Prefix Magazine's Scores
- Music
For 2,132 reviews, this publication has graded:
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52% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.1 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: | Modern Times | |
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Lowest review score: | Eat Me, Drink Me |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,576 out of 2132
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Mixed: 509 out of 2132
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Negative: 47 out of 2132
2132
music
reviews
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- Critic Score
In 2010, when oversharing is the norm, Pinkerton can seem almost quaint for its willingness to hold back. All told, it's roughly 10 percent as confessional as the average overheated Tumblr post or Gareth Campesino! lyric sheet. Maybe that's why, to this day, "El Scorcho" is still the sort of song that lonely teenage boys vigorously lip-synch to when they think that nobody's looking. Its lyrics can be vague enough ("I'm a lot like you...") to fit all sorts of specific yearning.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Dec 21, 2010
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As expected, the album's highlights are its patient explorations.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Mar 24, 2011
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Dark Twisted Fantasy is an album full off melodic ideas, copious guest features, winding songs, unexpected twists, and improbable pairings.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Dec 8, 2010
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When listening to Icky Mettle, you feel included, like they're the crew you've known your entire life. The fact that it's both very relevant today and a thrilling snapshot of the restlessly creative 90's underground is no small achievement.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Aug 9, 2011
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A mountain of shambolic, livewire B-sides and covers of heroes and influence ranging from the Fall to Echo and the Bunnymen, help add a sense of balance and ballast to Brighten the Corners. It makes for an expanded vision of the original while at the same time proving that the original’s vision wasn’t quite so narrow after all.- Prefix Magazine
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Orphans is something akin to taking a journey through a familiar yet entirely foreign dream-place.- Prefix Magazine
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The one drawback to Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 is that, with the exception of “Light Blue”, its déjà vu nature makes it difficult to distinguish it from Thelonious Monk’s landmark albums.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Aug 11, 2017
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Still only 20 years old, Lorde could have been forgiven for floundering under the weight of expectation. Instead she’s reasserted her status as today’s ultimate alt-pop artist with a record that balances the contemporary with the classic in typically immaculate style.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jul 6, 2017
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Lamar's no impressionist, however; his lyrical gifts weave a complex, yet uniquely-West Coast set of influences into something that feels new and forward-thinking.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Oct 24, 2012
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In spite of the album's potential obesity at 18 tracks of wildly different musical ideas, the three [Monae and her production partners, Charles "Chuck Lightning" Joseph II and Nathaniel "Nate 'Rocket' Wonder'" Irvin III.] keep the weight off by welcoming coherence and by evenly spreading out their interests.- Prefix Magazine
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Vast in scope and breathtaking in its beauty, Illinois may very well be the album that heralds Sufjan Stevens as one of this young century’s most talented artists.- Prefix Magazine
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Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty isn't just an expertly produced and performed slab of brilliantly odd, futuristic dance music. It isn't just the best rap album of the year so far.- Prefix Magazine
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By trimming thirty minutes off their standard record’s length, the members of My Morning Jacket have paradoxically managed to broaden their sound, cutting the fat to give us ten songs that jive, moon-walk and cock-rock in equal measure.- Prefix Magazine
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Modern Times may not contain a single song that would rank among Dylan's all-time best, but it doesn't have to.- Prefix Magazine
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This is a very different record from Summertime ’06, both thematically and sonically, but it’s no less incisive, challenging, or flat-out excellent.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jul 6, 2017
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For all the foot-stomping vitriol that seeps out here and there, The Idler Wheel... is the sound of a brilliant songwriter putting away childish things, and waiting tensely for what comes next.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jun 19, 2012
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Has the album of 2009 been unleashed in January? I can’t see anything else coming near it.- Prefix Magazine
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It's impossible to guess what kind of album would've turned out had this seen the light of day two years ago, when it was originally expected. Chances are, though, we wouldn't be talking about intensity or hunger or survival with the same emotion in our voices.- Prefix Magazine
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If you’re only going to buy one Belle & Sebastian album (and shame on you if you are), make it this one.- Prefix Magazine
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Don't consider Saigon's The Greatest Story Never Told his debut, but his farewell. It is a goodbye to the discarded first chapter of his career. The half-decade-in-the-making effort needed to be released in order for the rapper to move on.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Feb 16, 2011
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It proves that with the same attention, wit, grace and intellect that these musicians gave to their songwriting, they can indeed construct a retrospective that not only reflects the brilliance of their band but heightens and intensifies it as well.- Prefix Magazine
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Even with its brief lapses, Hypermagic Mountain is Lightning Bolt’s most accomplished effort to date, one-upping 2003’s Wonderful Rainbow with a fresh sense of maturity.- Prefix Magazine
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Only Built for Cuban Linx...Pt. 2 is top-to-bottom brilliant, and it's energy and emotion is too infectious not to inspire a dozen great hip-hop records to come.- Prefix Magazine
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Throughout it all, it still feels like essential, singular Waits, like moody and manic are two sides of one very marked coin.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Nov 16, 2011
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Dear Science is another highlight from a band whose career has essentially been an extended one.- Prefix Magazine
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Return to Cookie Mountain makes Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes look almost silly by comparison.- Prefix Magazine
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There may only be two songs here, but Bejar does a lot with them. He gives us both the clever tricks we expect from him and a whole new sound in which for them to swirl around.- Prefix Magazine
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Those who choose to fixate on Bejar's lack of a pretty singing voice are missing the point. Much like John Darnielle, everything outside of Bejar's verse should be seen as peripheral -- a means to deliver the lyrical ends.- Prefix Magazine
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- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jan 5, 2012
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Not only does The Woods jumpstart a moribund genre, it also serves as a wake-up call for the zeitgeist.- Prefix Magazine
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Tame Impala possesses an uncanny ear for reconstructing psychedelia that spans decades while remaining undeniably present.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Nov 14, 2012
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With the explorations of additional instrumentation as well being more comfortable with silences and with echo, SunnO))) approach the freedom and abandon of the spirit-travelers alluded to in the titles and approaches on this, the band's best record yet.- Prefix Magazine
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This is pure, unadulterated energy, seething catharsis taken out on throats, fingers, fretboards and drum heads by a band going on 22 years, and showing no signs of weakness or irrelevancy.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Oct 16, 2012
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Antony has found a voice that expresses what it feels like to be trapped in that gray area between misery and rage.- Prefix Magazine
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The strength is in Vernon’s ability to make a quiet, lonely album that is not boring.- Prefix Magazine
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Though at times difficult to listen to, the effect is a clear view of an artist's process. Herein lies the true value of Dennis Wilson's legacy: an open invitation to simply listen.- Prefix Magazine
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They deliver on [Sun Giant EP's] five-song teaser's promise and then some with their first full-length, a self-titled gem that already seems set to wind up near the top of any right-thinking person's year-end list.- Prefix Magazine
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Although it's certainly inventive in approach and execution, there's no denying that Person Pitch sees Lennox working within decidedly pop-centric parameters.- Prefix Magazine
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On Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!, Cave weaves yet another tapestry of characters.- Prefix Magazine
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One of the most satisfying, a nearly unclassifiable mammoth of sound that manages to weave brutality, atmosphere, and aching melody into a body-enveloping cocoon that sticks around longer than the average Hollywood movie.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Aug 28, 2012
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And Their Refinement of the Decline is a nearly two-hour opus that at times dares us to deny that it can, in fact, be classified as music. That spirit in Stars of the Lid is commendable--even if it makes for a project that often seems more an experiment in deconstruction than an attempt at creating a universally enjoyable listen.- Prefix Magazine
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Most notably is how these songs manage to seem loose, fun and deliberate all at once.- Prefix Magazine
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Bilal and McKie place emphasis on the craft of each song and the arrangement of each instrument. Bilal's voice is treated as one of these parts, so there is a flat quality to the sound. This may frustrate fans of Bilal's voice or those expecting a conventional star-centric album that places the spotlight on a voice or an instrument. Instead, Bilal's feelings are the centerpiece here. That alone makes Airtight's Revenge a welcome return for a needed voice.- Prefix Magazine
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The xx recorded not only the year's best debut but also one of its best albums, period.- Prefix Magazine
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Some Funeral devotees may be disappointed by the more straightforward approach on Neon Bible, but their numbers will likely be easily replaced.- Prefix Magazine
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For all the over-arching themes, The Suburbs is the most rocking Arcade Fire album yet.- Prefix Magazine
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The result is Kala a stark confrontation of set notions of authenticity and identity--and my new favorite record.- Prefix Magazine
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Even when it's not the most innovative, the sounds they use are fresh, and the duo tends to eschew hooks and conventional structure for letting the song slowly evolve.- Prefix Magazine
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Harvey's singing delivers the material by juggling unwieldy emotions with care and empathy. And she makes the experience sound natural -- like a true no-brainer.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Feb 15, 2011
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As a cohesive album and a personal statement, Sound of Silver is superior in most every way.- Prefix Magazine
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Body Talk concludes a triptych of highly enjoyable pop albums. Let's hope we don't have to wait another five years for the next batch.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Dec 21, 2010
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That such a glorious and previously unheralded collection of tunes could appear so far into what seems like a decade plus wave of reissue fever is a wider comment about how much great music still out there waiting to be unearthed. The Method Actors deserve to be placed alongside the very best acts of any scene or era.- Prefix Magazine
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Garbus might be more known right now as a magnetic performer, but w h o k i l l proves she's just as beguiling on record.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Apr 19, 2011
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However, like so many singular artists, Wyatt's presence spans the record and ultimately gives it its necessary gel. His multi-octave voice booms, croons, and cracks across the album with stunning clarity and consistency.- Prefix Magazine
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The indie-rock universe hasn't coughed up a record as rhythmically thrilling as Mirrored in ages.- Prefix Magazine
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We can all go on loving For Emma, Forever Ago (with good reason), but don't let your attachment to that obscure what Vernon has created here. No cabin, no crazy backstory. Just a great, inventive album.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jun 21, 2011
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Gone are the frantic raps, menacing synths, and general hardness of the band's past three albums. In their place is a mellow approximation of the jazzy, old-school charm of The Roots circa Things Fall Apart.- Prefix Magazine
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Hercules & Love Affair is a testament to the great foresight and control is required in a disco producer to keep the track from lunging into an abyss of low-blow kitsch, and to be able to stimulate the ears and feet at the same time.- Prefix Magazine
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Life is People does have its missteps, but even those don't sap the album of its undeniable charm.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Dec 14, 2012
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Clearly Robyn knows her pop history, but she manages to prevent the album from slipping into simple pastiche by always keeping the balance between old and new just right.- Prefix Magazine
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Thunder, Lightning, Strike is for people who love music that hits them over the head with the sheer enjoyment of the human ability to rock.- Prefix Magazine
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As they've made it to their fourth album, they've quickly become one of indie's most reliable bands, each new album bringing the promise of some of the year's best music.- Prefix Magazine
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'Sno Angel Like You is not only beautifully performed and recorded, but also wonderfully written.- Prefix Magazine
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The pace of the album (or, more accurately, the "file") is intriguing, and even though it doesn't top the band's best work, any iPod owner should be proud to have 45:33 in the library. [Review of UK release]- Prefix Magazine
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Blur may not have gotten the adulation they deserved in the states during their heyday, but Midlife is a solid move to reevaluate Blur’s position in the pantheon.- Prefix Magazine
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The beautifully (which is to say, lightly) remastered album, and the warts 'n all bonus disc shows us just how good of a band Sebadoh were, and why they became far more than just the band Barlow started after he left Dinosaur Jr.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jul 6, 2011
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Yet, even though the steady presence of featured performances helps beautify Cosmogramma, this is essentially Ellison's crowning achievement. The album is sequenced with a sense of purpose, evidential from the promo being presented as a long continuous track.- Prefix Magazine
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Conservative, instead, describes Shields: Veckatimest authorized it to be far bolder. You yearn for what could've been.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Sep 17, 2012
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Ali can do this, can take the familiar, the overly confrontational, even the trite and overdone, and make it riveting, because he has a voice that strains syllables so that the meanings of his words are made perfectly clear--you can't escape what he's saying--and a flow that loads and unleashes relentlessly.- Prefix Magazine
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Authenticity is a concise, cohesive effort that finds The Foreign Exchange again successfully pushing the boundaries of R&B, soul, electronic music, and hip-hop.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Dec 15, 2010
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While I See the Sign might not quite measure up to the staggering "All Is Well," this is still a hell of an album. One that, like the songs that populate it, could resonate for a good long while.- Prefix Magazine
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Empros proves Russian Circles' ability once again, without going horribly out of its way to prove something or make some sort of grand statement.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Oct 25, 2011
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It is Chance’s ability to transition fluidly between self-imaginings that makes him such an impressive and likeable rapper. It’s also part of what will make Acid Rap one of the major hip-hop releases of this year.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jun 7, 2013
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It is an album based very clearly on a concept, an overall construct. Within that, Fucked Up once again morph themselves, moving further away from anything you could call hardcore (save Damian Abraham's voice).- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jun 8, 2011
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In a career full of successful fusions of metal, psych, crusty punk and indie rock, Spiral Shadow is another triumph.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Nov 4, 2010
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While earlier albums hinted at the kind of open-air pastorals that the band was capable of, Rook delivers on all the promise.- Prefix Magazine
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Case's genius as a writer, evident from track to track, stems from her ability to write lyrics that conjure up amazingly clear images but that still leave the songs as a whole up to interpretation.- Prefix Magazine
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Behind these minor tones and detached themes, Third emits a knowing and quiet confidence that communicates the band’s strongly held ideas, especially that of existential ennui.- Prefix Magazine
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Considering most of the album is spent describing what life’s like for the rest of us, it’s surprising Stay Positive ends on a relatively self-focused note, courtesy of album highlight “Slapped Actress.”- Prefix Magazine
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Listening to Bleach now, the main thing that comes across is how little it sounds moored to a specific time.- Prefix Magazine
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Unsurprisingly, The Lost Tapes is a masterpiece in his own right, much like previous revolutionary releases Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Jun 19, 2012
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It comes down to what you're expecting here. Do you earnestly yearn for another album full of beautifully arranged, meticulously pored over harmonic acoustic folk? Then this is probably your album of the year to beat.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted May 16, 2011
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There’s no filler here; there’s barely space for a spare breath. But amidst the bombast, there are a few moments of clarity, and though fleeting, they’re certainly worth the wait.- Prefix Magazine
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There is little doubt Edan is an innovator on the production tip, but he’s not nearly as talented an emcee.- Prefix Magazine
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The slickly produced Twin Cinema tweaks the formula to include subdued moments, climactic codas and fully unified vocals, elevating the band’s ideas to complete cohesion and transcending its previous output.- Prefix Magazine
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What makes New Moon succeed is something similar to what Shakespeare gets at in many of his sonnets: the ability of art to beat death.- Prefix Magazine
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The bass can get lost in the mix as well beneath all the moving parts. With the kinds of rhythms The Budos Band lay down, you need the bass up front and center. These qualms are minor compared with the overall delight the album conveys.- Prefix Magazine
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Maybe it's because we've come to expect these guys to knock us out with each album, but Smother can't help but feel like a misstep.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted May 12, 2011
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Have One on Me isn't at all a ploy for greater likability. It's an affecting, indulgent, and thoroughly fleshed-out monument to Newsom's considerable ambition.- Prefix Magazine
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It is simple, it is pure, it is predictable, it is Another High on Fire Album.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Apr 12, 2012
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It plainly improves Grizzly Bear’s sound, and lends itself well to multiple spins, because each repeated listen reveals another perfectly crafted shard you missed on the last go-round.- Prefix Magazine
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Bitte Orca is the kind of album that is best taken from start to finish, where the songs and musical themes are allowed to grow, endear and impress.- Prefix Magazine
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On Devotion, Ware demonstrates a knack for weaving everything together. And just like in the best-tailored clothes, it's difficult to see the seams.- Prefix Magazine
- Posted Aug 20, 2012
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I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is the statement of a band insistent on showing the world it is not quite through being relevant.- Prefix Magazine
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The Chemistry of Common Life is not a technically proficient album despite its epic leanings. Like most albums primarily consisting of anthems, its impact tapers off slightly on repeated listens. But the sheer power of the album is key.- Prefix Magazine
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the majority of the album is exactly what indie rock has been lacking for over a decade, and this is too crucial a release to get caught up in nitpicking.- Prefix Magazine
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