Salon's Scores

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For 52 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 Essence
Lowest review score: 20 Songs From an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 52
  3. Negative: 5 out of 52
52 music reviews
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    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Neon Golden
    Elegant and subtle, "Neon Golden" convincingly balances the scales of pop and glitch electronics and is the best argument yet for combining the two.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Where Shall You Take Me
    Jurado's songwriting is solid, if sometimes slightly bland -- but a lack of idiosyncrasy is to be expected when an artist references such a recognizable, well-mined sound.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Remedy
    Basement Jaxx renovates the old house and gives it enough bad attitude to match the current trends of dark drum 'n' bass and hard electro.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Phrenology
    By taking a new path with their music the Roots succeed in both staying relevant and momentous.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Creek Drank The Cradle
    Spartan and unadorned, the naked sincerity of the record is heartbreaking.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Transcendental Blues
    "Transcendental Blues" is a deeply personal album steeped in pain and loneliness.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Play
    On his cunningly crafted CD, the restless techno composer cleverly constructs a bridge between electronic dance music and the black Southern styles that form the basis of most American rock and pop.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Veni Vidi Vicious
    Those dependable fuzz tones never get tired, so long as they're accompanied by a propulsive backbeat, maximum adrenaline and a modicum of melody, and Sweden's Hives have all of that.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Nixon
    "Nixon," Lambchop's fifth solo LP, does have its moments, some of them truly glowing. But much of the rest of the album turns toward precious self-indulgence.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I Am Shelby Lynne
    So why doesn't "I Am" quite hit the mark? Blame it on producer Bill Bottrell, best-known for his work with Sheryl Crow. Simply put, he lays it on a little too thick.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Are Free
    An evocative composite of soulful melodies, with stripped-down piano and hushed guitar-and-vocal ballads.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Essence
    It's a nervy progression, almost necessarily uneven because of the risks it takes, balancing a grace that soars toward aching perfection with an intimacy that elicits a squirmy discomfort.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Moon & Antarctica
    A visit to desolate regions... a 60-minute, 15-song treatise on isolation, displacement and a seemingly bottomless spiritual void.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Under Construction
    Missy scores the highest marks in the qualities shared by all gifted rappers: rhymes, flow, cleverness and style.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Noise Made By People
    Broadcast manipulate their equipment to give the music the rangy pulse of jazz. It's electronic, but not shot full of skittering beats. The extra charge comes from the girl out front.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Covers Record
    Rarely, though, do artists completely strip original material of all familiarity and reconstruct them in their own sensibility the way that Cat Power has here.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pig Lib
    Sprawls in all directions, effortlessly spanning the gap between breezy pop and hard rock.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Yanqui U.X.O.
    A difficult and rewarding thrill.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    13
    A shitty Blur album is still better than a lot of bands' best efforts.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Quality
    Despite his best intentions, it seems, Kweli's best songs on the record move away from social criticism and into more conventional hip-hop subjects.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    One Bedroom
    It's the gurgling electronic underpinnings and distinctly cheerful '70s synth chimes that make the difference here, adding needed texture and distracting from overly rigid rhythmic structures.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Walking With Thee
    It's the unsettling undercurrent of angst and unease with the modern world that's earning this group comparisons to the favorite art punks of the moment, Radiohead. But Clinic's songs are much less static and harshly digital, and much more groove-oriented.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Supper
    "Supper" is Callahan's equivalent of Dylan's "New Morning." It's the work of a competent, seasoned songwriting veteran who exudes confidence.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    When The Pawn...
    There's more to admire on "When the Pawn ..." than mere displays of guts, but if nothing else, it's the best non-apology since Madonna's "Human Nature."
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Marshall Mathers LP
    An airtight masterpiece of rhyme-
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Original Motion Picture Score for The Virgin Suicides
    They've created a score alive with alternating currents of portentous noir atmosphere, sentimentality and playfulness, one that, amazingly, evokes mid-'70s suburbia without ever seeming campy or obviously retro.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    One Part Lullaby
    While early Folk Implosion albums were almost tuneless, ramshackle affairs, this latest effort builds on the crystalline pop gems found on "Dare to Be Surprised" (1997). From the sounds of it, anarchy's getting friendlier and friendlier all the time.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stereo
    Two CDs that brim with primitive optimism, as the music shuffles between naked, moody pop (Stereo) to gritty indie rock (Mono) -- like the Replacements, but with half the noise on hold.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    When I Was Cruel
    If the performances here reclaimed the sputtering, spastic fury of Elvis and the Attractions in their prime, it might not matter that Costello came to play without indelible melodies and jaw-dropping lyrics, but they really don't and he largely did.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Pt. 2)
    A return to the gorgeously crisp electric pop Partridge has been writing for more than 20 years.
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