Splendid's Scores

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For 793 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 65% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 33% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Humming By The Flowered Vine
Lowest review score: 10 Fire
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 654 out of 793
  2. Mixed: 119 out of 793
  3. Negative: 20 out of 793
793 music reviews
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    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Gimme Fiction
    Again raises the standard for thoughtful, well-crafted pop.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hal
    You'll either find it cloying and saccharine or heartfelt and precise, or maybe a little bit of both.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kidnapped By Neptune
    Kidnapped By Neptune is one of those rare albums that's both sexy and dirty, and isn't guilty of trying to be either.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Carousel Waltz
    The intimacy is startling. The introspection is as charming as it is insightful.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Milk Of Human Kindness
    The Milk Of Human Kindness grabs at elements of its predecessors, but they're often the wrong ones.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Separation Sunday
    Separation Sunday stands a chance of being one of 2005's true classics.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With Teeth
    With Teeth's biggest surprise is how immediately gratifying the majority of its songs are.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Wedding
    Totally brilliant, mind-meltingly good, and as different from Secret Wars as possible, except that both of these albums could change your life.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Celebration Castle
    The Ponys have achieved a certain level of competence, and if you're willing to accept that in place of originality or innovation, Celebration Castle is worth checking out.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bem-Vinda Vontade
    There's a feeling of constant evolution over the course of any given track; subtle changes in swing, intonation and attack let you in on the secret that this is no automaton, but a living, breathing entity that's being brought into existence.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Paper Tigers
    The remaining songs are uniformly well crafted, but they aren't necessarily going to please the people who come looking for more of the old "Jerk It Out" magic.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Sunset Tree
    The Sunset Tree feels like Darnielle's most personal record to date, and it's certainly his most immediately accessible, musically speaking.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Ex Hex
    A unique indie-prog masterpiece that owes as much to Hendrix as it does to Sonic Youth.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    22-20s
    The album, while competent, is thoroughly flawed.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Otto Spooky
    It shakes the foundations of our music-consuming habits and plays with our genre expectations; it fucks with our minds a bit, just for kicks, and, more importantly, liberates us from the pernicious tyranny of monotony.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    In Case We Die
    It's all very sweeping, operatic and inviting.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Bleed Like Me
    The absence of memorable hooks and catchy choruses is obvious.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Sunlandic Twins
    The relentless sweetness may be off-putting to some... but it'll be difficult for all but the most jaded listeners to avoid being charmed by Of Montreal's appealing melodies and whimsical innocence-recaptured lyrics.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Alligator
    Painstakingly crafted, casually baroque music for people who get off a little bit on feeling blue.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    D.U.M.E. [EP]
    Shrill, sharp, twitchy compositions that can be as abrasive as they are compelling.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Let There Be Morning
    Let There Be Morning isn't designed to bowl you over with its size and scope; rather, it's a quietly compelling, lushly orchestrated affair that slowly but surely melts its way into your heart.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dimmer.
    Elkington's wry, sodden compositions are enlivened with sparse yet crisp instrumentation and steady melodies. Imagine shoegazer tendencies jolted by the cattle prod of Midwestern edgy folk rock.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Open Season
    Don't look to Open Season to get your heart pounding or your blood flowing; it trades in less cathartic experiences.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Elevator
    The songs here are resolutely pop, almost bubblegum, and though they're sometimes buoyant, hyperkinetic, even fun, they have almost no depth or resonance to them.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Horses In The Sky
    If you can't get enough Xiu Xiu, this album is definitely for you.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Animal Lover
    A cracked masterpiece.... it rewards your attention with dreamy, surreal vistas, skewed poetry and flights of unadulterated musical madness.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Darkness At Noon
    You'll feel lost and totally submerged in a sublime experience that's timeless, exciting and free from boundaries.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Warmer Corners
    The Australian band's trademark winsome optimism, clever heartbreak and bittersweet cuteness are in classic form here, only lusher and more layered.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    1988
    For all his skillful sampling and solid lyrics, Blueprint hasn't broken any new ground with 1988, which just underscores the troubling tendency of underground art forms to become more like the mainstream as they age.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Arular
    At first listen, it's thrilling, but not quite the statement we were made to believe would shift the world's axis by its very existence. The best thing to do is clear your mind of hype and expectations, and listen to this record -- this fun, addictive, thoroughly entertaining record -- again and again.
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