape]
Lowest review score: 0 Maroon
Score distribution:
6005 music reviews
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Six years on he sounds like a man not getting nearly enough cuddles.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Adding interesting new textures to his playbook, it’s perhaps helpful to think of ‘The Waves Pt.1’ as a soundtrack to something bigger, the wading out to sea before the full immersive plunge. By the time ‘Part 2’ arrives, Kele will likely have found even more ways to expand his horizons.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The collection is more of a mood piece than of noticeable, memorable songs.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    As prolific as he is iconic, Ride Me Back Home is Willie’s 69th (nice) album and sees him in absolute sweetheart mode.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lion King: The Gift is a great example of Beyonce’s fantastic taste, and of her ability to oversee an album that doesn’t focus on her while also cementing the soundtrack as a worthy substitute to the original. Most importantly, it puts a spotlight on artists from the continent in which the movie takes place.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    By teaming up with Godrich, McCartney has come out of his safety zone and challenged himself in a way not seen since his first solo album way back in 1970. But the feeling remains that the one person who could really inspire him to write one final classic record was tragically murdered in 1980.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While ‘Old News’ also has a light, airy quality – every note of ‘Roadrunner’ is imbued with a deep melancholy. While it might not provide the same hit as the jubilant likes of early hits ‘Boogie’ and ‘Gold’, Brockhampton are still masters of tapping into a mood, and it’s an immersive trip as a result.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but little to be ashamed of either.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There are moments when her A-Level Debating Club earnestness gets the better of her, but there's still three quarters of a great album here.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    'Light' is let down by anaemic sound. [16 Apr 2005, p.51]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The whole album is driven by that Nick Cave sense of foreboding menace, an outlaw spirit that would sit well on the Peaky Blinders soundtrack. But while there’s plenty of that classic BRMC ‘tude, and a vintage touch, they’re still full of ideas.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    None of which is to say it’s a bad album, just a lightweight one.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While this second LP broadens their scope to take in baggy, shoegaze, jangle pop and even some ill-advised bits that sound like Travis.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The jangle and thrash of Terry Bickers’ guitar and the wistful air of it all could come straight from their self-titled 1988 debut.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Like his predecessors', the results here are decidedly mixed.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Gray’s newfound penchant for ’80s pop doesn’t come with a notion of irony – he’s fully embracing even the era’s most ostentatious elements. But despite his own sincerity, there are moments that drift closer towards a caricature of the era than a true homage to the decade’s most innovative pop.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Yusuf now far more believably inhabiting the role of the kindly dad offering his offspring life advice, while ‘On The Road To Find Out’ showcases the most impressive transformation, weaving in North African desert sounds against steadfast lyrics of self-discovery. It suggests that Yusuf has now finally found just what he was looking for all those years ago.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This smartly dressed record may allow James to feel at least slightly relevant again.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tender Opposites is a technical delight, sounding like psych-nitwits Deerhoof giving an old friend a bearhug.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Some of Skins is good, some of it is not good. Musically, the tone is, mostly, consistent and effective, and the album’s overall effect is that of a sickly, vivid insight into a troubled life. And there’s not much else to say about it.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    If it’s a collection of tried-and-tested bangers you’re after, showcasing three pop powerhouses at their proven best, then crack on. In search of a left-field album of crate-digging curveballs? You’re best looking elsewhere.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    At one point, Presley claims, he and Le Bon used the sound of a frog’s ribbit for an instrument. It’s here where Hippo Lite verges towards sounding like music that was only ever made for its makers, rather than an outside audience. In a quest to discover simple living free of consequence, Le Bon and Presley can, at times, get lost in their own little bubble.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Oftentimes, Davis dips his toes into this new realm of instrumentation, only to return to his heavy comfort blanket, twisted riffs drowning out any tentative experiments. You can’t help but wonder just how interesting Black Labyrinth could have been if he only dove a little deeper.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    As well as the miasma of Lush and MBV, the likes of 'Heedless' have a skewed Breeders-ish growl that keeps lines satisfyingly defined amid the sun-bleached, soft-focus beauty.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Any attempt at bombast is pinned down by singer Liam Palmer’s weary baritone and wry poetry. Intriguingly glum.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    At its best, the record builds on some of the weirder elements in Hot Chip, but at its worst spirals into self-indulgence.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    ‘Shadow Offering’ is an intriguing, if slightly scattered, listen.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    If 'America's Sweetheart' was a breakdown record, 'Nobody's Daughter' is a recovery album. As that analogy would suggest, it's not always pretty to witness.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's neither exhilarating nor challenging, but it is a solid and energetic work, imbued with an unambiguous love of old-time rock.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While it’s a step down from both "VV" and his Danger Mouse work, it at least might be his definitively stoned record.