Sputnikmusic's Scores

  • Music
For 2,391 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 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: 100 The Seer
Lowest review score: 10 The Path of Totality
Score distribution:
2391 music reviews
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Hawk Is Howling is just an ambiguous mixture of the band's past.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Twelve Years might not put Daytrader on quite the same level as recent releases by labelmates Hot Water Music, Cheap Girls, and Sharks but they're well on their way.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Time Team, while displaying shades of true brilliance, is simply an album that doesn't know what it wants to be, and makes the adjustment to compensate for its lack of identity far too late; which is odd, given how well it was doing up until that point.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Whatever they ought to be doing is lost in mess of lame ideas buoyed by big hooks and pop flourishes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    With its return to a more straight-forward approach, ‘This Addiction’ does hark back to the likes of ‘Goddamnit’ and ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’. Unfortunately, while not being a bad album, it is not a patch on those seminal earlier releases…. Simply a solid recycling of their much-loved sound.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It’s an enjoyable ride, I can’t take that away from it, but replayability is slim and it quickly unveils humdrum and vapid songwriting the more you settle yourself into it. As with any album post De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Daemon serves up another solid dose of black metal that pales next to the album that started it all.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This could well have been a much better album than it is. Still, there's enough here to indicate that Nash's obvious natural flair for songwriting will blossom, and that her fearless voice will only get better with experience.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    What ultimately holds Flamingo together is its consistency; a trait which is not exactly synonymous with The Killers. It could be argued that there is not a single bad song included amongst its ten tracks (although it pays not to closely inspect the four bonus cuts included on the Deluxe Edition of the LP) and all are in some way catchy. It makes for a sound and interesting listen, but one which still leaves listeners a little disappointed.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Even with the missteps and occasional ennui, Terrestrials is a welcome merger between two insuppressible forces in the industry today, which should leave us all curious about what their next cloak-and-dagger collaboration will sound like.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While the instrumental mastery still impresses as always, the end result remains enjoyable but ultimately missing a key aspect of what made the driving, mechanical sound of Meshuggah so worthwhile in the first place.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Their debut LP does succeed, however, in meeting the expectations of their target demographic; delivering a consistent batch of ten catchy tracks that waste very little time getting to their contagious choruses.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sennett's overwhelming perfectionism, his pursuit for the ideal pop song, is just as likely to submerge him in soft rock cliches and painfully obtuse lyricism as it is likely to lead him to an aces country-rock tune that sounds like the best song Fleetwood Mac never made.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While I may appreciate this album despite some of its fundamental flaws, I'm still not exactly clamoring for another Chili Peppers record. As stated before, I'm With You doesn't suggest a future for the band: instead, it showcases one stuck in the mud, capable of churning its wheels but not moving forward.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bloom has continued making Beach House a Thing in indie music, a band that has a feasible future, that won't be just forgotten and left by the wayside. It's nothing to get excited about.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A mixed bag that gathers the good, the average, and the bad. A melange of familiar echoes which, while not a symphony of destruction, still do enough damage to keep the brand alive and kicking.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    These are the blunders we have come to expect from Wayne, but we expect to be compensated for our time with some classic tracks, and on Carter IV, there are none.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    As the marginal progression of Waking Up attests, OneRepublic gladly mix things up a little. Unfortunately, whether it be through compromise, confusion or otherwise, they are still to find their consistent sweet spot.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    IX
    The robust rock songs fall flat, rarely achieving lift off from their rote, chugging origins, while even the band’s worst proggish impulses are neatly trimmed down into manageable four-minutes-and-under transitions and slapped with a typically Trail of Dead-ian name, a middle finger in disguise. Only closer “Sound Of The Silk” really marries the two histories of the band into the kind of complete performance that made Tao of the Dead such a thrilling ride.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's still a decent addition to Atmosphere's discography, but if you're expecting something on the level of GodLovesUgly or When Life Gives You Lemons..., you may want to look elsewhere first.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    On the whole, The Odd Couple has a much more unified atmosphere, but in quality the album is sporadic and unpredictable.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Chromatica’s main flaw lies in its indecisiveness. Lady Gaga has a number of great ideas on this thing, but the problem is that she doesn’t know how to make them work with any pragmatic fluidity. There’s a lot of redeeming qualities to the tracks, but it’s a patchwork job more often than not.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I guess once you define hip-hop you can't really go anywhere but down, but unlike of any of the other Wu-Tang Clan albums 8 Diagrams is able to stretch itself out of the shadow of "Enter the Wu-Tang" which in itself makes this an impressive record.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bouzilich however, does have some good ideas and there are some very good moments to be found on Hello, Voyager, it's just the convoluted mess of ideas that is the rest of the album overwhelms its strongest points.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Thus when taking in Attack on Memory as a whole, it sounds as if Cloud Nothings are, despite their best efforts, a pop band at heart.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    iii
    It’s a pleasantly relaxed portrait of a band kicking back and stretching its legs.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While she has not found Torn Mk.II and continues to prove her weaknesses as a vocalist, Imbruglia has at least shown some much welcome diversity here. That, along with her hallmark sweet melodies, means that Come To Life is at least worth a listen.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    For all its inadequacies, Dignity is a solid, cleverly-constructed pop album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Get Awkward, as an album, is a step up, and it certainly has highs and lows, but what I’m really missing here are things like "Bicycle Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle" or even “October, First Account,” songs that really stick out.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    If Turner can return to his best--and there's reason to suspect he can't--then the possibilities open to them are potentially limitless. Then, Humbug will be seen a stepping stone. That's certainly how it feels now.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    For better or for worse--you'll like it because of the music it reminds you of, but you won't love it for exactly the same reason.