The Boston Phoenix's Scores
- Music
For 1,091 reviews, this publication has graded:
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63% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: | Pink | |
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Lowest review score: | Last of a Dyin' Breed |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 956 out of 1091
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Mixed: 88 out of 1091
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Negative: 47 out of 1091
1091
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
From moment to moment, Never's oddball quality can be a blessing, but it becomes more of a curse when the moment passes and there's little besides disparate pieces to hold onto.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 18, 2012
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- Critic Score
Although the band's sonic stew isn't particularly remarkable or consistent (instrumentation oscillates between warm and comforting, and distant and anemic), their lyrics have a peculiar charm that keeps them alluring.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 17, 2012
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- Critic Score
MTMTMK is infinitely more fascinating when it's pushing the envelope, mixing weirdness and darkness into the radiant multi-culti stew.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 17, 2012
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- Critic Score
With one foot rooted in the past, the band is yet pushing forward, with an album that promises longevity and, maybe, greatness.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 17, 2012
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- Critic Score
It's nothing new, sure, but it's proof that mining from the past is a surefire way to keep things sounding familiar yet fresh.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 11, 2012
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- Critic Score
Smith seems to struggle with whether he wants to write emotional pop songs or dark experimental soundscapes, but the push and pull between the two sentiments is ultimately gorgeous.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 10, 2012
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- Critic Score
1991 is all about the bubble-popping lushness of "Van Vogue" and the hall-of-mirrors shimmer of "Liquorice." It's also about the summer, and showing more of Banks than just her breakout hit.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 10, 2012
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 10, 2012
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- Critic Score
With their debut full-length, Brooklyn pop quintet Friends have released the best pop album of the summer.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 3, 2012
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- Critic Score
When Longstreth uses his newfound focus to shake up his methods... the results are often startling.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 3, 2012
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[At times on Wild Peace] you might wonder if Echo Lake are merely a caricature of every previous shoegaze and dream-pop outfit. What saves the duo is how splendidly their iridescent sounds can evoke a moment, allowing listeners to lose themselves in the music.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jul 3, 2012
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- Critic Score
Throw It to the Universe, number six on the docket by the sextet, keeps pace with past efforts despite dragging at times.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 26, 2012
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- Critic Score
Cosmically in tune and harmony-rich, they excel in presenting their colorful, kaleidoscopic view of the world.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 22, 2012
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- Critic Score
All of this should be terrible or grating, but because it kisses and licks every flaw and quirk with such purposeful gusto, the result is immensely entertaining and kind of magical.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 22, 2012
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- Critic Score
It's a refined sense of balance that sets her apart from Grouper and Julia Holter, artists to whom Evans is too often compared.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 21, 2012
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 19, 2012
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- Critic Score
Her fourth album is arguably her funniest ... but also her leanest and most melodically daring.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 19, 2012
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Take this, the album's third legit release (which, by the way, sounds so balls you can practically hear the dank nugs), pop it in, turn out all the lights, face Mecca, and bow down.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 8, 2012
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Less polished than its predecessor, 2009's Fantasies, Synthetica brings all the varied influences and styles together in perfect synchronization.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 8, 2012
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- Critic Score
Aside from the highlights, though, other cuts here fall short of album quality, especially the last three selections, which are paint-by-number displays of chops and over-seriousness.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 7, 2012
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 1, 2012
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- Critic Score
If there was ever a worry of the Hives maturing- or simply becoming less like the Hives - there isn't anymore.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 1, 2012
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- Critic Score
An inspired, exhilarating spectacle that makes good on its gang vocals, feel-good (but not cheesy) lyrics, pleasantly muddy production, and galloping sense of self-confidence.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 29, 2012
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- Critic Score
Feel-good nostalgia meets the stoned Dazed and Confused-types and the glam-punks halfway. The album's fuzzed-out appeal ... makes it a summer go-to disc.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 29, 2012
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Kozelek's guitar playing is predictably tremendous, what with all those incessant triads and nervous arpeggios. But at 17(!) tracks, many of them floundering for melody and meaning, this is the first SKM release to spin its wheels.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 29, 2012
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It's hard to find many flaws in this new disc from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 24, 2012
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Past Time was mostly content to present Grass Widow's aesthetic--cooing, ethereal gang vocals, sinewy guitars, a general state of breeziness--as opposed to Internal Logic, where those things are part of far more memorable songs.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 24, 2012
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- Critic Score
Fire from the Sky fully returns the band to what made Shadows Fall so appealing in the first place--without taking a step backward.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 22, 2012
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 21, 2012
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- Critic Score
This is the longest the band has had the same lineup, which adds to the overall tightness from start to finish.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted May 21, 2012
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