Resident Advisor's Scores

  • Music
For 1,095 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Biokinetics [Reissue]
Lowest review score: 36 Déjà-Vu
Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 1 out of 1095
1095 music reviews
    • 76 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Unlike the space disco of his past, Thomas's music now hangs together not with laser bursts but with silken thread.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Lex
    As esoteric as the use of language translation software might seem, Doran and Carlile work their magic on these dialects and accents.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    8AM
    Where 2012's Tracer experimented with house and techno, 8AM recalls their debut, 7AM, but with a more refined approach.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    In the style of Arthur Russell, Tophat uses studio trickery to weave contrasting material into dreamlike narratives. Programmed drums morph fluidly into live ones, while samples and voices circle each other like planets in unpredictable orbit.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    PL
    There isn't a track on the record that isn't somehow scuffed, bruised or degraded. The recording fidelity is uniformly scruffy but not at the expense of dance floor efficacy—you'll have punchier music in your collection, but these tracks should still cut through.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The Drought is compelling because Hoffmeier is so clearly in charge.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    A comparable transition on Singularity, between "Everything Connected" and "Feel First Life," is made to feel seamless, less like a change in circumstance than an ascent onto some higher plane. Some will feel completely immersed in that; others might simply admire it from a distance.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    For all their strange angles and squeaky sonorities, these songs satisfy in the way that pop has always satisfied, no more and no less.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Ancestor Boy's world is one of filial love, of kinship through blood or spirit, of otherness and self-reliance.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Owens is an exciting new artist. Her voice is lovely. Her songwriting is accessible. Her arrangements feel smooth, and she moves with ease between styles. The only drawback to Kelly Lee Owens is an occasional tweeness that can come with such sweet, weightless music.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Hauschildt's minimal electronica here works its way into those ambient soundscapes and offers a singularly calm fusion of both genres. No longer caught between oppositional impulses, Hauschildt seamlessly channels freeform ambient and regimented synth tones into the same space, and produces some of his most cohesive, conceptually sound work to date.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    At their best, Boy Harsher capture the bittersweet feeling of being young, in love and on the road, oblivious to the inevitable spin-out.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    DJ-Kicks lays out each of his influences piece by piece, almost like listening to a deconstructed Lone album. For fans of Cutler's singular music, it's an essential entry in his discography.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    On Here From Where We Are, Cayzer takes on multiple shades of ambient music and delivers each with an expert touch.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Blondes' new arrangement seems to working fine so far, and suggests that subsequent live shows will be pretty special, too.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Rembo, a moreish and hedonistic album, shows an artist able to master many machines and styles.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Oh No is an inventive and enjoyable pop record that only falls short of Lanza's own standards.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    What's remarkable about the LP is that most of its 11 artists--whether newcomers, collaborators or longtime fans--all make tracks that sound like natural extensions of the originals.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    This isn't exactly club music, but Yorke and Godrich write incisive beats and basslines, which they match with ever-interesting sound design.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    As Rausch shows, Voigt is still finding inspiration in his childhood memories and those old forests, subtly changing the way we see and hear them each time.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Defined by repetition and mesmerizing as ever, The Follower isn't a huge stretch for Willner. Its best moments are in the second half, when the music revels in ethereality.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Both tracks [Love In The Time Of Lexapro and Last Known Image Of A Song], though, are dreamscapes of ineffable yearning. The EP's other cuts feel almost like a letdown, though only by degrees.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    On Powerhouse, we learn many things about Rostron. Few artists can express their politics and personal life so directly.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Glass isn't a concept album, though, nor does it need to be. Music this impressive is a statement in and of itself.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Baha's production skills are clear across Free For All. Fans of instrumental grime artists like Slackk will find much to admire in the austere yet precisely constructed "Aliens," whose sense of space is uncommonly sophisticated.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Wonderland shies away from the textural depths the duo made their name on. But what the album lacks in psychedelic richness it makes up for with wild, off-the-cuff energy, and it sounds like Demdike Stare had a lot of fun making it.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Where Providence showed that he can still make ambitious statements, this EP is a simpler pleasure.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    It's more about repetition than surprise, meditation than hyperactivity. Many tracks start slowly and quietly, and some hold entirely to that restraint.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Though his abilities with oddball party jams are unquestionable, Davis proves he can be equally compelling when he tones it down a notch.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Isa
    Its narratives bump up against moments of real beauty, casting a robotic detachment over even its warmest moments. But Rahbek does an admirable job of presenting visions that are hard to shake.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    On Filo Loves The Acid, Dozzy has held back his more radical approach, as well as his typically subtle use of the 303, to deliver an exemplary acid toolkit.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Clarke sounds reinvigorated here. It's clear he feels he has nothing to prove to anyone but himself.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    For a project of its size and vision, Vol. 1 is remarkably coherent. It's a testament to the label's endurance and vitality that they assembled so many top-notch exclusive tracks from friends both old and new.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The atmosphere is so consistent, the pacing so uniform, the sounds created with such a defined set of instrumental sources, that all the pieces blur into one.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Potential is largely a wonderful collection of uplifting and humbling electronic pop.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Callus is the sound of someone exorcising their demons with nothing but a few pieces of gear and his own snarling weapon of a voice--and growing stronger for it.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    But even if it isn't brilliant all the way through, Belief System is still an achievement. 12 of its tracks are as electrifying and giddy as you'll hear all year.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    As DNA Feelings dissolves to a close, a quiet kind of power lingers on.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    His latest LP, Prins Thomas 5, is a less extravagant take on space disco. ... The LP's calmest moments are its standouts.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    The result is an album that feels personal but also universal.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    I AKA I moves from peak to peak, and you're never more than a couple of tracks away from open-mouthed awe.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    There's an intense and cautious feeling to Sakamoto and Nicolai's approach, keeping everything at a constant volume and introducing changes only gradually. Glass is good for close listening, trading narrative for pure texture and mood.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    On K.O their ideas are rendered in higher fidelity, and while not every track on here leaves a lasting impression, the album as a whole certainly does.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    The middle of the album explores a stranger kind of sample collage, stitching together unlikely sounds and moods. At first the shift seems odd, but after a few listens it becomes clear that this is where things really get interesting.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Live manipulation gives In Situ its textures, as Halo hardly lets a few bars go by without tweaking rhythmic elements, introducing new sonics or briefly leaning on an effect. The movements are unpredictable but never distracting or overwhelming.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Expressive and loose as the album is, its track titles reveal more about Daniel's headspace.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    With a relatively small number of building blocks, Acre has built an album that feels varied, showcases a range of emotion and, most importantly, feels whole.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    "Napoletana" got the Project Pablo ear for melody and signature sweet mood, but the sonics are pristine, every lead flourish and bassline wiggle perfectly placed. Elsewhere the mood deepens, and Project Pablo flavours his melodic groovers with rich atmosphere.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Considering the breadth of the collection, there are bound to be some missteps—the rhythmic drive of "Wide Open" and "W" feel particularly out of place, while some of the pair's piano work blurs together. Nonetheless, it's hard to complain about a release that puts these talented composers' collaborations all in one place.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    That final third of DJ-Kicks might not be its strongest section but it no less feels like the most emblematic of Riddick's timeless appeal--connecting funk's past, present and future with an unbreakable thread of authenticity and positivity.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Though Arpo draws from Seaton's private life, its heady daydream vibe is open and accessible.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    At over three hours of half-lidded drone and ambient, Rainbow Mirror is one of the quietest Prurient albums, yet also one of the most demanding.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    They draw from the immigrant communities to make a sound that, to them, is completely at home.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Even as a mix of two halves, Dear's assured pacing means his DJ-Kicks entry rarely sounds disjointed. Two new Audion tracks near the end of the mix stand out, in ways that are both positive and negative.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Darby has always had a good grasp on what makes this music so addictive. EPHEM:ERA just looks at it from a different perspective, highlighting the curvatures of grime's fundamentals.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Her music can feel frustratingly fragmented one second and suddenly coalesce into something brilliant the next. IRISIRI is baffling and inspired in equal measure.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    The permanent ache in Blake's voice is one of his most arresting qualities, but it grows tiresome as The Colour In Anything wades through its 76 minutes.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Even as an experimental playground, Remain Calm is clearly the work of two people with a lot of ideas, versatility and musicianship. This first release hints at what's possible for this dream pairing.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    In its best moments, Morning/Evening is perfectly paced. Less convincing is the Evening side's coda.... Even with these faults, though, Hebden has brought a refreshing addition to his discography.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Cherry's latest references the refugee crisis, gun violence, fascism, racism and a collective sense of despair. But Cherry knows how to wrap these subjects in something sweeter. The scope of Broken Politics takes in both our outward political moment as well as its effects on our interior life. The music that accompanies her has an equally wide scope.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    As the realised aspirations of Myson's inner-teen, Hollowed is startlingly articulate and mature.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    It's not a splashy supergroup album, nor is it perfect. It's the work of two experienced producers producing sharp songs. Like all of Edgar and Stewart's work as J-E-T-S, Zoospa is impressive but surprisingly low-key.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Without a straight house or techno beat to be heard, fabric 94 is a meditative set from a DJ with more sides than most.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    With vulnerability comes strength, and each Octo Octa record further builds a catalogue that serves as a rich, therapeutic memoir.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Some of the best moments on Discreet Desires occur when she's flexing these unexpected songwriting chops.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    The music on Warmth is among the duo's most powerful, and several tracks from the LP could come alive in the right kind of DJ set.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Seven Steps Behind is too unfocused to be a slam dunk, but there's potential for something truly new here. In an era where club classics in the concert hall have lost their novelty, it's thrilling to hear orchestral instruments twisted like this.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Phoenixxx is pure violence, with seemingly incidental moments of calm.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Once it pulls you into its core, its dissonant sound becomes comforting, and then cathartic. In evoking confusion as to where man ends and machine begins, Borders offers a musical interpretation of a very modern dilemma.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Their electronic music brims with heartfelt emotions that anyone could understand.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    It's a rare example of him writing and singing lyrics, and it's endearingly youthful.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Physicalist is another high-quality release from one of this decade's most inventive bands in synthesizer music.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    COW is the sound of The Orb stripped down its essence, revealing the splendor that's always been there.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Trim definitely isn't stuck on stupid, but a bit more self-awareness wouldn't go amiss.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Pattern Of Excel succeeds during those little moments that capture Bannon's way with mood and melody.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    As with all of Copeland's records, surprising angles and intriguing touches are strewn throughout. But this is also an incredibly fun record, which is enough reason to play it over and over.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Plastic Anniversary is just extraordinarily clever, something to be marveled at more than moved by.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    II
    Approach the album with the same unhurried attitude as its creators, though, and you'll find moments to savour.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    His architectures still have an unreal sheen, but they're convincing enough to get lost in.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Where McRyhew's first full-length approached footwork with playful individualism, this record favours freeform acid and techno structures.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Under The Sun isn't the major departure that it seems on the surface, but rather a pleasant detour through mythical, imagined landscapes.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    On its own terms, the Midsommar score is a sometimes brilliant but limited affair that showcases both Krlic's genius and how that genius suffers under the constraints of a film.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Her robotic sing-song is more unsettling than affecting, and the synth backing is never quite immersive. Spontaneity is often this pair's strength, but with more ambitious ideas it limits them.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    St Germain conjures up rich and atmospheric landscapes equal to Navarre's earlier work. They're different from where we last left him, but they still seem to find him right at home.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Essential isn't as essential as its title suggests, but don't let that stop you from seeking it out. It has more of the loveable chaos that once made Soulwax among the most important acts in electronic music. This time it's more controlled.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Tracks like "Hungry Child" and "No God" are huge, highly focussed anthems that would boss a festival stage. For all of the album's welcome contradictions, however, this focus does hold it back a little. ... But at the right time, in the right company or on the right dance floor, it's a powerful high that also has a message.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    2013's Half Of Where You Live was largely built around recordings made while traveling the world, including Japan, so what's unique about Good Luck is how it sounds less like a specific place than a flurry of memories made there.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    As you would expect on a 17-track compilation, in places the experiment really works and elsewhere it probably could have been left alone, but there are enough killer moments here to make it all worthwhile.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    It's pretty introspective in places, and the concept—something about a mega-corporation and virtual reality—might be Smart's way of leading his music off the dance floor and allowing it to take on fluid new forms.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Stott's latest marks a new stage on this journey into the pop unknown, but it feels like he's not quite there yet.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    It's a total weirdo crossover success, and perhaps Bahdeni Nami's standout if club fodder is what you're after.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    If the album doesn't always hit the same highs as the excellent Mondo Beat or Trance LPs, there's still plenty to love: the bending techno synth waves on "Modularity," the slowed-down Nitzer Ebb flashbacks on "Post Industrial," and the krautrock computer glitches on "Noise Floor."
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    It's a rock-solid techno mix with few surprises or left turns. Avery can hold his own in this style, but a collection of tracks from artists like Planetary Assault Systems, Shlømo and Artefakt might not have the same crossover appeal he's used to. That said, the mix is still full of drama and striking moments.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    while it's not perfect, Les Fleurs Du Mal is a brave leap into the dark, a place so suffocating, black and unknown that it bears revisiting just to see what you might encounter on your next descent.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    It's slightly ludicrous, highly theatrical and great fun.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    The Fabriclive mix was much more than the sum of its parts, but to have some of its best tracks available in this way makes for both a solid album and a chance to wonder what you could build with them yourself.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Honey lacks the coherence of her previous albums, but as a love letter to the rave it's eloquent and sincere.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Three bonus tracks included with the re-release are almost as good, though they stretch the album to a daunting 75 minutes. City Lake's main effect is to make you appreciate the charms of its successor all the more. Its main effect, but not its only one.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    It's certainly still bleak as ever, but there's more hope than before.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    For all the memories Stranger Things and its soundtrack evoke, they've also given us something new worth remembering.