Paste Magazine's Scores

For 4,051 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
Score distribution:
4051 music reviews
    • 69 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    While † threatened to alienate with its sheer abrasiveness, its long-awaited follow-up succeeds in boring with its sprawling and unfocused Queen-meets-Skrillex mashups.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Strokes don't have much of their own to say here. [Dec 2005, p.106]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 69 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Sitting through a slogging collage of beats for 40 minutes before ever hearing a verse is no easy task. It would be one thing if these tracks had a common theme holding them together, but there’s no central voice to bind one to the next. ... The only thing that will keep listeners pressing on is the star-studded back half of the record. The incredible amount of talent Shadow recruited is exciting.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    An audacious but unsuccessful experiment. [Oct/Nov 2005, p.132]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 69 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    The whole album sounds like it was recorded to be played in an H&M. It’s bland and forgettable, fuzzed with a faux-depth like an Instagram filter.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This nostalgic psych appeal proves ideal for impulsive summertime road trips. [Aug/Sep 2005, p.128]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 69 Metascore
    • 51 Critic Score
    Where A Brief Inquiry… excelled due to its exceptional pop songwriting and well-calculated sonic departures, Notes… is far too ambitious and self-aware (“Will I live and die in a band?”) for its own good.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    Anastasis demands intense, patient listening, though it rarely rewards it.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Painting With is a record that just “is,” not very noteworthy, the band nowhere close to fulfilling its potential.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The album carries a slight-but-distinct theatrical odor. [Apr 2007, p.56]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 69 Metascore
    • 56 Critic Score
    It's just not very fun. Wale's conversion to Ross' braggy rap-excess didn't seem like a great idea in theory, and stretched out to an hour his updated, devolved craft starts to wear thin very, very quickly.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    On Astro Coast Pitts stared at the bright, unwritten future in front of him, but on Pythons he’s locked in place, rendered motionless by the oppressive chip on his shoulder.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Unfortunately, disc two’s cache of amorphous, New Age-y, re-recorded Pixies standards falls flat.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A bevy of worthy underground rappers (Mr. Lif, The Coup's Boots Riley, Lyrics Born, and Lateef The Truthspeaker among them) struggle to distinguish themselves over the mid-tempo bootyshake churning around them.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    With no dramatic tension, pathos or even story arc, these songs are little more than piles of slack words from an artist who has confused saying whatever comes to mind with having something to say.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cold Roses comes as a bit of relief, bereft of the posturing that so often attends Adams’ work.... That said, there’s also a sense of retreat that permeates the record, a willingness to offer the comforts of familiar tones instead of ambitiously taking chances.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Reaffirms George's place as a star in the making. [#16, p.138]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 69 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    The first nine tracks of the record, referred to as Death, are solid, listenable, weirdo rock that fans, or anyone who appreciates creative music could enjoy. ... Two minutes into “Cradboa Negro,” the last track of the Death portion of the record, it all starts going south. The subsequent 14 tracks of Love, aside from some funny song titles like “Chicken Butt” and “The Asshole Bastard,” are utter baloney.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    In its song choices, if not necessarily in its treatments, Run for Cover is more ambitious than it needs to be--than it should be, in fact.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Gone is the orchestral saturation that sometimes bogged down Crooked Fingers, replaced by gnomic acoustic folk that's stark to the point of nudity. [Oct 2006, p.84]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    He’s nodded to his Texas roots before, but on this collection meant to play up his twangy side, he seems scared of edging too far into the darkness of country music’s long, rich tradition. And what a shame.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    This stuff is often pretty infectious in spite of itself--you know, "so bad it's good." [Apr/May 2006, p.118]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sia's ostensible rebirth falls apart once We Are Born detours to bleak balladry with I'm In Here, a pale imitation of her big claim to fame.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The songs are stronger than ever. [Apr/May 2005, p.139]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    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
    • 68 Metascore
    • 57 Critic Score
    The two started jamming together and the songs evolved organically. Before the duo knew it, they had an album’s worth of songs. And that’s basically what the album sounds like--two guys of a certain age doing stuff they think is really cool that only winds up being cool to guys of a certain age.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Uneven. [Apr/May 2006, p.117]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This diverse album's eerie ambience and astute songwriting more than compensate for its periodic uneventfulness. [Oct/Nov 2005, p.145]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Kaiser and Cartel just might be the Sonny and Cher of the indie-pop world.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There isn't much to distinguish him from a million other talented but interchangeable coffe-shop-circuit troubadours. [Feb/Mar 2006, p.95]
    • Paste Magazine