No Ripcord's Scores

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For 2,725 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 Island
Lowest review score: 0 Scream
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,898 out of 2725
  2. Mixed: 751 out of 2725
  3. Negative: 76 out of 2725
2725 music reviews
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Snowdonia
    For an album steeped so much in coming to terms with loss and grief, with finding redemption, and with starting anew, it captures Surfer Blood doing something they haven't done in years, and that's have fun making music.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It Won't Always Be like This
    It Won't Always Be Like This is a competent first effort with superbly crafted and unpretentious songs—even if they still haven't quite found the sound that they’re looking for.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    In the Belly of the Brazen Bull
    Although this may not be a masterpiece in the repertoire, I can't say that it lacks anything in particular, in fact, the opposite is true. It gives too much. There just became a point where I needed to avert my attention away from the heart-ache.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Angles
    The Strokes have managed to culture a great sense of the schizophrenic on Angles, mapping polar tones in tandem to produce a record that feels both confused and entirely deliberate.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Raymond v. Raymond
    As a longtime fan of Usher, this album has great moments and also lagging tunes.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Those Who Didn't Run
    It's not a love-hate relationship I have with his stuff, it's more like a so what attitude. So what if he gets Laurie Anderson to recite drab poetry on his record, so what if he can play tens of thousands of notes in one breath.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Keys to the Kuffs
    He's given us a lot to unpick, even if the record isn't as cohesive as it ought to be.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009
    While it is by no means required listening, Couple Tracks is certainly worth it for newcomers and short-time fans of an up and coming experimental punk band. And while it never achieves an album feel, it's got enough short blast of quality to make it worth the money.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kill My Blues
    It's not much different to a Sleater-Kinney record in second gear, which still means there are flashes of brilliance.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tongues
    There are sublime moments here, and occasionally the interplay is breathtaking. This is pretty rare however, which leaves the rest of the record sounding just as you’d imagine it would, which isn’t a bad thing, just not at the levels of creativity we’ve come to expect.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Outside
    With Outside, Tapes n' Tapes have it really tough because, frankly, they're questioned by those who originally praised them in the first place.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Nightfall
    From overblown cheese (Questions) to overly pretty (Bluebird), some of these songs seem indistinguishable from each other. By the time reverb-soaked bongos show up here, you wish Nightfall sounded just a bit uglier.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Let It Sway
    You could call it inconsistency, but you can tell they never signed up for the mission of steering the chasm of modern rock music. Instead, they're four guys doing what they want, culling their influences and breathing life into whatever construct emerges. But regardless of where it falls on the spectrum, it's always fun.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Guilt Mirrors
    Guilt Mirrors covers different facets of Harte’s unfiltered work ethic, cobbled together into an unpredictable jumble of distinctive idiosyncrasies that somehow brings more clarity into his thought process.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Galactic Melt
    Sometimes the beats will have an extra kick to them, or the song structures will change up, but the keyboard tone is the same throughout the record. It walks a very fine line between intriguing and boring, and frequently drifts between the two.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Do You Wonder About Me?
    Ultimately, the project is still a little lightweight, if not a solid effort.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Far
    'One More Time With Feeling's' dynamics shift and her lyrics are vague, but carry a heartfelt sentiment. Far has too little of this and winds up being a mixed bag.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tomorrow's World
    Tomorrow's World isn't a bad album but it's not a complete "return to form" either.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Enclosure
    What we are left with is a short, mostly enjoyable set that does not overstay its welcome and is quite confident of what it’s trying to be.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I Feel Cream
    Cream is a victim of the times, no more than a mere face in a pop culture marketplace crowded with sexual aggrandizing and salacious controversy. The kind of antics Peaches has built her career on--pushing and pulling at the accepted boundaries, tongue-in-cheek shock value--are now a common rite of passage for artists pushing their edgy shtick.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Josephine
    It’s the most countrified record he’s released and, as such, lacks some of the more distinctive and heart-breaking qualities shared by his best work.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Forget The Night Ahead
    I remember listening to the new songs and really enjoying them, but wishing the sound wasn’t so thick and muddy sounding. It’s a production problem that plagues this album all over.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rock'n'Roll
    No matter how cliched and predictable this record gets, there are always some undeniable hooks to lure you back in before your patience wears thin.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Bones of What You Believe
    These singles are still some of the best music being put out today, but the filler songs are so forgettable that it's hard to see the forest through the trees.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Trouble
    They sure had the knack to look through the lens of their younger selves, which makes one think whether keeping it sweet and snappy would’ve suited them better. Regardless of their intent to reach out of their limit, there are bursts of inventiveness in Trouble that make the risk taking worthwhile.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    D.A.I.S.Y. Rage [EP]
    Kitty is clearly just having fun enjoying her time in the spotlight here, and for that it’s an enjoyable and endearing effort.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
    Though it often oversteps its own ability a few too many times, The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion is clear in aggression and ambition, rarely annoying listeners with undue hubris.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Minor Victories
    Despite its moments of lucid release, Minor Victories mostly likes to loom in the shadows with hardly any form at all.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ellipsis
    While there are highlights, the album often feels very safe.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    American Football (LP2)
    Regardless of its more sophisticated tone, the same cannot be said for the album’s rather callow lyrical content, which doesn’t just border on, but fully embraces, mawkish poetic cliches, which causes one to question if the band is truly willing to insert more of their own growth and experiences into adulthood. Which, in turn, reduces their return as nothing more than just a faithful look into the past.
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