NOW Magazine's Scores
- Music
For 2,812 reviews, this publication has graded:
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43% higher than the average critic
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2% same as the average critic
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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: | The Life Of Pablo | |
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Lowest review score: | Testify |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,287 out of 2812
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Mixed: 1,452 out of 2812
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Negative: 73 out of 2812
2812
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
It’s all very lush and fabulous, but also restrained and calculated to the point of coldness. If that’s intentional, they’ve pulled it off, but not necessarily to the album’s benefit.- NOW Magazine
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Essentially, Evidence harkens back to 00s rap nostalgia without resorting to preachy tirades or regressive concepts, a respite during a time of sing-rap and hyper-aggressive flows.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Oct 7, 2011
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- NOW Magazine
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There’s not a lot to get excited about, but it’s a catchy enough confection that should work well in gadget commercials, which was likely the whole point.- NOW Magazine
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At times it feels like she's stuck in one gear, but her energy refreshingly and irresistibly recalls the un-cynical era of old-school breakbeat and hip-house.- NOW Magazine
- Posted May 18, 2012
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- Critic Score
The album is a fun novelty, but as with most tributes, there's not much to keep it in rotation.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 30, 2011
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Angelakos’s Hot Chip-meets-MGMT sound also works on I’ve Got Your Number. His distinctive vocals backfire only on the too-cutesy Cuddle Fuddle.- NOW Magazine
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There are a few clunker lyrics--Grainger’s at his strongest when he’s singing about making love, not having sex--but overall it’s a worthy record from an artist who refuses to make the same one twice.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Nov 14, 2013
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While the rhythms may seem like invitations to dance--or at least sway--the lyrics are almost uniformly bleak, making Pale Fire a late contender for saddest album of the year.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Dec 21, 2012
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So even though Burnett has assembled a crack acoustic support unit to play the choice material he's selected from Gene Clark, Townes Van Zandt and the Everly Brothers, without that magical X factor you've got nothing but two good vocalists trying to stay out of each other's way.- NOW Magazine
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Reign Of Terror still sounds like Sleigh Bells, but a more polite and conservative version.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Feb 23, 2012
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The band's maturing on Kintsugi, which, if you remember the haircut and attitude of your 16-year-old self, is always a good thing.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Mar 25, 2015
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Dark Bird Is Home sounds carefully constructed, and Matsson keeps things simple rather than making easy moves toward a grandeur that could bury his songcraft.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 30, 2015
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Despite a couple of interstitial tracks just past the halfway mark, RR7349 is more like a suite of discrete moods than a cycle of songs.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Sep 29, 2016
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M.I.A. is good at circumventing dance music clichés, often through sheer polyrhythmic excess; it’s hard to stay still during effusive bangers like Y.A.L.A., Matangi and tribal-trap anthem Warriors. On the flip side, Matangi’s forays into left-field pop (Come Walk With Me, Lights) are blandly saccharine compared with // / Y /’s pure pop moments.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Nov 7, 2013
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Too many of the tracks seem more like very good imitations of song types than like actual songs.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Dec 21, 2012
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Terraplane's saving grace is that it's fun to listen to and full of swagger.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Feb 12, 2015
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Ward's writing--though universal and singalongable--sometimes suffers from vagueness and clichéd rhymes. He should have a bit more faith in his audience, because Hope is most interesting when it strays a little from this formula.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Apr 27, 2016
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It works best when the overpowering synth lines let up and make room for experimental noises and Iwanusa’s tender voice.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Apr 4, 2013
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The quietness is also the project’s greatest weakness. At times, it leaves the album feeling incomplete or intrusive, as if we’re peeking in mid-thought.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Oct 30, 2014
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Fans will be thrilled to know that, despite the replacement of main guitarist and co-songwriter Ben Moody, Evanescence's sophomore album is at least as unsubtle as its predecessor.- NOW Magazine
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While Bun B's weathered voice and lyrical detail add weight to his words, there are a lot of predictable OG conventions on this overlong album.- NOW Magazine
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The band's adventurous use of sampling and beats pays off when supporting Andy Maize's vocal on The Herd, but the alt-folk arrangements tend to get melodramatic on quieter songs like I'll Be There and the tremolo-piano-treated title track.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Dec 12, 2012
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- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jan 18, 2012
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Latham's plaintive voice sounds like it's emanating from some romantically ruinous daydream. The effect suits the mood but makes his lyrics difficult to decipher, which is frustrating given his pointed message.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Mar 25, 2015
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Often he's trying too hard to be cool, and it's unconvincing. When it does work, the band sounds surprisingly like Broken Social Scene, but with more cowbell.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 12, 2011
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The Polish-born, Brooklyn-based DJ, born Jakub Alexander, makes music that's as likely to induce sleep as a mild panic attack.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Dec 21, 2012
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- Critic Score
Real is a beefy record that plods and dances precariously close to the jam band divider.- NOW Magazine
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It’s initially fun to play spot-the-references, but in the best moments the sounds are harder to pin down.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Mar 2, 2016
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