Paste Magazine's Scores

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For 4,075 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 67% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 30% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 76
Highest review score: 100 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [50th Anniversary Edition Deluxe Version]
Lowest review score: 10 Songs From Black Mountain
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,639 out of 4075
  2. Mixed: 400 out of 4075
  3. Negative: 36 out of 4075
4075 music reviews
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    • 68 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Black and White America
    Mr. Kravitz: The radio would be a lonely, segregated underworld without you. But, at this point, that full-on funk album sounds pretty damn nice.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    World Wide Rebel Songs
    A personal manifesto, WWRS falls somewhere between the Pogues at their most urgent and Tom Joad-era Springsteen at his most feverish.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    There's Always Another Girl
    There's Always Another Girl isn't perfect, but it is an awfully focused effort coming from an artist that is doing it for the right reasons.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Ghostbird
    Although Avi's taken a few risks with Ghostbird, the artist has still delivered a record full of material that could easily be used as the backdrop for a "stay positive" surf film--a comfortable range for the singer's talents.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Glazin'
    Glazin' draws from the swagger of glam, the hooky middle-ground of '70s punk and '60s rock 'n' roll, but also demonstrates a clear understanding of the way those sounds have already been appropriated by millennial garage pranksters (like, most notably, the Black Lips).
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Rip Tide
    In other world they might be drenched in sorrow, but here they're nice and introspective, like strategic resting points to make the glide that much more beatific.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Obscurities
    Obscurities will please hardcore fans and serves as a nice holdover until Magnetic Fields makes its official Merge return with a new full-length in 2012.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 87 Critic Score
    Drums Between the Bells
    The cadences, demeanors and vocal tones certainly add an interesting wrinkle to Eno's dynamic, but a few exceptions aside, I'm generally too enraptured in his rich compositions to decipher the staggered wordplay.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Closer to Closed
    It's clear that Braid, after having been a band for more than a decade, have never sounded more like one.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Mirror Traffic
    There is a lot of variety--a lot of music, really--here, and with 15 tracks that top out at just north of the 50-minute mark, it's a lot to take in.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Don't Act Like You Don't Care
    The tape hiss and overall lo-fi production values initially make Don't Act feel like a backward enterprise, failing to build upon Pigeons' kaleidoscopic scope. But in many ways, this is the most accomplished collection of songs Temple has put forth, even if it takes some time to account for the awkward adjustment.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 79 Critic Score
    Overlook
    Overlook is her best, most animated collection in years.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Songs and Stories [Live]
    In a world of machined beats, tuned vocals and committee songs, this is what honest living sounds like.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Out of Love
    They've left a weird, unforgettable stain on the shirt of indie-rock.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blue Songs
    A lot of the miffed disappointment could come from the fact that Butler pulled the rug out from under his solidified, circa-2008 sound, but if nothing else the new incarnation is a lot harder to fall in love wit
    • 76 Metascore
    • 62 Critic Score
    Watch the Throne
    When two legends unite, you expect pure, unfiltered brilliance. Watch The Throne has moments of that. On the whole, this album is a half-hearted victory lap.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 94 Critic Score
    Icky Mettle [Deluxe Edition]
    Barring some future set that includes vials of the musicians' blood, sweat, and tears, this will stand as the definitive version of Icky Mettle-an answered prayer to new and old fans that makes these songs sound startlingly present.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Come Back to Us
    Come Back to Us isn't Rogue's greatest work-both Heaven's Gate and Descended Like Vultures feel sturdier in terms of the long haul. But it's a huge step forward from the lukewarm attempt at populist coolness that is Permalight.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Tripper
    It's all very familiar and nice, nothing too radical, and the kind of stuff that gets lapped up and lambasted in equal measure, depending on who's dispensing the feedback. But really, what did you expect?
    • 67 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped
    Organ Music not Vibraphone like I'd Hoped's chaotic nature shouldn't be reduced to just a skewed version of the artist's other projects, because while the record is commanding and at times difficult to stomach, it is perhaps as clear a glimpse into Krug's psyche as we've ever seen.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Wicked Will
    Unlike many retro-revivalist bands, they've got Hames' sassy vocals front and center, ensuring that the band's both smiling and showing its teeth.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 66 Critic Score
    Our Blood
    While the album at times requires careful attention to fully attach to, it's modestly flavored with a warmth and ease that naturally rings true.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Is That You in the Blue?
    Album highlight and instrumental freak-out "Climb Down" even sports frantic rock 'n' roll saxophone that would've fit in nicely on the new Black Lips album. Unfortunately, these lively moments are watered down by a majority of low-key material, verging from enjoyable to listless, which in turn makes Is That You in the Blue? a mixed bag overall.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    LP1
    In a world where machined dance fodder, rap-deckled pop and lumbering rawk dominates, a genuine article of soul music-especially one where the thick bass, tumbling Wurlitzer and bright guitars set the tone-is a joyous noise, indeed.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    In the Mountain in the Cloud
    It's encouraging to know both that Portugal. The Man has not lost sight of themselves despite their successes and that their new home at Atlantic will be one that fosters the creative vision the band has become known for.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    Stranger Me
    LaVere could rest on her lyrics alone, which are witty and feisty enough to stand on their own, but by giving her band boundless license to indulge any whim or eccentricity, she has crafted a well-rounded album that is already among the year's best.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Join Us
    The songs are novel in both conception and execution, and the band seems aware of the novelty, aware that two to three minutes is just the right length, that quirky and irreverent work best when the song ends before you want it to.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Life's Rich Pageant
    Although it shines a giant and unmistakable signal toward the direct and poppy approach the band would undertake on their next few albums, Pageant still retains the mumbles of Murmur, the jangles of Reckoning, and the rustic tones of Fables of the Reconstruction.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    I Want That You Are Always Happy
    There's a bit more rock 'n' roll and personality to what The Middle East is doing, and, despite the fact that these guys are a seven-piece ensemble, you get the sense that without Jones, the entire affair would completely fall apart; it's his vocals and distinctive songwriting style that gives the band its identity.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    The Future Will Destroy You
    Whenever Future starts to glide along too airily, the Robinsons can be trusted to use their on-off harmonies to give their best songs a spark that helps them rise above as merely sounding pretty.
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