The Boston Phoenix's Scores
- Music
For 1,091 reviews, this publication has graded:
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63% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: | Pink | |
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Lowest review score: | Last of a Dyin' Breed |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 956 out of 1091
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Mixed: 88 out of 1091
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Negative: 47 out of 1091
1091
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
Chalk up at least some of this disconnect to Brendan O’Brien’s production, which is often so slicked down and smooshed together that it doesn’t just airbrush the band’s jagged edges, it sandblasts them.- The Boston Phoenix
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Aug 27, 2012
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Of the Cathmawr Yards is Ambien-fueled folk that never rises above room temperature, well-crafted yet lacking in passion and vitality.- The Boston Phoenix
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Forsaking subtly Southern melancholy in favor of jangling, twanging hillbilly heartbreak, Here's to Taking It Easy misplaces amplified country fever instead of channeling it.- The Boston Phoenix
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- Critic Score
His much-delayed solo debut eschews the kind of risk his productions are known for, and the result turns into one big mash of slow fades waiting for pretty ladies in the video.- The Boston Phoenix
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Those vocal harmonies are used to good effect in the blue-eyed-soul tune 'Alaska.' But 'Die Die Die,' a slow and raggedy piece of psychedelia complete with funereal organ but thrown askew by out-of-place handclaps, is far too taken in by its own gloom.- The Boston Phoenix
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Not everything is new on Everything Is New, this young London singer's sophomore set, but enough is to make you wonder what on earth persuaded Jack Penate to ditch the ample charms of his terrific debut.- The Boston Phoenix
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Safari Disco Club is unlikely to find itself in the speakers of many dance parties on this side of the Atlantic in coming weeks.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Mar 31, 2011
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What Spiritual, Mental, Physical documents is a group kicking around possibilities that could go somewhere great, but as they appear here, only a handful of these half-cooked ideas deserve an audience.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jan 27, 2011
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Aphrodite feels like a disjointed hodge-podge of shallow Hi-NRG dance-floor bangers for a decidedly older crowd.- The Boston Phoenix
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On "Cynic's New Year," Portland, Ore., indie-folk duo Horse Feathers stick so firmly to their sonic guns that it becomes tightly constricting.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Apr 18, 2012
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- Critic Score
Returning after 11 years of officially not existing, what's left of ATR could've focused their energies on kicking lots of ass. Instead, they indulge spoken-wordy, freshman-year non-profundities that mostly siphon energy from the get-up-and-f*ck-some-shit-up ethos present on a few okay tracks like "Activate" and "Codebreaker."- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 22, 2011
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Individually, these songs pack an emotional wallop, performed with a passion that is rare in today's indie-rock scene of disconnected cool. But taken as a giant lump, they're exhausting dead-ends: 12 straight climaxes cancel each other out - and Babel could use a little rising action.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Sep 25, 2012
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Sep 12, 2012
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But as a musical concern, the Conchords can’t hold a candle to [Tenacious] D, a shortcoming that’s much more apparent on this homonymous CD than it is on TV.- The Boston Phoenix
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Only the title track bears any resemblance to what Dashboard once were.- The Boston Phoenix
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Keys and Codes, which inverts the title of Death Cab's last record, feels slapped together, which is disappointing when you consider the array of talent present.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Nov 29, 2011
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Besides sounding more like laptoppers Fennesz and Tim Hecker than proto-drone cousins Sunn O))), All the Way even dips into the glorious filter sweeps of trance music, here twisted toward sonic decay rather than utopia.- The Boston Phoenix
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Gorilla Manor is listenable and inoffensive, but it doesn't express a single aforementioned component of its genre with any gusto.- The Boston Phoenix
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- Critic Score
The murky production seems lazy rather than artful; the hard-rock riffs don’t kick as hard as they’re meant to.- The Boston Phoenix
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- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Oct 4, 2011
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- Critic Score
Too many of the songs rely on a stilted, march-like rhythm that makes them sound formal and restrained, especially when paired with Newman's arch lyrical delivery.- The Boston Phoenix
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Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage fails by making the obvious choice at every turn.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Nov 16, 2011
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Freedom is mostly lame club tunes with mega-auto-tuned vocals about wishing "I could just stop by and lay by your side."- The Boston Phoenix
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- Critic Score
Their loping AM-radio psychedelia--like later Stereolab or lighter Dungen--engages with enough noise (if not complex rhythms) to keep the band out of mawkish territory.- The Boston Phoenix
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Though Eno is adequate, moments where he takes over the collaboration (such as on "West Bay" and "Watch a Single Swallow . . . ") are too under-nourished and ponderous to suggest that he's giving us something new.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Nov 16, 2011
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La Radiolina is the most rockist album of his solo career--and also the most disappointing.- The Boston Phoenix
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Yes, there are some colorful, more fully realized moments toward the end, but all the mumbling and fussing it takes to get there is murder.- The Boston Phoenix
- Posted Jun 5, 2012
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- Critic Score
Like any great jingle, it leaves you with nothing but a vague craving for the product, without quite knowing why you need it.- The Boston Phoenix
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- Critic Score
The rest of the album, which was produced by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, never quite lives up to that early peak.- The Boston Phoenix
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