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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    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sirens of the Ditch
    The record smoothly lures and detours familiar, '70s-based rock-blues-country sounds and expectations while highlighting Isbell's character-actor flair.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Easy Tiger
    The lived-in songs and careful presentation of Easy Tiger make for one of the strongest records of his second career as a solo artist.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Desire
    What Desire offers instead is at times cerebral and at times depraved, but invariably provocative.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Fragile Army
    The Fragile Army actually has substance—thematically, musically, and lyrically.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asa Breed
    Throughout much of Asa Breed, Dear achieves a serendipitous balance between the uplifting and the eerie, the hummable and the hypnotic, the tuneful and the texturally adventurous.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fort Nightly
    Nearly embarrassing levels of enthusiasm, sincerity, and energy inform Fort Nightly, the band's surprisingly meaty debut.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Reminder
    Listening to this thing is like watching a pitcher throw a no-hitter.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
    A conceptual wonder.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Twelve
    Smith shifts much of her focus subtly away from the instrumentation and toward a song's intention and lyrics, with often revelatory results.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Favourite Worst Nightmare
    There's nothing wrong with singing witty lyrics fast and loud; there's just nothing very special about it.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    23
    23 is exactly what we've come to expect from this trio: a tension-filled exploration of the human psyche, blistering but still atmospheric.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Traffic And Weather
    The left-bent, middle-class everymen in these songs are consistently disarming.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Don't Mess With The Dragon
    You could always dance to Ozo's beats, but this time they supply more hip-churning swing than alt-rock stomp.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Living With The Living
    It's more blunt than 2004's already pointed Shake the Sheets, and more streamlined as well.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Armchair Apocrypha
    Armchair is a bit more accessible and less subtle [than Eggs], less of a single statement, but with more individual standouts.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Out Of The Woods
    A masterpiece showcasing Thorn's voice, songwriting, and taste.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Myth Takes
    Yet even if the lyrics actively discourage the application of your undivided attention, this is !!!'s most songful work yet.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pocket Symphony
    The mood is lulling, narrative, and pictorial even when the lyrics disappear—all subtly melodic and gloriously smudged.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Neon Bible
    There are growing pains here, there's doubt and sadness and confusion. And there's fear.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We All Belong
    They're totally authentic about being inauthentic. Like Guitar Bob, that makes them easy to love.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
    Whether it inspires bosom-heaving, jersey-rending, or chopper-flagging, Explosions in the Sky will have true believers again faint with praise.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ash Wednesday
    At its best, Ash Wednesday recalls the command of Arcade Fire's Funeral, as Perkins finds empathy through his whimsy-fueled, sad-bastard songs of experience.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    New Magnetic Wonder
    Both familiar and surprising.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Yes, I'm A Witch
    A good number of the cuts here take up the thread she's been working lately, adding factory-floor dance beats to old vocal tracks.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Good, The Bad & The Queen
    The music, however lean, is the most poignant vision Albarn's devout Anglo-centrism has offered: a beautifully dark, boozy, overcast dream of London, cinematic in its scope and careful in its craft.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
    Fauna's first half is cosmic pop turmoil of the highest degree, as only a master songwriter could create.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ce
    The brightest, weirdest spots—lags are around but ultimately forgivable—are thrilling.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Hip Hop Is Dead
    A Dante-channeling journey through the many diverse facets of hip-hop.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Hell Hath No Fury
    Make no mistake: Hell Hath No Fury is a major event.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
    This is nightmare music--a blue-collar purgatory made of American mythology and populated by its grotesques.
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