DIY Magazine's Scores

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For 3,091 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 42% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Not to Disappear
Lowest review score: 20 Let It Reign
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,186 out of 3091
  2. Mixed: 892 out of 3091
  3. Negative: 13 out of 3091
3091 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Junior
    Corridor evidently have ambitious eyes set on the grand and cinematic. The beautifully eerie closing ambient moments to ‘Goldie’, or the theatrical prettiness of ‘Milan’ convey a band of sophisticated vision, but certain reaches for the epic, such as the stodgy closer, ‘Bang’, suffer for their principals, sounding like half-baked version of Grizzly Bear. Often, it’s hard not to think that there’s something missing.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Girl
    Only rarely can the listener form more than an ephemeral bond. ’Keep It Tight’ and ‘Friend Like That’ have an all-for-one gang mentality akin to chats with old friends. Unfortunately, it otherwise feels like watching strangers from across a dance floor.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sexorcism
    While in small increments ‘Sexorcism’ feels incredibly empowering and progressive, when you go 12 rounds on the trot, it fast becomes a law of diminishing returns, clumsy in its own damp puddle.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Something Like a War
    Fans might see this as a boon - Bainbridge picking up from where they left off before their self-imposed hiatus. To others, it may sound like a missed opportunity to establish themselves as a more cutting-edge artist.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wallop
    They’ve still yet to find that album that feels complete. While their eighth album, Wallop, isn’t quite it, it’s the closest they’ve been for quite a while.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Forever Turned Around
    We’re not asking Whitney to soundtrack a raging rebellion, we just want them to make us feel things. Forever Turned Around only partly succeeds.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Twelve Nudes
    There are songs here that will stand with some of Ezra Furman’s best work (“I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” and “Calm Down”) but sometimes its rapid-fire pace makes you wish for that little bit more space.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Thrashing thru the Passion
    The Hold Steady are very much a band for their existing fans. There’s not anything here, whether the bar-room blues of ‘Blackout Sam’ or the jazz hands-aloft ’T-Shirt Tux’ that’s likely to win outsiders over.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cala
    It’s difficult to shake the feeling that the likes of the upbeat ‘Brass Locket’ or the barely-there ‘Hunting Dog’ that this is territory Regan has already long since claimed, and that as good as he is at it, the law of diminishing returns is bound to kick in eventually. Instead, what we need more of is the likes of ‘Glaciers’, all implied menace and thick atmospherics.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Aokohio
    It means that AOKOHIO never quite feels as cohesive as Wolf apparently intended it to be, so it’s a good job that the album’s emotional themes do such a good job of providing a throughline and backbone instead.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    How Do You Love?
    Unfortunately, none of the later tracks hit with the same urgency as the first few. The album is a fun listen, still, and one that encapsulates that Polaroid summer we’re all after.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    High Expectations
    There’s no faux-earnestness here. Whether Mabel is singing about messy break ups, mental health or empowering herself to move on, High Expectations is effortlessly cool.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Let's Rock
    It’s as close an approximation of before as they could possibly get - the result of 12 tracks being plopped out of a Black Keys song generator - but, five years down the line, you hope that people will demand more than that.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Guy Walks into a Bar...
    ‘Bad Things (That Make You Feel Good)’ sounds like a sped-up take on wholesome pop king Bleachers, while opener ‘Should Be Dancing’ features a half-arsed attempt at pal Alex Turner’s croon. ... A little more humour on Mini Mansions’ third, and they might’ve been able to pull it off.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Duck
    There are a couple of fleeting moments (the chorus of ‘Wait’ is a hooky, soaring thing) that remind you of the unabashed earworms that the Kaisers can produce at their best but, for the most part, Duck is actually a bit of a turkey.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Fever Dream
    Channelling zeitgeisty pop is by no means always a bad thing; but when omitting the earwormy choruses it needs - and removing your own personality in the process, it’s only ever going to fall a bit limp.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Don't You Think You've Had Enough?
    While their new guise has them in a more experimental mood - injecting doses of nostalgia all over the shop - it also doesn’t quite possess the same level of clout as before.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Egoli
    It’s rough around the edges, but that’s part of its charm - a testament to the energy and ideas thrown about in such a short space of time, and the vibrancy of collaboration.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    III
    [The off-trend songs like Alaska, Sawzall and Hawaiian Mazes] feel freer, more exciting and more innovative. But III isn’t that. Instead, for the most part, it feels like Banks-by-numbers.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    An Obelisk
    If you’re partial to a bit of blue-collar punk, this is likely to be right up your street.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Levitation
    It has a tendency to be superfluous--a stray tabla rhythm is never too far away--but ultimately it’s a fun record that’s clearly born of love and dedication. That’s something to be commended.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Here Comes the Cowboy
    The result is an album that’s pleasant but kind of passes you by, and for a singer that was always so charismatic, being just ordinary feels like a bit of a bummer.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Peter Doherty & the Puta Madres
    Much here sounds as though it could have been unearthed from the treasure trove of old demos the singer sporadically unloaded circa 2004; great for the die-hards, fairly inconsequential for everyone else.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Big Wows
    The band’s strongest assets - three fantastic vocalists in Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer, and a focus on tight bass-and-drum grooves - are ever present, but there’s enough sugar in ‘Big Wows’ to make even the sweetest tooth ache.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Not Waving, But Drowning
    It doesn’t quite match the intensity and impact of his debut.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Social Cues
    ‘Social Cues’ is a study in US radio - or so it seems, each song a suitable soundtrack to faceless car journeys along nondescript roads: think Imagine Dragons in leather jackets and ripped jeans, if you will.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    What's It Like Over There?
    It’s both over-produced and underwhelming.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Brutalism
    On the one hand, Brutalism feels less bloated than any of its predecessors, and a number of sharp production touches ensure that some of its tracks are excellent. ... On the other hand, the album is missing some of The Drums’ lo-fi charm.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Inside the Rose
    Getting to the end is a slog. Sometimes, maybe you can just be a bit too clever for your own good.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Doko Mien
    ISM have stepped away from the traditional Ibibio folk tales that formed the lyrics for much of their debut album, instead relying more on English lyrics and universal themes. Only ‘She Work Very Hard’ displays the kind of storytelling that made those songs so intriguing, and it’s here where the boundaries between tradition and future are most blurred.
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