New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores

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For 6,010 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:
  1. Positive: 4,231 out of 6010
  2. Mixed: 1,626 out of 6010
  3. Negative: 153 out of 6010
6010 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Not Even Happiness
    A timeless creation, the record’s nine carefully crafted tracks draw gracefully on the past 50 years of folk music.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Drunk Tank Pink
    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.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Silent Alarm
    'Silent Alarm' is no 'Franz Ferdinand'. In fact, listen to it with the words 'popular' and 'arty' in mind and its spirit is closer to the Manic Street Preachers' 'The Holy Bible'. [5 Feb 2005, p.49]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Easy Pain
    Easy Pain proves hard to like; and with little more than aimless aggression to cling onto for eight songs, you realise it’s all muscle.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Girl With Fish
    It’s another tension that helps to define ‘Girl With Fish’ — a sense that nothing holds so much weight that it can’t be taken elsewhere in the next moment. While that idea perhaps keeps these songs from being as memorable as they could be, it does occasionally work, shaping the album into a really nice cut of slacker-noise.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Adore Life
    For the most part, this is an album of love songs: not in the trite, wishy-washy sense of the word but as an elemental and all-consuming force.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Songs For Patriots
    Funny, heartbreaking and at glorious odds with the world. [4 Sep 2004, p.73]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Everything's Getting Older
    He calls love and life as it really is: occasionally sweet, rarely trouble-free and often so suicidally routine we could all become the man he speaks of on 'Ballad Of The Bastard'.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    For the Ghosts Within
    For two men famed as political firebrands, Robert Wyatt and Israeli anti-Zionist and saxophonist Gilad Atzmon certainly make a beautiful noise together.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nothing Is Still
    As the name suggests, Nothing Is Still is a fluid, complete piece of electronic music that sways from thoughtful down-tempo beats to swelling pieces of orchestral beauty. There are particular moments of beauty, though.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Father of the Bride
    Depending on your mood, there’ll be songs you’d happily lop off for a more streamlined listen, but by and large, all of these songs make the patchwork much more vibrant.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    One Day I'm Going To Soar
    It all suggests a promising future for the reinvigorated band.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Point
    It's the mischievous desire to deconstruct his own perfectly rounded pop snapshots that marks him down as a post-everything wunderkind
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Secret South
    The objective was to make a fucking brilliant album where the mood is king, the delivery is queen and studied modern coolness is a jester that's one misplaced quip away from being the lion's breakfast. And, of course, they've succeeded.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Future and the Past
    Over length of 12 tracks, the soul/G-funk stuff becomes a little one-note, while the Disney-fied material lacks the charm that makes Prass such an engaging, idiosyncratic performer.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ventura
    This is a simple collection of woozy slow-jams and blissed-out recollections (a step back from the hip-hop stylings of ‘Oxnard’, which wrong-footed some fans).
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Stage Names
    Yes, it's solid rock but what they might lack in glamour (no back up dancers here, dude), they make up for in sheer sincerity.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Learning
    Within all the emotional turmoil, there's a lot for the listener to love.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Overgrown
    It’s not an easy listen, but it may just be one of the most nuanced, soothing and adventurous of 2013.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silence Yourself
    As with some modern art, you may find Silence Yourself leaves you whispering, “I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it.”
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR [EP]
    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.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Magic Position
    If you were looking for a new Bowie, Patrick Wolf is proving himself the Thin White Duke's successor in more than just his extravagant dress sense.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mutilator Defeated at Last
    The Californian five-piece’s 14th album packs everything they’re good at into one concentrated effort: frenetic rock, pulsating psychedelia and buoyant melodies.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Past Life Martyred Saints
    A new, added tunefulness makes this a much-welcome Exile In Nihilist-ville.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
    This is a folk-gospel tribute album with harmony and backing vocals so powerful you'd think it was the population of New Jersey marching in Technicolor over the grey, polluted Hudson singing along. [22 Apr 2006, p.39]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Alligator
    It's music for downhearted cattle rustlers to mournfully skin steers to. [9 Apr 2005, p.58]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?
    Come the closing ‘Nocturne’, Bradford is wailing into a malfunctioning microphone like the late, great Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse phoning a wasted lullaby home with one unreliable bar of phone coverage, and ‘…Disappeared?’ becomes less Cox’s ‘High Violet’, more his ‘Low’. This is how you turn pop into art.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cave World
    If the worst of times brings out the worst in people, Viagra Boys are set to be icons of the age, and ‘Cave World’ its defining document.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cut the World [Live]
    Hegarty's songs and personality suit the drama of orchestral arrangements, providing him with the perfect platform to 'perform' rather than sing--and his voice works in perfect harmony with the 42 musicians behind him.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Universal Audio
    What remains is pure, unspoilt guitar-pop genius that demands to be marvelled at. [18 Sep 2004, p.65]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The People In Your Neighbourhood
    At 73 minutes, it could easily have been boiled down to give it more punch, but you can’t bemoan the celebratory feel of The People In Your Neighbourhood.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Distance
    Michaelson’s oaken, hefty voice is flecked with creaks of optimism, while the band slump elegantly into their forlorn Americana, to stand proudly alongside the likes of Bill Callahan and The National.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Silver Globe
    Mission Desire, a token shard of folk gloom, does little to undercut the finely honed futurist gleam elsewhere.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Golden Ticket
    Good news for OutKast fans, basically, although the pair’s debut works best when it’s playing it weird.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    7 Days [Mixtape]
    There’s much to be said for playing to your strengths, though, and they’ve honed their contrasting, distinctive sounds with this impressive double release. Krept & Konan have plenty of days and nights ahead of them.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rap Or Go To The League
    Sure, in terms of quality, Rap Or Go To The League isn’t the classic album that 2 Chainz craves, but--on this evidence--he’s not far from delivering one.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Curve of Earth
    Mournful acoustic strumming, slide guitar, hushed percussion, strung-out woozy piano – there’s consistency and clarity to ‘Curve Of Earth’; perhaps more than you’d expect of a record 15 years in the making. What this album does, though, is contain the chaos of addiction, crystallising mistakes into something much more beautiful. The result is extraordinary and life-affirming.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Mid Air
    It’s the work of an artist with a sincere appreciation for dance music and the skills to make her own galvanising bangers. Many of these songs will give you a prick of emotion at the back of your eyes – a sure sign that Romy really appreciates the healing power of a packed club floor.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Big Day
    Their most daring and collaborative record to date. Featuring the likes of Damon Albarn, Holly Humberstone, Jay Som and, er, Chaka Khan, the results are as eclectic as this list would suggest, spanning across indie, pop, hip-hop and even garage.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What Happened to the Beach?
    On ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, perfectionism is released to make space to revel in creativity, resulting in a truly joyful effort.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wakin on a Pretty Daze
    There’s also clarity in the lyrics--some of his most direct yet.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asphalt Meadows
    ‘Asphalt Meadows’ is as assured and stately as you’d expect and hope for from indie veterans now 10 albums and 25 years into their career, but this beaut is as consistent and satisfying as their early-mid ‘00s career peak.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hot Thoughts
    It doesn’t always work, not least in ‘Shotgun’’s iffy mix of Nashville-ready instrumentals and a chugging house beat. On the flipside, ‘Do I Have To Talk You Into It’ sticks so stubbornly to the Spoon template it could be a discarded number from any of their previous records.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Smoke Ring for My Halo
    The overall impression is of gloomy landscape paintings with a spooky, residual feeling that God might be hiding behind every cloud or passing tumbleweed - electrifying.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
    For, as derivative and daft as The Apples are, it's impossible, like a scowling adolescent laughing at the antics of his irritating kid brother, to hate them.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Murray Street
    Overall, SY fail to get into their groove between twisted, brutalised melody and spastic six-string experimentalism.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Asleep In The Back
    Seems that after all the pale imitators, Radiohead finally have a competitor worthy of healthy comparison.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wild Light
    Sheffield's ever-progressive 65daysofstatic have outdone themselves here, loading their fifth album of megaton guitar instrumentals with electronic styles.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sea When Absent
    Catchy and abstract in equal measure, Sea When Absent is the thrilling sound of shoegazing introverts coming out of their shells.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Historian
    The 10 track Historian is far bigger, meatier beast than its predecessor. Recorded in Nashville, this is a rock’n’roll album with deep understanding of pop melody but layered up with bold lyrics which disarm you as much as they connect with you.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Schlagenheim
    Their determination to not bend to conventional song structure makes Schlagenheim an engaging piece of work that will reveal its true nature over time, perhaps. Black Midi are making music like no other band in the world.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    By The Throat
    It’s a hollow, unforgiving, brutal yet utterly beautiful record, full of deep intricacies that won’t let you go. ‘By The Throat’ indeed.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cherry
    While Snaith could’ve easily packed ‘Cherry’ full of wall-to-wall bangers, it shouldn’t be too surprising to hear that he does switch things up. The soothing steadiness of ‘Clavicle’ and the exquisite piano loop of ‘Cloudy’ are fine examples of when his toned-down production approach works wonders, though he can be guilty of overindulging.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Rather Ripped
    It is indeed a really good record--but not a patch on their 1988 masterpiece 'Daydream Nation'. [17 Jun 2006, p.37]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    True Love Cast Out All Evil
    A stunning LP that, in a just world, would do for Roky what the "American Recordings" series did for Johnny Cash.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's Blitz
    It’s no revolution, but It’s Blitz!’s heartfelt love letter to the transcendent possibilities of the dancefloor is an unexpectedly emphatic reassertion of why Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the most exciting bands of this decade.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Midnight Sun
    This time there are killer hooks aplenty that immediately hit the spot. Midnight scorchio, more like.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blank Project
    This new music sounds fresh, vibrant and effortless.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    American Love Call
    American Love Call is a timeless, optimistic listen in a time of peril one that now, and in the future, can confidently be referred to as a truly great American soul record.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Born 2 Rap
    ‘Born 2 Rap’ isn’t just a library of classic records blended together: it’s a lesson in storytelling, something The Game has never received enough credit for. ... There’s a flawless project somewhere among the album’s 25 tracks, which could certainly do with trimming.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Condors
    There's two sides to Nedry. One is given to taking faintly voguish reference points, lopping off the sharp edges and smoothing out the kinks. It's pretty, but weirdly bloodless....The other is less polite....Message to the band: ignore your nicer side in future.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sound of the Morning
    This album shows that Pearson isn’t shying away from darker themes. Instead, she guides the listener through new sonic terrains and out into the light.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fear Fear
    Working Men’s Club certainly wear the trauma well, but this riveting exploration truly thrives by seeking the light beyond the gloom.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
    This is the sound of a band at their most confident, capable of still pushing the boundaries they seemingly reimagined years ago without overwhelming audiences with their own love for endless improvisation. There are no lyrics on this album, but it feels like you can hear these three musicians louder than ever.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There Is Love In You
    This LP could have injected some creativity back into 4/4, instead it settles for quaintness.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Being Funny In A Foreign Language
    Combining the band’s slightly sidelined knack for writing huge, immediately memorable pop bangers with the more complex, neurotic lyrical voice of The 1975’s more recent releases, ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ feels like the right next step after pushing experimental excess to its logical conclusion.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Heavy Light
    Had the stronger songs been contained to an EP it could well have rivalled the extraordinary consistency and thrill of its predecessor – but frustratingly, it falls short.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Brothers
    The Black Keys are clearly determined not to get stuck in any such rut, with ‘Brothers’ marking the midway point between the garage-rock stylings of their first few albums and the hip-hop influence of last year’s Blackroc side-project album.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jarvis
    'Jarvis' never quite gathers an irresistible momentum like his past glories did. There isn't a bad song on here, but there are several which don't fulfil their full potential.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Post-Nothing
    Their debut is a gale-force riot, a virtual tempest of joyous abandon.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pain Is Beauty
    If Christopher Nolan ever does one of his gritty makeovers on Twilight, the soundtrack’s as good as sewn up.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Good Looking Blues
    While the clipped melodies and eerie tinklings are gently brushing your feet with a feather duster, Margaret Fiedler is fiercely proclaiming, "Something's gotta give/And it sure as hell ain't me" ('T Street') like a mightily pissed-off Edith Piaf.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Moon & Antarctica
    Their most well-rounded effort yet.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Album Of The Year
    Album of the year? It's definitely a contender. [7 Aug 2004, p.49]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Primary Colours
    Time will tell how Primary Colours stands up to the likes of "Loveless" or "Psychocandy," but right now, this feels like the British art-rock album we’ve all been waiting for.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Last Rocket
    It may not bother the charts in quite the same way as ‘Slide’ did, but it’s more than enough to remind us that we should dismiss Takeoff, the solo artist, at our peril.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You've Been Waiting For [Mixtape]
    ‘Free I.H.’ is a wild ride of cathartic outpourings, big declarations and the freedom to do whatever they want. Weighed down by the struggle but relishing their victory, it’s a record that offers conflict and comfort.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    CHAI
    With little allegiance to one particular sound, expansive love for their heritage and bold statements in each track, ‘Chai’ is a bright declaration from a band forging their own sonic path forward all while acknowledging where they came from.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Million Masks of God
    With ‘The Million Masks Of God’, they’ve written something that feels similar to one – a record that traverses every corner of their sound, from beefy rock songs to string-assisted grandeur and acoustic bliss, further cementing their place as an under appreciated band to treasure.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sempiternal
    Ready to break noisily out of the underground, the quintet have made one of the year’s most accomplished metal albums.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ulfilas' Alphabet
    Ulfilas’ Alphabet is a great reinvention after the band’s 2017 debut ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’. This is a clear gateway into a sphere of daring artistry that Sundara Karma previously only flirted with.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blood
    It’s uneven, with flashes of brilliance. Blood is a record that builds slow and steady, as it continually keeps you on your toes with its experimental and exploratory nature.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Help Us Stranger
    It’s a full-bodied album and a journey--a journey we hope it doesn’t take them another decade to make again. Hopefully Jack’s telegram reaches his bandmates a little quicker next time.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Essiebons Special 1973 - 1984/Ghana Music Power House
    Though it barely scratches the surface, then, ‘Essiebons Special’ succeeds in its aim to celebrate Essilfie-Bondzie’s legacy.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    IRL
    ‘IRL’ reflects a young woman fully becoming herself, not just confidently throwing her hands up but boldly letting her guard down too.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    color theory
    As explorations of pain go, ‘Color Theory’ is as beautiful as it is brave.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    About Farewell
    Elegant is the way the record confines Diane’s sadness to the past. It doesn’t wallow, it reassesses.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Apollo XXI
    From the get-go, his highly-anticipated debut album delivers exactly what it promises with its stylish, nostalgic artwork: a distinct world filled with hazy strings, warped synths and vocals that range from a flawless ’70s-style falsetto to laid-back speech. It’s retro-inspired through a modern lens.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beware of the Dogs
    Throughout the record, she bravely calls out incredibly important issues such as toxic masculinity and rape culture, but her music never loses its playfulness. This is an enthralling and deeply relevant debut.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Fading Frontier
    A remarkable album, one that only grows more awesome with each listen.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Next Day
    It demands that you listen to it in this moment, not that you give it an easy ride because this is the man who made ‘Heroes’; and its songs more than live up to the demand.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Banga
    Of the most recent phases of Patti Smith's musical output (always surprising since 1996's Kurt Cobain tribute 'Gone Again'), Banga is by far the most successful.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    10,000 Gecs
    Like virtually everything else on ‘10,000 gecs’, there’s nothing about the track [ ‘One Million Dollars’] that should work, and yet it not only commands your attention throughout, but demands replay after replay. ... ‘10,000 gecs’ is insanely fun and impressively ambitious.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Never Were the Way She Was
    The two finest soloists from Montreal label Constellation combine here for something far greater than the sum of its parts.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Tramp
    This isn't just her finest album, but one of early 2012's best.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Not Your Muse
    There may be elements of these greats in her vocals, but as ‘Not Your Muse’ proves, Celeste is on her way to becoming a star in her own right.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asha's Awakening
    If this is an awakening, consider our attention well and truly captive; clever, confident, and utterly comforting.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    SKIN
    Opening up the definition of rap-rock, TheOGM and Eaddy prove that you can hold yourself to the same intricate lyrical standards of rap, while sounding closer to the rockstars they grew up falling in love with.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Volcano
    ‘Volcano’ certainly isn’t overstuffed with ideas. Often, the uniformity in this approach – muddy vocal line that could be a chopped-up classic, and a minimal but effective bassline – mean that several of the songs meld together, struggling to stand out. .... But when they get it right, it’s hard to deny how hard it hits.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cheap Queen
    Maybe this album is a little rough around the edges, and doesn’t quite commit enough to experimentation, but overall it’s an assured debut that suggests a very bright future. If King Princess leans more heavily into gay ballroom culture with the next album, ditching the acoustic guitar for music that’s more urgent and funky, then we might just have another pop great on our hands.
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