NOW Magazine's Scores

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For 2,812 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 20 Testify
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,287 out of 2812
  2. Mixed: 1,452 out of 2812
  3. Negative: 73 out of 2812
2812 music reviews
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse
    Carey’s back to adding her sparkly touch to summer-ready pop tunes.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Feast of the Broken Heart
    It’s a formula to be sure, but Feast’s main delights are its textures and songwriting.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Changing Light
    While clearly her most varied album to date, it still sounds decidedly Mirah: DIY folk singer/songwriter of the 90s with that heartbreaking voice and a knack for killer guitar melodies.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Illmatic XX [20th Anniversary Edition]
    Illmatic is timeless because of Nas’s introspective, hyper-detailed approach to his daily life--even to moments that don’t seem particularly notable.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Do It Again
    It’s the middle songs that are most immediately enjoyable.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Are We There
    She gives everything, and it’s impossible to be unmoved.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Friendly Bacteria
    Too bad that so many of the instrumental tracks are pleasant but forgettable downtempo jams that dilute the impact of the highlights.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin
    The half-hour run time makes the relentlessly cerebral approach more palatable, though the ending feels a bit too tidy.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Conflict
    Pallett’s inventive textures lend emotional weight to some of the deliberately mundane lyrical details, so the album is at once beautifully ethereal and painfully real.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Someday World
    Someday World is an fully realized blend of electronic and acoustic sounds that elevates the mundane, austere details in the lyrics into a state of ecstasy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lithium Burn
    While angular, skittering tracks like Stutter and album opener Haircuts/Uniforms add post-punk energy and experimental variety to the album, they also kill the mood.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ghost Stories
    We all love to revel in a real tearjerker (Someone Like You, anyone?), but these whiney odes are heartbreak songs minus the heart.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hour of the Dawn
    While it would have been more interesting if Goodman had channelled her punk roots more consistently, Hour Of The Dawn is full of the catchy songs she’s known for.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Xscape
    The songs are all totally enjoyable, even the schmaltzier ones like Loving You, inspiring toe-tapping and appreciation for Jackson’s phenomenal vocals.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bermuda Waterfall
    He’s a self-proclaimed lover of Cyndi Lauper and a proud balladeer with a knack for writing glimmering melodies.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    White Women
    The novelty disco elements are balanced by enough rock-solid grooves that the cheesier moments don’t stink up the whole thing.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Shriek
    Wasner’s vocals seem more confident and assertive now, as if she’s come of age. Still, there are moments on Shriek just yearning for a clever guitar melody or screeching solo.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rented World
    The Menzingers haven’t necessarily mastered the grown-up punk formula, but they’re certainly maturing with each new release.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Asiatisch
    Asiatisch mixes repetitive industrial noises, poetry samples, Asian synth motifs and vaguely menacing atmospherics into tepid, listless and melodically bland soundscapes that serve the concept more successfully than they do the listener.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    III
    Instead of imitating the manipulated loops of funk drummers that defined earlier rap, they make references to the more robotic feel of contemporary drum machine beats, which, combined with their nods to indie rock, puts them in a category all their own.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nikki Nack
    Her pipes stand out most on Wait For A Minute: interestingly enough, it’s when she sounds softest (surrounded by cool R&B-inspired synth lines) that she’s most commanding.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Luminous
    After a while the tripped-out builds can feel formulaic, but the mind-altering textures and melodic flourishes are so gorgeously realized that Luminous’s feel-good charms become hard to resist.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sheezus
    Her domestic bliss songs are predictably the most boring, the exception being L8 CMMR, the dancehall-esque, Auto-Tuned track in which she sings of her husband’s virility.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Get Back
    There are no big hooks, no clear single. Just a boozy-and-woozy late-night vibe that’s pretty damn satisfying.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    More Than Any Other Day
    Even when they get quiet and contemplative, there’s a raw urgency that keeps the energy visceral.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shrink Dust
    The songs are still there, though, even more so than on 2011’s Diaper Island.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Himalayan
    On their third album, Band of Skulls stretch even further.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Honest
    At 18 tracks, Honest doesn’t feel bloated. Future takes his time on slow, sensitive jams.... But for every tender ballad, there’s a classic Future banger in which he yelps the hook over and over, lest you forget it, on top of harsh beats.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Everyday Robots
    Though deftly orchestrated, Everyday Robots feels deflated and aimless, and the nature-versus-technology theme frequently results in clichés.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The New Classic
    Despite Azalea’s nimble delivery sometimes lapsing into the mechanical, there are moments on The New Classic when she sounds ready for prime time.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Z [EP]
    SZA’s lyrics are impressionistic, and her melodies arrive in fits and spurts.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Testimony
    Alsina’s narrative-driven niche is criminally underrepresented on the pop charts right now. Judging by the way he effectively turns his wounded past into the catalyst for a bright future--he has potential to dominate the lane.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hard Boiled Soft Boiled
    The band’s second album has terrific production values, and beneath all the industrial edges and gothic stomp, Dean Tzenos’s vocals are surprisingly melodic.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Estara
    It might have fewer surprises and off-kilter oddities than we’d hoped for, but it definitely won’t kill your buzz.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Food
    A couple of songs sound like Much More Music hits (Breakfast, Forever Be), but a few genuine surprises--the Simon & Garfunkelesque cover of Labi Siffre’s Bless The Telephone, the slow-burning Floyd and country-rocking Friday Fish Fry--demonstrate Kelis’s deft versatility.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Home, Like Noplace Is There
    Throughout the nine tracks, the band maintains a grown-up punk sound rooted in air-tight musicianship.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Built on Glass
    However varied the influences, there’s one thing the songs have in common: they all make you feel some type of way.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tremors
    Even though the chords are minor and the mood sombre, there’s something pure, clean and uncluttered about the record that prevents it from being altogether sad. It breathes.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    To Live Alone in That Long Summer
    Sometimes Barzin’s singing is soft and serious, others times dreamy and wistful. Immaculately arranged, it’s an album you settle into, then relax into.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    II: Void Worship
    Satisfying as it is in its old-school simplicity, its songs never really go anywhere, not so much resolving as dissipating like a foggy chuff of dope smoke.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Emancipated Hearts
    Emancipated Hearts’ chilled-out songs are strong, though, built on solid, simple melodies and weary, disillusioned lyrics.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's Album Time
    His focus on high-quality, vintage synth sounds gives the songs a unique flavour and energy that are hard to resist.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Remember Me
    Overall, the record is buoyed by relentless exuberance and good-natured charm.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Future's Void
    A huge part of her appeal is how authentically she manages to channel the intensity of adolescent angst, which makes lines that should be cringe-inducing feel too real to critique.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Enter the Slasher House
    Even as the songs delve deeper into the funhouse, there’s almost always an earworm leading you out of the fog.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Baby
    The emphasis on texture and style can obscure Dienel’s storytelling, however: it all sounds so gorgeous, you sometimes forget to listen to what she’s actually trying to say.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Inner Fire
    Less party than their live show (and some of their previous releases), Inner Fire is still damn hot.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hot Dreams
    On Hot Dreams he’s wisely pulled back from that horror film soundtrack vibe to let the songs breathe.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Salad Days
    While the tone keeps the wistful summer vibes of his earlier work intact, the Brooklyn-based Canadian also gets reflective on this dud-free second full-length.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bad Self Portraits
    The songs are about working through the pain of love, but what comes across on record is joyous.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Post Tropical
    Post Tropical’s lush horn arrangements, rare but welcome returns to guitar fiddling and overall sense of restraint keep it warm, woozy and with one toe still in the folk realm.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mess
    The album feels less ponderous and more balls-out than its predecessor, but the band hasn’t stitched up its maniacal tendencies into commercial pop either.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Recess
    The album shows he’s progressed since bursting onto the scene four years ago, but it’s definitely not going to change the minds of those who think he’s ruining dance music.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Out Among the Stars
    Arrangements are unfussy--at least by today’s standards--and Cash’s rich, familiar baritone is in fine shape.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Rise of an Empire
    The album is bogged down in missteps like Tyga, Lil’ Twist and YG’s limp One Time and uninspired strip club anthem Back It Up.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Forcefield
    It’s a collection to bob your head and sing along to, something that will never go out of style.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Singles
    Beneath catchy pop hooks, there’s deep-rooted pain in these love songs.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Krazy Life
    YG may just want to party, but the layered storytelling displayed here proves he could be the next transcendent, endlessly original West Coast superstar.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rattlesnake Cage
    The result is tunes that are pleasant more often than arresting, tailor-made for playing quietly in the kitchen.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Darlings
    A few verses drag out too long, but Drew’s storytelling remains firmly in the foreground.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Private World of Paradise
    Somehow they’ve managed to become both more accessible and more unique.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Underneath the Rainbow
    Just when it starts to feel like the album is continuing in a high-powered vein, the Lips start sounding like they’re steering a chuckwagon.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Glow
    Tensnake mostly favours brisk tempos, though the sultry ballad 58bpm makes you wish he slowed the pace more often.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lost In the Dream
    The album may have been borne in a fog, but the result finds Granduciel on the other side of the murk.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Kiss Me Once
    The album starts strong with classic Kylie banger Into The Blue, but it suddenly succumbs to faddishness on nondescript disco tune Sexy Love and the weirdly dated dubstep track Sexercize.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    No Mythologies to Follow
    The production isn’t minimal, but Ørsted and Vindahl cram in a lot of oddball flourishes without distracting from her refreshingly unvarnished voice.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Morning Phase
    There’s an eerie blandness to the mood that is initially off-putting but turns into a surprisingly compelling, subtly evocative combination of sadness and contentedness.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    G I R L
    It’s high-quality pop, but also highly disposable.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mastermind
    A tighter track list homing in on its sombre (and stoner) moods would’ve been bolder, but to his credit Ross avoids commercial trendiness in favour of more personal--if familiar--forays into Philly soul, funk, 90s hip-hop and South Beach glam.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shelter
    The songs are effortlessly pleasant even when they threaten to dissolve into the ether like the woolly memory of a sweet dream receding into your subconscious.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oxymoron
    Through varied production, Q strikes a balance between his hard persona and the party vibe found on Habits’ catchiest tracks.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tomorrow's Hits
    We keep hearing about the death of rock ’n’ roll supplanted by some fleeting, trendy sub-genre; but with more confidence than ever, these dudes remind us just how powerful the pure stuff can be.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Atlas
    The album plods occasionally, but then the band’s mastery of mood shifts kicks in and a dreamy landscape and simple, jangly verse turn into a big, beautiful chorus.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cilvia: Demo [EP]
    Even if they’re generally delivered with an easier flow and more laid-back vibe, sharp production and catchy hooks increase each track’s impact.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Past Life
    The album as a whole is still more interesting than any of its individual parts, but now we can truly appreciate each and every fragment.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blank Project
    The result is incredibly potent and human.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Guilt Mirrors
    His strengths as a songwriter occasionally break through this morass, but the album is overwhelmingly concerned with anger and confusion.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lo-Fantasy
    Roberts is less concerned with sticking to a chunky, riff-driven formula than with experimenting with the many layers that he and his band are capable of producing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Somewhere Else
    The lyrics can get melodramatic (Verlaine Shot Rimbaud) and vulgar (Head), but there are gems here, too.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    NAP: North American Poetry
    There’s something romantic and relatable in the simplicity, showcased best on the lively, poppy folk song in his native Spanish, Escucho Mucho.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Burn Your Fire for No Witness
    The sum is a subtly powerful lo-fi indie rock record produced by John Congleton, who’s proved capable with other bands (Okkervil River, Modest Mouse) of making the production as emotionally intense as the soul-baring songwriting.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dunes
    Goldsworthy’s highly layered mix of sounds maintains a pleasant balance between harder edges and winsome feel-good vibes.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After the Disco
    The whole album is rich with memorable hooks, as opposed to just the singles.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sun Structures
    The songwriting is outstanding: striking and smart, concise and full, and James Bagshaw sings superbly throughout.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Until the Colours Run
    An anxious mood comes through clearly but doesn’t quite go anywhere, kind of like a protagonist who seems the same at the end of a book as at the beginning.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Trouble
    Papini’s vocals seem scaled back, too--there’s less energetic chattiness and more silent resignation.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Drowners
    Drowners prove themselves competent in making a tight indie rock album full of enjoyable melodies, but their strict adherence to formula and professionalism is undermining and can be dull.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ghettoville
    It’s a masterpiece of uneasy listening but would be a lot more digestible had it been trimmed to a manageable length.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Green [EP]
    Bibio isn’t reinventing the wheel here (or rather, the acoustic guitar), but when you’ve already hit the sweet spot, you don’t have to.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Do Not Engage
    The production (thanks to Jim Diamond) also sounds more radio-ready, but the increased crispness makes the looseness of Maya Miller’s drums far more distracting than it used to be, and everything is far too cold.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Aventine
    Lyrics, when employed, are simple and to the point, thoughtful but sparse enough to let the classical musicianship shine.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Too True
    Working again with pop Svengali Richard Gottehrer and the Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner, DDG find a nice middle ground between their signature detachment and a classic pop sensibility.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rave Tapes
    More than a decade out from the band’s shift into electronic music and their reinvention as what at times seems to be a soundtrack band, it’s hard to tell if Mogwai have aged well or just sort of boringly mellowed.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    AGE
    Like any growth spurt, Age contains the obligatory awkward phases, like the reggae-inflected Afterparty. But the Hidden Cameras have always taken risks, and this time the payoffs are much bigger.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Strong Feelings
    All 10 are thoughtful and gentle, presented with little embellishment and zero pretense.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
    More than just another post-whatever crescendo generator, SMZ remain committed to nuance and subtlety while no less committed to getting louder.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Transgender Dysphoria Blues
    Free of misguided anger but with healthy amounts of trademark anxiety and angular riffs, Grace’s expression is powerful.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    South
    The album mines go-to country clichés like driving and women (“Put your sugar down on my front seat, cuz you truly know what’s good for me,” Wilson implores in the opening track, North), but for the most part the songwriting is diverse and mature.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Warpaint
    At times, this sense of vulnerability in the music can grow stagnant and forgettable, but it’s usually pleasurable in the moment.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son
    Sure, stripped-down, acoustic versions of the songs could’ve worked, but with help from producer Richard Swift, they’re fleshed out into psychedelic dreams dappled with field recordings, Latin guitar and Jurado’s serene vocals, raising existential questions that don’t quite get answered.
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