Sputnikmusic's Scores
- Music
For 2,388 reviews, this publication has graded:
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53% higher than the average critic
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2% same as the average critic
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45% 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: | The Seer | |
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Lowest review score: | The Path of Totality |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,768 out of 2388
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Mixed: 542 out of 2388
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Negative: 78 out of 2388
2388
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
Appropriately, the music across In Lieu of Flowers is the fullest, boldest, and most confident-sounding of the side-project’s entire discography. But honestly, with a story this poignant, potent, and cathartic, the melodies almost become an afterthought. In Lieu of Flowers is the perfect conclusion to a story for the ages; come, gather around, and experience some of the best songwriting of a generation.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 25, 2024
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A Chaos of Flowers marks a productive new chapter in their trajectory, sure, but above all, it represents the very best of what Big|Brave have to offer: emotion in desolation, destruction in grace.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 24, 2024
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What sets the album apart from what they’ve churned out the past 18 years is its ability to channel exactly what has always made them great, while injecting a renewed sense of genuine musical creativity that finally sticks it to the tired notion that all they needed to do was play around with a new gimmick.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 23, 2024
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The Tortured Poets Department is too pulseless to inspire anything at all – and so when Swift does lay down the occasional track with colour in her cheeks, the results tend to tower over the rest of the album regardless of any visible issues they bear. Practically every one of the its greatest highlights is a glaring case-in-point for one or another of its recurrent flaws, yet transcends them through sheer pep and conviction.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 22, 2024
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The Tortured Poets Department is a complex album to even perceive because there is an oversaturation of surrounding context. If you whittle it straight down to what matters, however – the music and the lyrics – it’s an excellent record despite its tremendous length and monotonous tempo (discounting ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart' here, which is an absolute bop). There are beautiful instrumental accents and interesting production flourishes throughout, and Swift continues to illustrate lyrical growth even though it has always been her strong suit.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 22, 2024
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Overall, Dark Matter ended up as the most interesting and energized record since Backspacer. It seems pushing the band to work fast in the studio yields better results. Of course, most of the material here sounds familiar, but the members feel once more invested in it.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 19, 2024
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WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU has little to offer on basically any front. On the drama front, there are no haymakers or grand declarations. There are a few guests that stop by ala Mr. Rodgers style to give low-effort mumblings to the effect of “Drake Sucks,” but much of the project is devoid of anything compelling enough to hang your hat on.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 18, 2024
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It’s a nostalgic release full of wisdom, like hearing from an old friend, providing the kind of evening fireside soundtrack which hits just right in a particular mood. If nothing else, it’s a marvel how much emotion Knopfler, getting on in years, can still eke out of those guitar strings.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 15, 2024
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There are those moments, here and there, when patience isn’t quite rewarded. .... The package as a whole however, those moments when the Pit of Language returns intoned into the drone and choir of Tar & Feathers, those moments where all of the haunted brilliance of Neubauten are on full display again, that same soul that made the subterranean abscesses of the bloated, dying West its echo chamber and forced it to confront itself.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 15, 2024
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It’s a humble but heartfelt effort which manages to tap into a font of cosmic beauty, and a delightful gift brought to you from these aging rockers.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 12, 2024
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Sadly, the relative adventurousness of Girl of My Dreams has been traded in for trite stadium-pop fodder that doesn’t play into Fletcher’s core strengths as an artist.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 11, 2024
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When Only God Was Above Us isn’t shattering glass ceilings, it’s delivering some of the most beautiful but disquieting indie-rock in recent memory.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 8, 2024
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In its most proficient moments, Older is heartbreaking, raw, confessional, melodically ethereal, and outright fun in flashes. These moments definitely outnumber the record’s more unfocused offerings.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 5, 2024
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There’s glimmers of the old brilliance here and there of course. Exotic BOP may be a pale, miserable ghost of the glory days, but there’s life to be found in Angela, its funk line feeling like it's going to be the root of something that’s about to flourish, but whoops, there it goes into its weird low-effort basement style as Stas THEE Boss delivers a verse that’s passable enough, but which doesn’t do anything to dig the rest of the track from out of its own mire.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 4, 2024
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In the end, Interplay feels like something of an incoherent mess if looked at with a microscope, but zoom a bit further out and it maintains enough of a “vibe” to feel at least somewhat cohesive, while also being a fun listen which should be even more enjoyable as the sun comes out and the temperature climbs.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 4, 2024
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If we got 10-12 solid tracks in the vein of “16 Carriages” or “II Most Wanted”, Cowboy Carter could have been a slam dunk. Unfortunately, the record stands as a bloated mess that doesn’t fully know what it wants to be.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 3, 2024
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Even if she is done splaying out the furthest boundaries of her sound, one can hardly complain that she's doubling down on the qualities she's always excelled at when she sounds as refreshed and refreshing as she does here.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Apr 1, 2024
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Many of these tracks do just straight up bang on an instinctual level. But in those times that this does work, when this really gets down to being something that ignites the mind and the heart, it does so very much in spite of its intellectual and artistic veneer, and not because of it.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 29, 2024
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With Heaven :x: Hell, what Sum 41 has given us is a true grand finale, and it's one worth reveling in.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 28, 2024
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This is a good album for a band as deep into their career as Elbow, but it’s also worthwhile even without that qualifier. The band aren’t getting any younger, but they are getting wiser and, dare I say, more fun.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 26, 2024
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Back with a bang so refined it’s positively deafening, BLUE LIPS is an intriguing, befuddling, unique collection of songs that signals the start of a new era for ScHoolboy Q: the man who survived the CrasH.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 25, 2024
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Compared to its highly-praised predecessor, Bright Future might come up just short, brought down by its occasional unevenness in quality and weaker coherence as a full listen, but this latest album contains a multitude of Lenker’s finest work yet, while suggesting her reign at the top of indie-dom might be only just beginning. This is a triumphant work from an ascendant artist, and, oh yeah, also one of the finer folk albums of recent years.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 25, 2024
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Another stylistic pivot in the future could prevent Waxahatchee from settling into too predictable of a groove, but even if she stays the course, it's clear with Tigers Blood that she's discovered a sustainable winning formula.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 22, 2024
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It's a solid album by anyone's standards, and a real testament to Four Tet's unassuming mastery that he folds such a range of stylings together without any individual one going out of its way to announce itself as such (we'll forgive the geetar).- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 21, 2024
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WORLD WIDE WHACK is just another example of how Tierra Whack is so good at carefully removing the barriers between vocal performances, genres, and even emotions that it always ends up looking like no trouble at all.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 21, 2024
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For as poor as Man of the Woods was, at least it was ambitious…unlike whatever this amorphous clump of hackneyed trends is.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 20, 2024
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The group tried something different here and it really works. Overall, ROCKMAKER stands as one of the group’s most cohesive LPs in a long time, automatically making it easier to follow through and digest.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 18, 2024
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While it certainly has a few weaker tracks, the core of the record is truly breathtaking to behold. It’s a moment of self-discovery and commitment to growth that eschews the lavish tendencies of Star-Crossed for something more personal, honest, and vulnerable.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 15, 2024
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His mastery of synths and the quality of his songwriting are apparent, but there also lies some regret that the album doesn't feature more vocals - Adigery's charisma and electricity sure helped Topical Dancer in that regard.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 13, 2024
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If Firepower was Judas Priest proving that they’ve still “got it”, Invincible Shield is them making sure no one else will steal their crown. Plenty of veteran classic metal acts are kicking around to this day, but none of them (not even Iron Maiden) still sound as vital, fresh, or vibrant as Judas Priest.- Sputnikmusic
- Posted Mar 12, 2024
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