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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    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Freetown Sound
    The hallmarks of Blood Orange’s sound are all here--breathy male/female vocal interplay, rare groove rhythms, jazzy sax, gliding slap bass, honeyed falsetto melodies and flirty spoken word--but channelled into a reassuring, comfortable space that brings together pop’s supposed polarities of accessibility and specificity. Somewhere in there, Freetown Sound finds its own beautiful sweet spot.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    For Evelyn
    Nothing about For Evelyn feels resolved. A restless quality drives each track, resulting in a thoughtful, solitary album that you listen, cry and even dance to alone. Yet after it's over, you're left feeling less alone, because through its intimate explorations, Georgas makes the personal universal.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Magic
    The Magic is not their best album, but it's an excellent Deerhoof album, and they are the greatest of all time at what they do.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Weaves
    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.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Puberty 2
    Puberty 2 is full of isolation, anxiety and loss, with the idea at its centre that happiness eventually becomes sadness and despair. Mitski switches between airy minimalism and bursts of loose, wild rock as she navigates these tempestuous waters.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Turn to Gold
    Diarrhea Planet have always aimed for the rafters, but on Turn To Gold they crash through them.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Breakin' Point
    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.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eyes on the Lines
    Gunn excels at unrushed, meditative songwriting, but this album also finds him giving stronger form to his dreamy creations.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    X-Communicate
    The title track, Show Me, Drive The Night and Face 2 Face are ostensibly about a failing romantic relationship but crafted to read as if the daggers are also aimed inward, which adds an interesting duality to the album's titular theme.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love You To Death
    When they stop aiming for catchiness and instead get real about relationships, LYTD sparkles.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tired of Tomorrow
    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.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Everything's Beautiful
    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.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Coloring Book [Mixtape]
    It has the bigness and accessibility of a major hip-hop album thanks in part to zeitgeisty guests like Justin Bieber, Future and Young Thug.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Congrats
    They might've built their reputation on kinetic live shows, but taking the time to make a proper studio album has refreshed, revitalized and tightened their special sound.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kidsticks
    Kidsticks's risk-taking, while not always on point, proves Orton capable of reinvention. She's still a voice worth listening to.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Heart Speaks in Whispers
    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?
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Fallen Angels
    Fallen Angels is a hazy, laid-back history lesson with as many enigmatic twists and turns as a classic double-cross caper. It subverts archetypes of romance, heroism and interpersonal connection to reveal something more sinister about human intent, all packaged in beautiful musicianship of the highest order.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oh No
    Thematically the songs stick to the familiar pop terrain of love--the least adventurous thing about them--but Oh No nonetheless makes a convincing case for broadening the term "pop star" beyond the glamazons.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cult Following
    It's the kind of album that resists being parsed out into singles. Aside from radio-ready lead track Love As A Weapon, the rest work together as a cohesive whole even while bouncing around lyrically.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Colour In Anything
    The Colour In Anything is a good album that could have been great if Blake had been a bit more willing to edit and discard his less successful sonic experiments.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hopelessness
    In contrast to the neoclassical leanings of Antony and the Johnsons, Hoplelessness is about this particular moment and sounds very of the moment, thanks to beatmakers Hudson Mohawke and Oneohtrix Point Never. Combined with Anohni's trembling and vulnerable vibrato, its grandiose sounds crescendo into a sprawling political epic that could inspire spontaneous bursts of interpretive dance.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A Moon Shaped Pool
    There are moments where the restraint feels almost too determined, as though the abundance of care and attention to subtle detail also places a cap on the kind of impulsive energy essential to a rock-oriented band.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    99.9%
    As much as Kaytranada seems to be referencing genre staples and styles, his constant flights of rhythmic fancy make his music seem genre-averse. And when he connects with a vocalist or drummer who shares that sensibility, 99.9% really glows.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    #N/A
    It's an unnerving listen that demands a certain amount of masochism, but you've definitely never heard another band like Nissenenmondai.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Waltzed in from the Rumbling
    Every few months, the members would meet up at their studio and play whatever they felt like without the looming pressure of album cycles or release dates. Eventually, these sessions became the basis for Waltzed In From The Rumbling, a record at once thoughtful and unwieldy.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hope
    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.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Please Be Honest
    A few songs recall the off-the-cuff, askew rock 'n' roll they built their name on. Others, though, are barely listenable.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Total Time
    The Toronto trio's idiosyncratic blend of psychedelic rock, techno, industrial, New Age and cosmic folk has solidified into a sound that's unmistakably their own, and that doesn't depend on the theatricality of their live show to work.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sept 5th
    Refreshingly, they're not only about slick production atmospherics, though some cavernous sonics and electro rhythms threaten to steal the show around the album's midpoint.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lemonade
    What sets Lemonade apart are the ways it continually highlights the fine line between empathy and anger. It’s a line Beyoncé walks with supreme confidence.
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