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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    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Swanlights
    Swanlights reveals a portrait of the artist looking upward and onward beyond anguish.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Replica
    It makes for a fascinating addition to the already-extensive OPN catalogue.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Get What You Give
    Perhaps what's most encouraging about You Get What You Give, though, is that Zac Brown Band hasn't played it safe. Instead, they've played fast and loose with a set of influences that owe far less to country music than to Southern rock, jam bands, and reggae.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
    Frightened Rabbit has always relied quite heavily on its members' charm, and for the most part, Mixed Drinks preserves that beautifully.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sex Change
    Sex Change, like some of the best pieces by the Boredoms or Glenn Branca or Eno, is a startlingly fun album to listen to.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Years Of Refusal
    As the album proceeds, Morrissey simply sounds like a superior version of the singer he's always been.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Widow's Weeds
    Widow’s Weeds may lack the arena-sized atmospherics and anthemic party songs of past Silversun Pickups efforts, but with each additional listen the hooks sink in deeper and the melodies stay longer in your head. It’s catchy, heartfelt, and far less forgettable than…what were those previous two albums named again?
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spellling & the Mystery School
    Her lyrics have always been gut-wrenching, but what sets Spellling & the Mystery School apart from her past work is how seamlessly and vividly those words have been reinterpreted. With a vibrant kaleidoscope of sounds and ethereal ambiance, Cabral brings both her fantasy world and reality to life.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Overgrown
    Blessed with a strange, ethereal voice, he could easily excel at music that matches its dulcet tones, but the pungent mixtures of high and low he concocts end up being far more thrilling.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Far In
    Exemplifying the album’s lo-fi aesthetic, these songs juxtapose staccato beats and watery synths, highlighting Lange’s knack for constructing minimally psychedelic but seductively melodic soundscapes.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fine Line
    Fine Line is very much a document of a 25-year-old deep in the process of figuring out not just what kind of musician he wants to be, but what kind of person. The path from cookie-cutter boy-band member to bona fide rock star is one fraught with a lot to prove both personally and publically, and yet it’s one Styles seems to be navigating with an eagerness to learn, to experience and to experiment.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Compositions
    But even as he eschews evocative song titles and instrumentation, Compositions nonetheless makes for a haunting, gloomy, and often challenging experience. And when the repetitive throbs finally subside after 41 minutes, the silence left in their wake feels nothing short of monumental.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lenses Alien
    All three of those bands masterfully juggle creative lyrics with equally inventive music, something Cymbals Eat Guitars comes very close to achieving on Lenses Alien.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tough Love
    Tough Love is an album that reveals itself gradually, reducing this ever-beguiling artist down to her essence, while offering ample opportunity for her to develop her technique.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Burn Your Fire for No Witness
    Burn Your Fire for No Witness is noisier, brasher, and more confident than its languid predecessor.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Exai
    Exai represents a career-spanning work, one that encapsulates almost every phase of their evolving aesthetic, and whether you're a fan of their early work or their recent output, it stands as a remarkable synthesis that coheres only through the deftness of its sonic architects.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Head First
    As Will Gregory's superimposed sonic backgrounds flit by like the green-screen projections of some fickle, seemingly opportunist sci-fi magician, singer and namesake Alison Goldfrapp's voice--ethereal, otherworldly, but always human--remains a constant variable, the cord that connects all of Goldfrapp's disparate, but equally captivating, incarnations.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Price of Progress
    The Price of Progress proves that they haven’t forgotten what made them great.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With a Hammer
    But for each jagged, dissonant song that Yaeji hurls into the mix, there’s a smoother, more melodic counterpart, showcasing the artist’s intuitive sense of balance. The album’s more straightforward tracks, like “For Granted” and “Done (Let’s Get It),” serve as a testament to Yaeji’s ability to craft infectious hooks without sacrificing her distinctive experimental edge.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wikked Lil' Grrrls
    Establishes her as the progenitor of what could be called electro-ethno-pop.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    reputation
    It's Swift's willingness to portray herself not as a victim, but the villain of her own story that makes Reputation such a fascinatingly thorny glimpse inside the mind of pop's reigning princess.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dance Mother
    Even when they occasionally stumble ever so slightly under the weight of their own ambition, the reckless, adventuring spirit that comprises Dance Mother is one of the compelling things that makes it sound like one of the more exciting debut albums to emerge in long while.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Charlatans At the Garden Gate
    The basic mastery of these songs, the way they skip between styles and voices, while maintaining a strict level of lyrical and vocal quality, is a great accomplishment in itself, especially on a debut.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bare Bones
    It is, in other words, a rejection of progression and passage for mood and form. Peyroux mastered such silken aura long ago, and while that may make the album somewhat of a retread, it's a playful one nonetheless.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Devotion
    Despite the myriad references [Sade, Aaliyah]... it's clear Ware has found a voice of her own on Devotion.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    LIFE ON EARTH
    The album takes the listener on a journey—one that’s as satisfying as it is because Hurray for the Riff Raff covers so much new musical territory with such self-assuredness, from guitar-heavy indie rock (“Pointed at the Sun”) to folk-punk (“Rhododendron”) to hip-hop (“Precious Cargo”). Indeed, with Life on Earth, they’ve achieved something truly enviable: a fresh start.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rapor [EP]
    Grossi's ability to deftly assimilate these more pop-oriented artists into his oeuvre is a testament to his growth since You Are All I See, resulting in his most confident release to date.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Little Bird
    Chambers just gets structure, and it's that know-how that makes Little Bird one of her finest albums.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
    Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers can be emotionally ugly and unpleasant, but it never feels less than completely authentic to Lamar’s personal journey. It’s thankfully levied with glimpses of joy and melodic hooks.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dunes
    Goldsworthy has built a stratum of battered, creaky atmosphere atop Gardens & Villa's already richly layered mood.
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