New York Magazine (Vulture)'s Scores

Select another publication »
For 158 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 45% higher than the average critic
  • 0% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 God's Son
Lowest review score: 10 18
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 158
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 158
  3. Negative: 22 out of 158
158 music reviews
view
per page
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Guero
    Beck integrates his personae into a fairly seamless whole, and his knack for synthesizing disparate musical elements (hip-hop, robot funk, blues, country, jazz, garage rock, etc.) extends beyond samples and individual tracks. The songs migrate smoothly from one to the next; there aren’t any throwaway numbers to sabotage the album’s momentum; the whole thing coheres.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Old Kit Bag
    The album feels like a romp, with Thompson performing everything from delicate waltzes to roadhouse rock.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Showtime
    On Showtime, Dizzee doesn’t give up his sonic adventurousness, but he is a lot more disciplined about it.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Under Construction
    Strange and wonderful.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Devils & Dust
    Stands somewhere between Nebraska and Joad in terms of impact and quality.... But this album doesn’t merely find the middle ground between those two earlier releases: Its best songs break new ground for Springsteen.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn
    What really makes Ghosthorse and Stillborn worthy of a jump for joy is CocoRosie’s transformation from self-conscious oddity into an actual songwriting force.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Made In China
    Her songs still revolve mostly around the adolescent hell of looking right and pleasing jerky guys, a shtick that would be old if Hatfield, well into her thirties, didn’t genuinely sound as if she were still living through it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Want One
    Wainwright’s powers of observation recall both Morrissey and Cole Porter.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Oracular Spectacular
    Put the last eight years of Williamsburg micro-genres in a blender— all that electroclash, disco rock, retro glam, and psych-folk—and you’ve got a sense of the charming mess that is this Connecticut-via-Brooklyn duo’s debut.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Marshall Mathers LP
    Aside from the horrifyingly detailed stalker narrative of "Stan" and the homicidal fantasy of "Kim," nothing on Marshall Mathers rises above the level of locker-room insults -- nearly every song seems to feature Eminem's giving someone the finger.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Break Up The Concrete
    Though the album can’t really stand with the Pretenders first three, it approximates them pretty well, like a faux vintage T-shirt that’s faded just right.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Easy Tiger
    Like The OC, Easy Tiger manages to be pleasurable without ever being interesting.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    College Dropout
    A sprawling and undisciplined mess... but it’s fully attuned to what made West so compelling in the first place, namely chunks of samples that feel raw and convey an underdog sensibility.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stephen Malkmus
    His solo debut, Stephen Malkmus, doesn't sound so different from late-period Pavement, but at least he's regained his smart-ass swagger.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Frantic
    Ferry could seem too reverent toward the material on As Time Goes By, but his new album, Frantic, feels a lot looser (and less respectful) even as it revisits the singer's favorite sources (Dylan, Leadbelly).
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Body Language
    You can’t help but get lost in Minogue’s music.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bromst
    Either way, this latest effort is set to be interpreted more ways than the Qur'an and see him sat atop an almighty fence pushing anyone who hears it either side with reckless glee.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Rainbow Children
    With its fluttering horns, gauzy percussion, and the playing of smooth-jazz saxophonist Najee, Prince's new album, The Rainbow Children, is steeped in the kind of fusion [Miles] Davis pioneered.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With The Lights Out
    Manages, despite an excess of throwaway material, to be an appropriately eccentric testament to Cobain’s talent.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Melody A.M.
    Röyksopp is savvy at pulling out the joker in the pack just when the music threatens to become cutesy.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Graduation
    Per Vulture, the Curtis-shaming Graduation "has better songs waiting in the wings. Bonus: No Jamie Foxx!"
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Goddess In The Doorway
    Goddess is the only forward-looking project by a Rolling Stone since the band flirted with disco on "Miss You."
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Idlewild
    Entertaining and surprisingly consistent.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Little Deeper
    What gives A Little Deeper its heft, though, is Dynamite’s voice: She can hold a word so long it almost floats in the air, and she purposefully embellishes her girlish, almost kewpie-doll-like whine to deliver her most stinging rebukes.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Body Of Song
    Marrying his sturdy rock-guitar talents to lively beats, he’s found a comfort zone.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Pt. 2)
    A romp as vigorous as any since 1982's English Settlement.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Red Dirt Girl
    Though the album follows the path cleared by Wrecking Ball, Harris takes more confident strides... Unfortunately, a little knowledge of the recording studio can be a dangerous thing, and Red Dirt Girl occasionally crosses the line from mellow into mannered.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Live In New York City
    Taken on its own, Live is still the best officially released evidence of the camaraderie that makes the E Street Band so vital, as well as an essential next chapter for an artist who hasn't released a studio album in some time. But there are still ways in which, as for so many of Springsteen's performances, you had to be there.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Bedlam In Goliath
    If you give it the chance, though--and if you’re not already a member of the tribe, it takes perseverance--Bedlam sinks its fangs into you.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Renaissance
    Q-Tip's flow on his new disc remains mellow, freewheeling, and vaguely inspirational. But it doesn't feel relevant.
Page: