Under The Radar's Scores

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For 5,864 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 40% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 56% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 Kid A Mnesia
Lowest review score: 0 Burned Mind
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,057 out of 5864
  2. Mixed: 1,677 out of 5864
  3. Negative: 130 out of 5864
5864 music reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    My Soft Machine
    There’s still a gingerliness to her songwriting, where at points you wish for less apologies and a more strident course—but that’s the take from someone whose 30s are in the rearview and knows fully well the world still doesn’t make sense. Besides, Parks’ candor and lyricism aches with a youthful tenderness so full of heart that it can trump any perceived failing in this near perfect follow up.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
    The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte is another funny, sad, clever, stupid, artful, basic, beautiful journey into Sparks’ peculiarly well-crafted universe, resistant to external gridding, and a spectacular example of one of music’s most beguiling and bewildering bands.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everyone's Crushed
    Ultimately, Everyone’s Crushed is the summer soundtrack for those that hate summery soundtracks.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Fistful of Peaches
    A Fistful of Peaches proves that Black Honey continue to pack a huge punch both musically and lyrically, as they continue to evolve and grow.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    End of Everything
    End of Everything is an efficient and tightly packed record, and one that should be required listening for all generations.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    The Answer Is Always Yes
    Lahey grounds the whole endeavor in the everyday, but elevates those experiences in a pointedly emotional and supremely accessible way, making The Answer Is Always Yes an absolute, unfettered joy. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.81]
    • 79 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Garden Party
    Maybe it was inevitable that Johnson’s Rose City Band would drift into extended noodles over time. A threat that Earth Trip neatly avoided until its closing moments. Even that album’s centerpiece, “In The Rain,” steered clear of excesses in spite of running longer than anything here.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    An Inbuilt Fault
    An Inbuilt Fault never unravels its hypertension into something as easy as “Confirmation (SSBD),” which makes it both more interesting and less satisfying listen that its predecessor. But that’s the fine line Westerman works in. An Inbuilt Fault plays with that line, and it’s tightly wound as ever.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything Harmony
    If you’re looking for any influences from anytime later than 1975, I’m afraid Everything Harmony is not for you. But this is never pastiche. This is just music that harks back 25 years before the writers were born.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Experimental Health
    As with previous Telescopes releases, Experimental Health is both an unsettling and rewarding listen that sits proudly alongside some of Lawrie’s finest works.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    That! Feels Good!
    What’s Your Pleasure? is a glass of red wine and a cigarette; That! Feels Good! is a shot of tequila and a line of…something stronger. ... It takes a steady hand to be as over-the-top as That! Feels Good! and still retain an air of class, something Ware manages to do almost impossibly. She saves the full poignancy of her vocals for just the right moment.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All of This Will End
    The album closes with the astonishing "Younger & Dumber," which should go on the short list of greatest final statements in recent memory. ... Like the rest of this glimmering record, there's hope at the heart of it. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.80]
    • 74 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Barefoot on Diamond Road
    This is a collection that should reaffirm Annelotte de Graaf as one of the finest European songwriters of her generation. Barefoot on Diamond Road is a magnificent return that also whets the appetite for what might come next, as the scope of those wares holds no bounds.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    V
    Even if V isn't as shadowy or nuanced as its reference point, it's a reminder that sometimes, it's nicest to just sit in the sun for a bit. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.82]
    • Under The Radar
      • Posted Apr 25, 2023
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Continue as a Guest
    Feels almost like a victory lap, a new offering of their classic sound. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.81]
    • Under The Radar
      • Posted Apr 25, 2023
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Radical Romantics
    Scrupulous in its detail, Radical Romantics is both innovative and entertaining, showcasing an original and unique spin on nuanced electro rock with seductive grooves. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.80]
    • Under The Radar
      • Posted Apr 25, 2023
    • 74 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Plus Ultra
    Its Chappaqua Wrestling’s unerring ability to create a record where no two songs sound the same that makes Plus Ultra a delectable listen from start to finish. All killer with no time for filler. So, across all 11 tracks it feels like a ride, or more specifically a collection of diary entries set to music.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Star Eaters Delight
    Given Star Eaters Delight’s briefer running time than its predecessor, Neale has put together a tight package of an album with no stray notes but one also brimming with a sly multitude of ideas. Kudos to Neale for not playing it safe and simultaneously doing something wholly different than anyone else out there.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Glorious Game
    In both the familiar and the unexpected, Black Thought is perfectly at ease. He finds ample room and inspiration in Michels’ thoughtful production to reflect on his life.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Live at the Whisky 1977 [Box Set]
    Fantastic, four-CD set.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    A River Running to Your Heart
    This is a golden-hued, multi-faceted gem of an album that charms and impresses in subtle and carefully shaded ways. If somehow you’re not familiar with Johnson, this is the perfect moment to dive in.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Big Picture
    The record is the most full, warm, and light Lily’s songwriting has ever felt.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
    So while Del Rey is still the same sepia-tinted, sun-soaked American aesthete that she once was, there are real lifetime stamps all over Did you know that conjure a biographical sincerity, instigating a personal closeness.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    the record
    In every sense, it is a union of its creators’ art and voices. It’s an album in conversation with their EP, with their inspirations, and with their solo work, resulting in one of the rare cases where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blondshell
    It’s a testament to her songwriting skills and sensitivity that she can take potentially difficult subject matter and still make it feel both relatable and uplifting, and it’s certainly an album that serves as a reminder that there is light even in the darkest of places.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With a Hammer
    The result is a record that is kinetic and dynamic, paralleling its lyrical explorations.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rat Saw God
    The shrugged shoulder irony of real life places such as the Adam & Eve sex shop or a Southern-themed amusement park give Rat Saw God its substance. The slurred lines of dual guitars and pedal steel that run rampant over most of its course provide the PICC line to serve it up to you.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Cherry Stars Collide: Dream Pop, Shoegaze & Ethereal Rock 1986-1995
    Overall, Cherry Stars Collide is an impressive collection that acts as a gateway to discovering a host of bands and artists that previously would have gone recognized, and that alone makes this boxset an indispensable artifact.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Miracle-Level
    In less capable hands, this sonic goulash could sound incoherent or sloppy, but that’s the magic of Deerhoof; they take all of these disparate elements and somehow transfigure them into cohesive songs. At its core, Miracle-Level is a celebration of the human spirit, one that offers optimism and wonder in the face of pessimism and hopelessness.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Price of Progress
    The track [Understudies] underscores how, after 20 years, The Hold Steady is hardly a restrictive creative framework, while The Price of Progress reminds longtime fans why they continue to look forward to each album.
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