Village Voice's Scores

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For 764 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 47% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 50% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 The Naked Truth
Lowest review score: 10 God Says No
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 517 out of 764
  2. Mixed: 199 out of 764
  3. Negative: 48 out of 764
764 music reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A Little Bit Longer
    Too many of these songs get bogged down in chord changes and lyrics likely to sound worn-out even to a 10-year-old.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Simply Grand
    Her voice is rich, finely textured, and more expressive now than when it hit r&b charts in the 1960s. But her recordings can sound monotonous. That's not true here.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fasciinatiion
    Mostly the fascination here is with sounds-not-songs, which is fine for the year Portishead came back, as long as the Faint have enough dial tones and farts swiped from Thom Yorke's basement tapes to deck out Fink's traditionally one-note delivery when attention wanders.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Harps And Angels
    Newman is a master of sardonic humor, be it subtle or slapstick. Harps and Angels is further proof.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Preteen Weaponry
    Weaponry is essential: a particularly overwhelming headphones album not unlike some of Boredoms' more hypnotic work.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Waiting For The Sunrise
    If Vandervelde's new set struggles to generate the same charge, maybe that's because it doesn't approach its source material with the same aggression or playfulness.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    22 Dreams
    22 Dreams, Weller's ninth solo effort, is complete bollocks.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Partie Traumatic
    As far as eagerly anticipated debuts go, Partie Traumatic is loose and unforced in its extreme eagerness to please.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fate
    Highlights of Fate coming back 'round one last time give satisfying closure, but also tease what's coming when it's inevitably cued up again.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Breakout
    The only thing Britney ever did better was cut loose, and even through Breakout's title suggests both a debutante's cotillion (leaving Disneyland and entering the airwaves) and an emotional liberation, Miley often sounds held-back and controlled.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Laulu Laakson Kukista
    It's chaotic, but extremely beautiful and endlessly fascinating.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stay Positive
    Though the result doesn't quite reach the rarefied heights of 2005's Separation Sunday or the following year's nearly equally great follow-up, Boys and Girls in America, it fits nicely alongside LCD Soundsystem's "Sound of Silver" and the National's "Boxer" as a poignant example of veteran artists maturing gracefully, capturing that feeling you get just after the peak, when you've started noticing the decline but haven't figured out what to do about it yet.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Untitled
    Controversy aside, without any truly addictive tracks, you can't consider Nas's latest among his greatest. But it's hard not to appreciate the effort.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mar Dulce
    No doubt about it, from first note to last, Mar Dulce (loose translation: "the Sweet Sea") is a most tasty dive.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic
    The clever (and accurate) branding that associated the warm, metallic grids of those thumb pianos (or likembes) with repetitive electronic music. On that front, 7th Moon doesn't disappoint a bit.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Como te Llama
    ¿Cómo Te Llama? is best when the songs seem to shake and quaver within their candy-coated shells; fittingly, that’s when they’re at their Strokes-iest.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Two Men With The Blues
    Sure, the novelty helps, and if it recurs too often, the glee of hearing Nelson and Marsalis mesh will diminish. But hearing once how they play with and against each other is a real treat.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    LP3
    LP3 is a stronger outing, though it's not necessarily harder or faster.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Coral Sea
    Like all of her wordplay--as written, sometimes spontaneously spoken, and occasionally sung--it fits.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hercules And Love Affair
    The party holds strong into the second half, where the comedown always muddles the songwriting a little. Surprise: Antony's dramatic ululations return to rescue the trawling sonics.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fire Songs
    Fire Songs isn't a masterpiece, but it's in the right ZIP code.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Party Intellectuals
    No surprise, Ribot's versatility as a guitarist is the main draw here.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Digi Snacks
    For all the extracurricular drama, it's pretty good.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Viva La Vida
    When the pastoral Eno flourishes that started Vida off so promisingly return for a quick coda, Martin reverts back to his suavely crooning self, but blows it with his first four words: "And in the end . . . . " Bam, you're thinking 'Abbey Road,' and while Vida is far from a dog, it's just another unflattering comparison that the record itself needlessly invites--an extremely overconfident way to handle a crisis of confidence.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Devil, You + Me
    Fortunately, The Devil, You + Me shows that the Notwist been keeping their ears to the street and their asses in the studio since releasing 2002's indie-synth breakthrough "Neon Golden."
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Thousand Shark's Teeth
    [The album] exude grace and vocal excellence in the realm of Art Garfunkel or Kate Bush--a consequence of the earth-shattering stakes at hand. The rub is that Shark's Teeth is better than good.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace
    The patchwork of styles thrown around here distracts you from the album's strengths.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Diamond Hoo Ha
    Now Diamond Hoo Ha, find Supergrass mired in a sort of stasis. We always knew the lads were limited to just three chords; with efforts that feel measured, contrived, and dawdling, they finally sound like it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This Is Not The World
    This Is Not the World sounds more like a Buzzcocks record--a merry collection of punk cut-ups.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Rook
    Rook is great, with an emotional clarity and narrative acuity that makes it one of the year's most rewarding listens.
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