Paste Magazine's Scores

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For 4,080 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: 3,644 out of 4080
  2. Mixed: 400 out of 4080
  3. Negative: 36 out of 4080
4080 music reviews
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    Cyclamen
    Cyclamen is a bold reintroduction to Núria Graham, a confident demonstration that, nudged into fresh sunlight, experience can always blossom into beautiful new forms.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Every Acre
    Every Acre is a profound listen, one that reveals more wisdom the more you surrender to it. McEntire has discovered painful truths in the process, without ever letting herself or our history off the hook.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    One Day
    Ultimately, One Day comes with an interesting narrative that gives people like me something to write about, and as an experiment, it was surely a challenge and a creative accelerant. These are all good things.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Honey
    Where Honey celebrates the diverse community that informs Samia’s experience as a person and an artist, Honey does not necessarily give back, returning an inconsistent set of identities that do not always highlight what makes her a promising artist. Samia instead sinks into the honey like quicksand, encasing her to the point of occlusion.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Carvings
    Along with the mesmerizing musical arrangements, what makes Carvings compelling is the balance Habel finds between acknowledging the fleeting span of any one life, and her determination to find meaning in the transience. In that regard, Carvings is at once a eulogy and a celebration.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Strays
    The result is familiar—it’s undeniably a Margo Price record—but a little extra fiery.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Paste
    Miraculously, Moin sound like every band they have been influenced by while remaining completely inimitable.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    SAP
    SAP does not contain a single bad song, but the record is lengthy.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 79 Critic Score
    Please Have a Seat
    Please Have a Seat is a testament to NNAMDÏ’s unconventional musical vision and how no matter what genre he wanders into—whether it be hip-hop, indie rock, electronica or bubblegum pop—he stays true to who he is. It’s also a wondrous adventure for anyone who is willing to hold on through its twists and turns. Most importantly, it represents the complexity Black artists possess.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Ruby Cord
    At its best, The Ruby Cord is able to convey as much story via the timbre of Dawson’s voice as it does through his verbose lyricism. Dawson brings no shortage of compelling narratives to this record, continuing Peasant and 2020’s propensity for song-length vignettes that thematically snap together when put in sequence.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    A Swollen River, a Well Overflowing
    A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing is playful at its core, taking familiar images and refracting them or replacing them with changelings.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
    Mering sounds like she feels cornered by the current state of things and unsettled about our future. It is a testament to her skill and vision as a musician that she can make such circumstances sound so good.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Cazimi
    While the characters on CAZIMI aren’t always at peace, it sounds like Rose is. Even as she experiments with new sounds, textures and situations, the country-rock queen remains a reliable source of genuine stories.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    World Record
    The performances were captured and mixed by frequent Rubin collaborator Ryan Hewitt, with the kind of dry and honest clarity both Young and Rubin have chased throughout their careers. But if there are any faults in the final album, it’s simply that this is only a slightly above-average collection of songs from Young at this stage in his career.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Only the Strong Survive
    He comes at these songs with an easy familiarity that tells you he didn’t need to spend a lot of time learning them, because he had long since absorbed them into his very bones. Also, the guy can flat-out sing, which is something he doesn’t get enough credit for. ... The one real knock against anything on Only the Strong Survive is that the definitive versions of most of these songs are so solid that even he can’t find much to improve upon.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Her Loss
    The best moments come when the duo find a balance and Drake falls back on his crate-digging prowess. ... Sadly, there’s not enough of this to go around, making Her Loss another disposable Drake project that will fade away in a few weeks—one that could have been so much more.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Alpha Zulu
    Alpha Zulu may not be the best Phoenix album, but it is another reminder of their artistic stability and growth, a genuine triumph for a band with seven albums in tow.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile
    Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile is the soundtrack to the nights we spend wrestling with if we should forgive them or just forget the whole thing. Instead of trying to neatly package the mess we make, Pretty Sick create something that sounds as massive as the way it all feels.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Scalping the Guru
    There are lo-fi treasures throughout this collection that stand with some of Pollard’s best work, like “Big School,” “Gelatin, Ice Cream, Plum” and the meditative, d-tuned “Johnny Appleseed.”
    • 85 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Midnights
    Swift’s lyrics can still cut like glass or cast a spell. No matter what era she’s in, it’s the stories—more than anything else—that will always work the hardest. That’s why Taylor Swift is pop royalty. When she tells you she’s a mastermind, believe her.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Stumpwork
    One of Stumpwork’s greatest strengths is its tension between curiosity and apathy, opposing forces that clash throughout the album. Often, it feels like oblivion is winning.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    The Car
    On The Car, they deploy Fitzgeraldian tendencies, throwing a party with a lingering, enigmatic atmosphere. As long as there’s a mirror ball, you can be assured a fun time.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 79 Critic Score
    I Walked with You a Ways
    Whether it’s the start of a beautiful musical friendship or just a flash in the cast-iron pan, Crutchfield and Williamson’s I Walked with You a Ways is roomy, real and charming, and it’s one of the best Americana albums of the year and a powerful display of songwriting skills.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    ILYSM
    There’s a whole lot of ambition on display here, especially in the second half of the tracklist, and all of these disparate pieces somehow come together thanks to Ross’ confidence as a songwriter and arranger. Simply put, if this isn’t the sound of a band leveling up, then I’m not sure what is.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hysteria
    Whereas her first album had a more bare-bones acoustic feel, this one takes on a more produced sound—and in this movement in a pop direction, it feels like Sparke could have worked to make her sound a bit more dynamic, pushing further outside of her comfort zone than she did. While Dessner’s production fills out her sound nicely, it also blurs the boundaries between her songs, allowing them to bleed into each other if you’re not paying active attention.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rolling Golden Holy
    Rolling Golden Holy is a contemporary folk classic with songs that wouldn’t have sounded out of place 50 or 100 or 150 years ago. It’s an ageless album for the modern age, by a group coming into the full scope of their abilities.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Blue Rev
    These are all top-shelf tunes, and they serve as evidence that Rankin and O’Hanley are among the best pop-song writers working today.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Most Normal
    Although the handful of newly pared-back songs would theoretically give him a broader space for these more approachable laments, the band don’t yet sound comfortable in this zone, and their work often masks Kiely’s hideous charms. At its best, Most Normal, which Gilla Band produced themselves, reflects the group’s newly gradual creative process.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    Shepherd Head
    The tranquil and atmospheric flow of the album is a perfect canvas for Rossiter, who tends to bellow more than sing. His rich and emotive voice can sound at times like that of a much more timid Jeff Buckley, and with the album’s open feel, it has space to stretch, rather than snarling, like on some of the band’s more tense moments.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Fossora
    Aggression doesn’t fully return until nine tracks later on the aptly named instrumental “Trolla Gabba,” and then again on the back half of the title track. These explosions are among the album’s most riveting moments, but you have to clear the muck before you get to the fireworks. ... That effort eventually proves worthwhile: Many of the musical risks pay off once you get accustomed to the songs. And despite her occasional failures, Björk still illuminates enough of her story to remain compelling.
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