NOW Magazine's Scores

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For 2,812 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 20 Testify
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,287 out of 2812
  2. Mixed: 1,452 out of 2812
  3. Negative: 73 out of 2812
2812 music reviews
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    • 86 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Some Rap Songs
    The problem is that Earl’s stream of consciousness style does not lend itself to easy listening. Off-kilter drum loops and piano chords bury the lyrics on Red Water and Peanut, creating an unfriendly sonic experience reminiscent of listening to a song with cheap earphones in a noisy room. Listeners will only be able to appreciate Earl’s poetry once they devote every ounce of their focus to hearing it.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love at the Bottom of the Sea
    It's enjoyable enough, but the potency of Merritt's wit is gradually sapped by one wheezy, sluggish melody too many.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The End of That
    It's never a bad thing to be concise in your songcraft, but this album reveals that Plants And Animals are best when not over-thinking things.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Living And The Dead
    Her new disc is a sweet, infectious collection of alt-country that tackles broken hearts (Palmyra) and Jack Kerouac (Mexico City).
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Abyss
    It’s a challenging album, one you might not put on often.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    24/7
    This isn’t a summer jam. The Reykjavík natives’ seventh studio album is moody and minimal, with slow-building beats.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Based on a T.R.U. Story
    Mainly, it's good for some frivolous fun.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lust Lust Lust
    It’s a limited palette to be sure, but they do it well. However, cutting out a few songs would have made a stronger statement if they’re going to follow such a tight formula and narrow range of influences.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    False Beats and True Hearts
    The lyrics are dense with vivid imagery that could be autobiographical but may just attest to the duo's ability to create intimate moments for their listeners to enjoy.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Guilt Mirrors
    His strengths as a songwriter occasionally break through this morass, but the album is overwhelmingly concerned with anger and confusion.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Reintegration Time
    They have the formula down, but 10 tracks of this gets a little tedious.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Move Like This
    Move Like This doesn't so much rebuild the Cars' old engine as take the classic model for a cruise in the country.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Pinkprint
    Had The Pinkprint included 12 songs rather than the extended version's 22, it could have been a classic.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wake Up!
    The Roots aren't averse to a good cover song, so it's not surprising to see them team up with R&B crooner John Legend for a set of throwback soul tunes.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Artificial Fire
    This isn’t Mandell’s best album ("Thrill" holds that distinction), but it’s as strong as nearly anything else she’s done.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    brand new eyes
    Williams leads the five-piece throughout this charged-up record that rarely comes up for air.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Silver Gymnasium
    On the whole, the band’s country-leaning indie rock pulses along for 49 minutes at a decent clip.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Goodbye
    Goodbye's overall prettiness is both its weakness and its strength; the album is pleasant but blends into the background a bit too easily.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
    If David Browne's Sonic Youth bio was to be believed, Swans, who emerged from the same noise-filled no wave scene in New York's early 80s as Thurston Moore, had a rotating cast of nasty-tempered psychotic rockers, with multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira at its centre. Listening to Swans' new album, the first in 14 years, you get the sense that some of that malevolence remains.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Changing Horses
    The 27-year-old can write killer tunes, and his voice is sweet-guy inviting. There’s a masterpiece disc in him yet, but this still isn’t it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Beach House
    A solid debut, but only a hint of what's to come.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mr. Lucky
    At times, the material here comes dangerously close to sounding like 14 versions of one song, but he manages to mix up the moods and textures just enough to avoid that pitfall.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Paracosm
    The 80s funk references are more submerged under the washes of synthetic drones, and the songs even more pastoral than before. Still, there’s nothing here quite as immediately satisfying as Feel It All Around off his 2010 Life Of Leisure EP.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Church in These Streets
    Despite coming in at 19 tracks, the album lacks a searing song like Politically Correct, which Jeezy released free during his involvement in the recent Million Man March. He's come a long way, but we may have to wait until the next term to see his full political potential.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Flamingo
    Flowers plays it too safe. For a record about Las Vegas, he sure doesn't gamble much.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Damage and Joy
    The album’s clean production (courtesy of producer Youth) and comfortable mood (nicely summed up by the song Mood Rider) is somewhat surprising and a tad disappointing. However, they don’t sound aloof, either. The mirror JAMC are holding up to the mainstream nowadays is less distorted, but still fully engaged in sharp and timeless songcraft.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Car Alarm
    In the end, Car Alarm is likeable enough if you’re already a fan. Just don’t expect to die of excitement.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I'm Gay (I'm Happy)
    I'm Gay is a rebuke to the purists who complain he can't rap and that his out-there freestyles are basic and unintelligible.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Requiem
    Requiem is a double album but only 13 songs long, which means you’re in store for plenty of extended instrumental jams. Those chugging epics help establish the hazy mood and create plenty of atmosphere, but the best moments come when Goat attempt more conventional song structures.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hobo Rocket
    Pond still appreciate the glue of a hummable pop hook and the intoxicating pyschedelia of headphone tricks, but the most satisfying way to hear Hobo Rocket is turning it up as loud as it’ll go.
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