Slant Magazine's Scores

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For 3,121 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 35% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 62% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 7.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Who Kill
Lowest review score: 0 Fireflies
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,691 out of 3121
  2. Mixed: 1,319 out of 3121
  3. Negative: 111 out of 3121
3121 music reviews
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    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    M B V
    A few twists and turns shy of perfection, m b v is the innovation and sonic warmth of My Bloody Valentine rekindled and made anew.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jamie Lidell
    What sets Lidell apart from, say, the many pleasant but posturing Justin Timberlakes out there is that Lidell is clearly conversant in the forms others exploit for decorative effects. And with his latest album, Lidell proves himself downright fluent.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Push the Sky Away
    In Push the Sky Away, an album of thrilling darkness pierced by moments of brilliant light, Cave may have crafted his defining statement.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    You're Nothing
    You're Nothing provides another solid 12 tracks of loud, bleak teenage ennui, but with a comparative lack of genre diversity.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No World
    The results are dark and slinking, but also highly exquisite, as No World boasts a moody set of tracks that are neither loud nor aggressive, but still possess a very raw and beautiful power lurking behind the whispers.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Holy Fire
    It's a somewhat disappointing change of pace, but one that can nevertheless be appreciated by adjusting expectations; even if the band isn't pushing new boundaries, this new stance sort of fits them, coming across as a culmination of their previous material rather than a misstep.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pedestrian Verse
    From Hutchison's newfound enthusiasm for life to the band's stadium sound, Frightened Rabbit has finally created a reasonable glimmer of hope--sans blind optimism, of course.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Centralia
    Centralia is the most sophisticated and cultivated Mountains album to date.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    News from Nowhere
    Offering the same level of meticulousness as North isn't quite good enough for News from Nowhere, which serves up a wonderfully lush but ultimately rudderless slice of droning electronica that's much too imitative to be anything other than a pleasant distraction.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Regions of Light and Sound of God
    There's a certain variety to the approach here, but it coheres for the most part on James's insistently tuneful interrogation of himself. He remains a smart commentator on the voyeuristic elements of attraction.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hummingbird
    While there's nothing as immediately engaging on Hummingbird as Gorilla Manor's "Wide Eyes," the album compensates with beauty and seriousness.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Christopher
    The song [vapory closing number "Heart Attack"] almost saves Christopher from venturing into annoying self-parody, but it's ultimately unsuccessful due to the uncertainty of its message.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Home
    Home feels like an afterthought, the sound of Chung's craft diluted to the point where it's barely there.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Flower Lane
    The Flower Lane succeeds mostly because of Mondanile's dedication to purity.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Beta Love
    Beta Love is a fine album for the dance floor, a poor one for the headphones, and a disconcerting new direction for the band.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wolf's Law
    The best tricks and riffs from The Big Roar are culled and sewn back together to lukewarm effect, but the lack of innovation and variation is disappointing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Goldenheart
    Richard is a talented artist, and her musical palette and tenacious personality remain consistently interesting, but when it comes to conveying emotion, falls back on the same tired tropes that have made many conventional R&B acts feel so exhaustingly familiar.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fade
    In collaborating with McEntire, Yo La Tengo has found a format that accommodates their ever-adventurous musical excursions while beckoning new listeners unaccustomed to 15-minute instrumental soundscapes.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Long.Live.A$AP
    So like A$AP's debut, Long. Live. A$AP is an intermittently dazzling collection of slinky, mutated R&B helmed by an unsteady, half-interested voice.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Lady from Shanghai
    Lady from Shanghai, a mess of sonic blips and disorienting blotches of misshapen clutter, has no secrets; it's impossible to dig deeper into something that's only surface-deep.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    1977
    Beyond their immediate allure, the tracks here benefit from a profusion of weird touches that elevate and separate them from boilerplate exercises.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Selling My Soul
    Well-executed, fresh music from a member of Wu-Tang is always welcome, but perfunctory projects stuffed with filler are never a good look.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head
    The one-time King of the South makes himself scarce on this anonymous and occasionally mawkish effort.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Finally Rich
    There's also a joyless and dispiriting quality to the music, something soul crushing in how the most backward elements of rap culture have coalesced into one hardened teenager.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pale Fire
    One of the most beguiling and unique offerings of the Swedish pack.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Born to Sing: No Plan B
    Fans of the old stuff who long ago wrote Morrison off will find their gripes sadly confirmed on Born to Sing: No Plan B, a recession album that's four years too late.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cut the World [Live]
    Perhaps to some, the lack of a slow, methodical musical structure surrounding these thoughts, or the fact that in spelling his concerns out through conversation instead of veiled insinuation, he notably drops that perilous, outside-of-sane tremolo, might pull the curtains down around his highly cultivated dramaturgy. Only partially.... The rest of the album is more comparatively straightforward.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Merry Christmas, Baby
    Verve chairman David Foster, who serves as arranger and producer, demonstrates laudable discernment in choosing the album's 13 songs, and the same goes for the requisite cameos: Cee Lo Green, Mary J. Blige, and Trombone Shorty provide little boosts of energy to Stewart along the way.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays, Vol. 1
    The musical ideas on Holidaydream are notably original. They float with delicacy, leaving an impression like a snow angel-precious, a little sad, and bound to fade all too quickly.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
    Where Good Kid, M.A.A.D City really succeeds is in its powerful emotional core.
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