PopMatters' Scores

  • TV
  • Music
Select another publication »
For 11,078 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 69
Highest review score: 100 Funeral for Justice
Lowest review score: 0 Travistan
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7,421 out of 11078
  2. Mixed: 3,399 out of 11078
  3. Negative: 258 out of 11078
11078 music reviews
view
per page
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Flying Wig
    Like the inanimate object from which the album gets its title, it’s just the context that makes it bizarre. A wig that lies there is just a wig. One that flies is strange. That’s true of this record as well.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Atlas
    While her latest work may share a bit of sonic ground with contemporary drone-based artists such as Ellen Arkbo, Kali Malone, or Sarah Davachi, none of them create music quite as fluid or as wide-screened as the sounds heard here.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Tension
    It’s powerful, empowering, and, most importantly, fun.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Southern Star
    Southern Star succeeds because Cobb is more interested in telling a story and having a good time than pontificating.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Omnichord Real Book
    This new recording from MeShell Ndegeocello has her in that role — making her guests sound better, sometimes dominating a track, and always creating a mood around the music that puts rhythm, harmony, and melody in delicious orbits. Even the tracks that don’t contain a vocal, like “Omnipuss”, are arresting. It puts a spell on you.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    HELLMODE
    Rosenstock’s choruses are catchy, the tempos are fast, and it’s an impressive proper studio performance. But does it go the length to be called anything groundbreaking? Not so much. But that’s not the point. Rosenstock has been doing this for a long time; experience goes a long way. For what it’s worth, he’s really good at what he does.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bluegrass
    The album might not stun, but it deserves more than faint praise. Bluegrass feels like comfort food tastes, not because it’s familiar or steady but because its nature pleases instantly.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Come with Fierce Grace
    It is a must for jazz fans and anyone with an appreciation for rich and reflective creative art.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Strange Disciple
    Strange Disciple finds Nation of Language’s devotion to their craft and the acts that inspired them admirably intact, even dogged. It is probably their most listenable album from start to finish. Still, it leaves the sense that, cool as they are, a bold new turn may be coming due.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Revamped
    More than just having fun updating her work, Demi Lovato refashions herself and her music to reflect the person she is today, which is bold and defiant.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Art Dealers
    The individual tracks offer empathetic portraits of people and places that he presumes have been undeservedly ignored or overlooked. The album’s underlying theme concerns Weiner’s growth as the world changed around him. Musically, Low Cut Connie embrace Reed’s textured approach to pop music.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jubilee
    They’ve changed by never really changing their old-timey style and showing that keeping one’s roots exposed in the musical world can be a smart decision.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Classical Music
    With just one album, Dayes goes all over the map. That he pulls it off non-frantically is one of Black Classical Music’s many selling points. So call it jazz, call it classical, call it whatever you like, just don’t sleep on it.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stone
    The acoustic tracks are worthwhile, and the big, catchy singles “Last Word” and “Shine” are sure crowd-pleasers. However, it’s not as ambitious as the dual-color records Yellow and Green or Gold & Grey, and it comes up a little short compared to the excellent Blue Record.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Relentless
    The resulting tension in many of Hynde’s songs comes from the push-pull between connected love and guarded aloneness, and it propels much of Relentless.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    End of the Day
    As a soundtrack, End of the Day will ultimately be a minor work in Barnett’s catalog. However, it does illuminate her capacity to lower the volume and explore a different register of ambient frequencies in her ongoing sound. This LP is fascinating for its introspective character, even if the key elements that have defined Barnett’s popular appeal are missing.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Window
    On The Window, Ratboys reach their fullest potential, expanding and stretching their collaboration, continuing to explore their multi-faceted musical face. They have produced one of their best and most rewarding efforts thus far, and the catchiness of their songs will make listeners return gleefully if the tracks don’t stick to them during intermission.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Guts
    Whichever end of the spectrum you might land on, there’s rage, yearning, and reckless behavior here that transcends generations, which is a soaring accomplishment.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jump for Joy
    The new album Jump for Joy switches up the mood considerably, offering a bouncy set of tracks that build on youthful enthusiasm and maturing gratitude.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Playing Robots Into Heaven
    Playing Robots Into Heaven is ultimately a flawed but, at times, interesting and worthwhile foray for Blake into more beat-led, dancefloor-friendly music.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Club Romantech
    No, there’s nothing here on the order of “I Love It”, which may or may not have to do with Charli XCX having written none of the new release’s 15 songs. Nonetheless, this music is quite successful at doing what it’s designed to do: fan out into clubs, teenagers’ playlists, and Urban Outfitters franchises and reach the nearest available pleasure receptors of young listeners.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hit Parade
    As with her best work, there are some great moments on the record, but overall, Hit Parade is a bit inconsistent; its title is false advertising. It’s a frustratingly uneven album, with just enough genius to make the mediocrity on some tracks stand out.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything Is Alive
    Everything Is Alive may not have a “Star Roving” kind of single tucked within, but it still hits the listener where it counts, deep within the tenth listen with the lights turned down low in late autumn. Don’t fret over any initial impressions of stasis. Everything is indeed alive.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    You're the One
    You’re the One can get a little lost in its own scope, both a strength and weakness, but Giddens’ exploration of the extensive history of American music continues to be compelling and enlightening.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Homo Anxietatem
    So much of Homo Anxietatem is about using guitar-driven music to excavate deep feelings of hurt, fear, and anxiety and to process those feelings through the music. Those who listened to Shamir’s previous record won’t be surprised and just how fantastic Homo Anxietatem is.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Sundial
    There are outstanding performances throughout Sundial. Rapper billy woods in “Gospel?” spews magma, and Chicago legend Common drops a verse on the song “Oblivion” that could have easily fit into his great album Be from 2005. The singer Ayoni adds her voice on two tracks to make Sundial feel like a momentous occasion.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Appaloosa Bones
    Gregory Alan Isakov hasn’t reinvented the wheel – his style has been implemented by plenty of artists before and currently – but as Appaloosa Bones proves, few artists can do it as well as him.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live]
    Carlile’s voice sometimes overshadows Mitchell’s newfound alto, an intriguing new area in her vocal range that symbolizes the current wise and withdrawn period of her life.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    End of World
    In conclusion, half an album here marks some of Lydon’s best work in decades and a half that should have never left band practice.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Euphoric
    One of the issues with Euphoria is that it’s very pretty, almost oppressively so. The beats and the synths are rounded and smooth like baby-proofing edge guards. The vocals are fetching, as Georgia has a delightful voice. However, she has chosen to sing most of these songs in a demure, modest delivery. So, even though the title promises euphoria, it rarely reaches that high of a peak.
Page: