Slant Magazine's Scores

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For 3,120 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: 1,690 out of 3120
  2. Mixed: 1,319 out of 3120
  3. Negative: 111 out of 3120
3120 music reviews
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    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Midwinter Graces
    As a subversion of religious themes, Midwinter misses the mark entirely; as a traditional holiday album courtesy of one of Christianity's most astute pop cultural critics, it's an ironic, pleasantly competent oddity.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Attention Deficit
    In its ambitious attempts to revive conscious rap and push the envelope sonically, Attention Deficit may be one of the best rap releases of the year even while it lacks the focus of a central persona.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Alter The Ending
    The leaden pillow talk of Alter the Ending deigns to simulate a whispered avowal of wounded love delivered straight to your ears, but Carrabba's lyrics suggest someone who needs you, not someone who loves you.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Xenophanes
    The feel is still sketchy and somewhat improvised, but there's no sense that these songs are simply impressionistic doodles.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rewolf
    Chikudate can reign uninterrupted, taking center stage to the sounds of humbled guitars, trickling bells, and the charm of her own lyrical whimsy.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Phrazes For The Young
    Phrazes represents a creative departure for Casablancas and another milestone for his band--marking a point where they've produced more quality albums by themselves than as a group.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Raditude
    Raditude is a thematically vacant and sonically uninspired collection of ditties tailor-made for mainstream radio; it consistently fringes on unlistenable.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Play On
    She still lacks the grit and the distinctive, intuitive phrasing of the best country singers, but the better moments of Play On suggest that she's capable of developing into more than a technically proficient cipher.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Molina And Johnson
    This empty feeling contributes to the quiet mood of Molina & Johnson, which feels dark and battered yet still gleaming, a compilation that's as evocative as the best work of either of its namesakes.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Swords
    Considering the quality of the singles drawn from "You Are the Quarry," "Ringleader of the Tormentors," and "Years of Refusal," it's an utter disappointment that Swords, the collection of B-sides from those singles, is so uneven.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    In Love & War
    In terms of personality and originality, Amerie's latest is on par with Solange's "Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams." As with that slept-on record, War is deserving of greater commercial impact than it is likely to earn.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Live At Reading
    Reading is a far cry from pop-chart fodder. And while the jarring howl of Cobain's Fender and his gravelly delivery may alienate the more nonchalant corners of their fanbase, these ferocious renditions will be a godsend to the dyed-in-the-wool Nirvana following.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Night Music
    Bathed in cloaking shadows, Night Music captures the macabre power of darkness, where ordinary shadows are stretched into ominous significance.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Earthly Delights
    The highlights demonstrate that these guys have yet to exhaust their uncanny vision, but by and large this is Lightning Bolt doing a Lightning Bolt album.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    What Will We Be
    Through supplementation and wider instrumentation, he's traded in quiet haunting oddness for drowsy tranquil oddness, an exchange that may at some time pay better dividends than it does here.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sainthood
    The irreverent, snide wit and easy self-deprecation prove to be an effective, if surprising, fit for Tegan and Sara's brand of genial indie-pop, elevating Sainthood beyond mere snappy diversion.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Live At The Olympia
    Given the quality of the performances and the depth of the song selection, Olympia is not simply a for-fans-only vanity project or an excuse to revisit an album that's just over a year old, but it stands as an essential addition to R.E.M.'s catalogue.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Great Misdirect
    As the album stretches on, it's hard not to notice that some of the unbridled enthusiasm that made Alaska and Colors the heavy, heady trips that they were has been sacrificed. That's forgivable. The type of a maturation process that Between the Buried and Me has embarked on is never easy, and the record shows that few bands from rock's progressive edges pull it off.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lungs
    Florence's music is particularly sensitive to studio gloss; her singing is a fine balance between elegance and frenzy.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Turning the Mind
    Whether creative flaw or conscious production choice, the uneven clip of this and other tracks prevents Turning the Mind from achieving the spatial, bliss-ridden freedom on which shoegaze thrives. Instead, Chapman pulls the reins back one time too many.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tarot Sport
    Tarot Sport makes its mark: easy and challenging at the same time, a mix of harsh and smooth sounds that mirrors the prickly juxtaposition of classic jazz.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Logos
    The album is intimate, tuneful, and exciting. You don't even have to know who Bradford Cox is to get a lot of enjoyment out of Logos, and that's saying something indeed.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kill
    While the album lacks a certain degree of accessibility and thematic coherence, Electric Six's wiseass humor and, moreover, their superior technical skill make Kill an energetic, frenzied party of a record.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The BQE
    His ideas are realized with the confidence of a seasoned composer, comfortable with implementing all corners of the orchestra to wondrous effect.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    I Told You I Was Freaky
    The material is better served in context, complete with music videos and framed with dialogue, whereas as a standalone record it misses more than it hits.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Is Not Pop
    This is pop with a light touch and a tremendously heavy heart; it only qualifies as easy listening if you can distance yourself from Assbring's expressive singing.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mo Beauty
    The album is weighed down by too many slower-paced ballads, but on the whole Ounsworth's songwriting and singing abilities have mated with the New Orleans atmosphere to produce something special.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Embryonic
    Embryonic, then, sounds like an over-correction to that trend, pushing the Lips's sound back into more experimental territory.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Christmas In The Heart
    Profoundly weird but still cozy, Christmas in the Heart paints an appealing holiday picture: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost scratching at your ears.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Music For Men
    It's hard to hear Men as anything but a letdown, the sound of a genuinely talented band struggling to take the proverbial next step.
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