The Guardian's Scores

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For 5,504 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 49% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 All Born Screaming
Lowest review score: 10 Unpredictable
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,965 out of 5504
  2. Mixed: 2,462 out of 5504
  3. Negative: 77 out of 5504
5504 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Renaissance
    Cloaking its eclecticism with a homogenising sheen, the album's frequent changes of mood and direction dazzle.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    YTILAER
    Accompanying him for the hour that Reality lasts makes for an endlessly fascinating journey.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I'll Tell You What!
    RP Boo’s third album for the Planet Mu label, I’ll Tell You What!, sees this originality in full force.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    West
    It's the unrelenting power of the two-chord drones, though, that is the real draw here, bass and drums throbbing hard enough to add a real heartbeat to songs that might otherwise seem insubstantial enough to melt away. It's enervating, sunbaked and, for all that, rather thrilling.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jaiyede Afro
    He's still in rousing form on this new set, recorded with London's the Heliocentrics.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Apricity
    Syd Arthur never forget to write a tune for the sake of muso self-indulgence. There is a lightness to Liam Magill’s voice: it’s soulful without over-emoting, like Paul McCartney or Glenn Tilbrook.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Some Loud Thunder
    Whatever it lacks in straightforward pop tunes, this album makes up for in rich, multilayered weirdness.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Speak Now
    At times the self-consciousness of an artist forcing herself into new modes shows – but mostly, Speak Now is a triumph.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spell My Name
    Spell My Name shows Braxton hasn’t lost her broad vocal range or her ability to slot into multiple mood playlists. It has everything you want from a full-bodied R&B record: songs to cry to, vibe to, and make babies to.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    High Violet
    Crafted from humming guitars, tinkling pianos, militaristic drumming and occasional orchestration, their fifth album is beautifully subtle and grows in power with each listen.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whispers
    Rosenberg's strength is storytelling, and Whispers brims with striking vignettes.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    [Seven Tears] builds gently, then feverishly, shivering with love. This whole album carries the same liberating feeling throughout.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nobody's Smiling
    Common has crafted one of the best hip-hop albums of the year so far.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Breakin' Outta Hell
    Hard rock albums stand or fall by their riffs, and Airbourne have them by the truckload. They’ve seen no reason to evolve their modus operandi.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bright Like Neon Love
    The results are both familiar and fresh and should delight anyone disappointed by New Order's recent album.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hesitation Marks
    Any fans missing the brutal force of Head Like a Hole are pointed towards Copy of A and Came Back Haunted, two of the strongest tunes of his career.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You In Reverse
    It all sounds lovely.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Praise & Blame
    It's grand, and at last Jones the artist is the match of Jones the entertainer.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ma Fleur
    Neither jazz nor trip-hop nor any other label you might care to slap on it, Ma Fleur delineates an immensely moving, utterly distinct night-time world which is a pleasure to inhabit.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Flesh Tone
    As with her previous records, her fifth studio album doesn't sound like anyone else – she and producers David Guetta, Benny Benassi and others have concocted a dance, cosmic techno and R&B mix that's stamped with her unique take on things
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wolf's Law
    This is one for speakers, not headphones, a great dense whoosh of music that makes you feel like the bloke in the old Maxell tapes advert.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Visiter
    At 59 minutes, it feels long, but that's the price you pay for experiments such as 'The Season' and charming oddities such as 'God?,' a bit of laid-back Americana employing sleigh bells. It's easy to see why they were a bit of a sensation at SXSW.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Still Summer in the Projects
    DJ Mustard produces throughout with some of his most sumptuous work: the hydraulic bounce of his dry claps and snares is met with lubricious chords and strange, meandering melodies. Greedo enhances the psychedelia with a series of truly inspired top-lines fed through Auto-Tune, recalling T-Pain’s lovelorn cadence.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2
    The Boys' trademark nerdy raps are as inimitable as ever.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Death Had Quicker Wings Than Love
    Throughout, Waterson’s command wrenches, cossets and hugely impresses.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings
    [The songs] are anthemic and wild, a joyful rawness underpinned by frontman James Alex’s scratchy growl, which sounds as if it’s being transmitted from a concrete submarine base.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Guero
    Guero's easy, confident flow makes it easy to underrate but, despite his reputation as a slacker, Beck's biggest weakness has always been trying too hard. It's good to hear him so happy in his own clothes.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sun Coming Down
    You can hear the staples of alternative music--Wire, Mission of Burma, the Fall--running through every note of their second album. But it’s performed with a kind of relaxed intensity that’s utterly engrossing.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aftershock
    Raging against the reaper is hardly new 'Head territory, but Lemmy hasn't sounded this engaged with his art in years.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Slow Rush
    There’s everything from an Italian house piano to acid house 808s. But fundamentally, for all its genre-blending, The Slow Rush is stunningly pure and heartfelt pop.
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