NOW Magazine's Scores
- Music
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: | The Life Of Pablo | |
---|---|---|
Lowest review score: | Testify |
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 1,287 out of 2812
-
Mixed: 1,452 out of 2812
-
Negative: 73 out of 2812
2812
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
-
- Critic Score
And Agnes, the gloomy, anticlimactic closer, ejects the listener out of the edgy world that much of the album finds strength in by relying too heavily on a mainstream radio sound that feels too safe. Nonetheless, as a whole, HTBAHB is thrilling enough to achieve replay status.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Sep 1, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The lyrics are vivid and occasionally rote in their romanticism, but the formlessness of Endless is deceptive.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 22, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
While the best moments prove the country queen is still at the top of her game, missteps like spoken word breaks add unneeded cheese, and Pure & Simple isn't all that thematically diverse.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 18, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
No matter how sobering Hypercaffium Spazzinate gets, Descendents keep things light by playing these wistful, grown-ass songs like teenagers.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 17, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The distance between men and women--emotional and physical--is at the core of many of these songs, yet the album manages to be the most playful PARTYNEXTDOOR record to date.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 16, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Sonically, Nothing's Real is in line with the gliding, easy-listening 80s pop that's back en vogue thanks to Blood Orange, Haim and La Roux.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 10, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The amount of fatigue and cynicism baked into 14th album Innocence Reaches is not just a bummer; it's verging on ominous.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 10, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
There are rhythms and sounds that instantly come off as nostalgic, but in the best moments the beats and textures merge to form something wholly unidentifiable.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 10, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Like all Hip records, this is a snapshot of a band constantly moving away from their past and toward a strange musical unknown.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 10, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Morning Report finds Arkells lost and deep outside of their comfort zone.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 8, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It's a bold move to pick up the scraps from the floor, finish them up and declare them worth hearing, even if they don't fit tidily on any previous (or future) albums. Song by song you could be forgiven for asking "Is this the same band?"- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 3, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not is 45 new minutes of Mascis's solid-gold shredding, but there has never been less to hang it on. The hooks that bracket the bouts of soloing are almost instantly unmemorable and the chord structures uninspired.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Aug 3, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
It's a solid denouement to Elaenia's touring cycle, and perhaps helps us appreciate that album for its use of exactly the right tools for the job and appropriate scope for its ideas.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 27, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Seventies and 80s soul and funk influences shine through on nearly every track.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 27, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
For All We Know could make a stronger statement, but that doesn’t change the fact that Nao’s voice is one of the most exciting--and fun to listen to--in modern R&B.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 25, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Ultimately, it’s Rubinos’s unflinching lyrics that linger long after Black Terry Cat ends.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 13, 2016
- Read full review
-
- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 13, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Q might appear masked on the album cover, but his explicit tales of hardship, prosperity and loss hide nothing.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 13, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
The tongue-in-cheekness can create a distance that prevents the songs from hitting hard and/or stirring up your feelings. But you can still sit back and appreciate Arner's songwriting craft, knack for memorable hooks, the intelligent places his songs go to, his and Delisle's harmonic chops and the lo-fi production aesthetic that speaks to a talent for doing a lot with a little.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 6, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
As the narrative grows sleepier, it feels as though she wants to see how much she can reduce her theatrical pop image into something small and seemingly impermanent.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 6, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
While IV shows a progression, it lacks the progressiveness that would keep BBNG in a league with their aforementioned jazz/hip-hop predecessors and peers. However admirably, it stays in its own lane.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jul 6, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Each woman's distinct singing and songwriting style is front and centre, but their voices blend beautifully.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 29, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Recorded in Los Angeles during the summer of 2015, the 10-song release is noisy, messy stuff. What sets it apart from Segall's other numerous bands is Shaw's contribution: he brings a punky, tough sing-shout to the lo-fi, overdriven tunes, while Moothart and Segall (on drums here) go in for a thrashy vibe.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 29, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
While each song is its own curious, maximalist wonder, it adds up to something fairly cacophonous. So much is happening in each trebly, dizzying track that there are few new heights to reach after the first three or four.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 15, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Yes, all the songs are nice and pretty, but there's something missing. It could be that in 2016 there's palpable nostalgia for mid-2000s indie rock (see Wolf Parade reunion tour). But it's the actual music from a decade ago that fans are yearning for, not necessarily the newest versions of the bands themselves.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 8, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
When they stop aiming for catchiness and instead get real about relationships, LYTD sparkles.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 1, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
There's no grand resolution on Tired Of Tomorrow, but you can't help but hope Palermo finds some peace in all the noise. That's what making noise is for.- NOW Magazine
- Posted Jun 1, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
In a way, this could be Glasper's Black Radio Volume 3: The Davis Edition. However, positioning the album as a tribute runs counter to his forward-looking use of the material.- NOW Magazine
- Posted May 26, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Kidsticks's risk-taking, while not always on point, proves Orton capable of reinvention. She's still a voice worth listening to.- NOW Magazine
- Posted May 25, 2016
- Read full review
-
- Critic Score
Rae's languid enunciation gets lost on faster tracks, and on Caramel and Night her vocal style shifts to a heavy-handed singer/songwriter coffee house/lullaby mode. Most captivating are the moments when she returns to exploring the thrill of vulnerability on Hey, I Won't Break Your Heart; emotional standoffs on Been To The Moon; and anxiety-inducing ruminations on Do You Ever Think of Me?- NOW Magazine
- Posted May 19, 2016
- Read full review