The Skinny's Scores
- Music
For 1,342 reviews, this publication has graded:
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54% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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42% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.4 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: | Exactly as It Seems | |
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Lowest review score: | Heartworms |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 886 out of 1342
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Mixed: 451 out of 1342
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Negative: 5 out of 1342
1342
music
reviews
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- Critic Score
These musical twists and turns can occasionally detract from Christinzio’s lyrics, which veer between gallows humour and vulnerability. When the latter half of the album gives his words more room to breathe, their impact becomes even greater.- The Skinny
- Posted Apr 17, 2020
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When Bright Green Field follows in the footsteps of their best track The Cleaner – supercharging the banal and mundane with vigour and purpose – it rips, mixing genres like straight-ahead indie-rock with funk and jazz, and exploring ambient and textural backdrops which make their now-home Warp apt.- The Skinny
- Posted May 3, 2021
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Besides some pretty clear face value, there are layers, moods, attitudes and tones to dissect and unpick which are overshadowed somewhat as the album stands.- The Skinny
- Posted Aug 29, 2018
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None of this group of songs are as good as those from her concise solo album, which only sprawled out with the ambient abstractness of its instrumental companion, something new and unheard for her. Here, listless listening is interrupted by the dangerous, mystical Simulation Swarm, saving the record’s back half. Big Thief are at their most beguiling when giving in to weird experiments.- The Skinny
- Posted Feb 7, 2022
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Badu collects good work, but the second half of the collection trails off; the whole doesn’t stand up to sustained listening without herbal aids (which, to her credit, Badu recommends).- The Skinny
- Posted Dec 20, 2017
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Overall, TRU is a promising step for Ovlov, albeit one that doesn’t always succeed when it comes to standing out from its peers.- The Skinny
- Posted Jul 24, 2018
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- Posted Jan 17, 2017
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The record is a bit slow to get going, and at times meanders into excessive atmosphere – next to The Slow's Bullet's ambient fuzz, the urgent jungle rhythms on Higher and Devotion in particular pop. But Avery is engaging with the art of the album as a sum of its parts, and from start to finish conjures a fantastical, dreamlike world.- The Skinny
- Posted Nov 3, 2022
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There's a great album in Fontaines D.C., and Skinty Fia takes them one step closer.- The Skinny
- Posted Apr 18, 2022
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Barrett has moved away from the big city, but small-town living has inspired his most accessible work to date.- The Skinny
- Posted Jan 27, 2023
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Arab Strap’s first studio album together since 2005’s The Last Romance is marked by a feeling of not quite-ness; everything’s there but it just doesn’t quite click into its potential at many points. A good half of the record treads in similar ground to opener and comeback single The Turning of Our Bones; drum machines, faintly angular guitar arpeggios and Moffat’s largely spoken dissection of middle age.- The Skinny
- Posted Mar 2, 2021
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Snares seems like a long EP--one that ends before it really gets going.- The Skinny
- Posted Jan 23, 2018
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CACTI is understandably more subdued than her self-titled debut, but the boisterous numbers it does contain, like spite, might feel more dynamic played live by humans – it feels like the energy that makes her such a captivating performer is being restricted by her drum machine.- The Skinny
- Posted Jan 11, 2023
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Liars' tenth album is a spotty affair with showy highs (Sekwar, The Start), pulpy mediocrity (From What the Never Was, My Pulse to Ponder) and enigmatic experiments (Acid Crop, Leisure War).- The Skinny
- Posted Aug 3, 2021
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The Great Bailout, while resting handily within her trademark virulent atmospheres and spoken word, is among her most impenetrable and least entertaining from a practical sense. This is not a fault of the record, but a necessary and expected byproduct of its existence, as each track runs up to ten minutes in a dirge of menacing poetry with instrumentals more evocative of a sinister mood-piece than a traditional song- The Skinny
- Posted Mar 5, 2024
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Ultimately, although it’s more immediate than their 2016 record, what you gain from We Are Sent Here By History will be dictated by how much you connect with its musical vision. Sink into its groove though and it’s an album that presents a fascinating societal commentary.- The Skinny
- Posted Mar 10, 2020
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Alpha Zulu is everything a Phoenix album has been already: slick, silly, maximalist. ... They mine nostalgia for call-backs (Tonight); find comedy in impending doom (Alpha Zulu). But the boys are ageing and, separated initially by lockdown, an emotional core burned a hole in the centre of this new record instead of a six-minute space-bound instrumental.- The Skinny
- Posted Nov 3, 2022
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At 16 tracks the album does slightly outstay its welcome, and in its latter stages it begins to feel like ideas are being repeated, but with less focus and immediacy.- The Skinny
- Posted Jun 6, 2022
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Pensive, resting beats provide a backdrop to the album's many experiments with it really popping in its quieter moments of lyrical reflection and confrontation. Loggerhead requires repeat listening to discover its true depth.- The Skinny
- Posted Jul 8, 2022
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Baker doesn’t shy away from the weight of depression, but depending on your emotional state, the album is either cathartic or overbearing.- The Skinny
- Posted Oct 23, 2017
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At 20 tracks long, however, it takes some serious listening to get through the whole thing, and a sense of sag in the latter third threatens to overpower on the first few spins. Essentially, this flower could've used a little more judicious pruning.- The Skinny
- Posted Jul 1, 2016
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On the Land Blues is especially reminiscent of the latter’s Blue Ridge Mountains, but lacks their pathos and grandeur. Otherwise, there’s plenty else for the ears to feast on.- The Skinny
- Posted Mar 3, 2016
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It’s in the curation of the record where Ayewa excels, presenting a platform for black and queer collaborators throughout.- The Skinny
- Posted Sep 14, 2021
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The album’s tendency towards soft and sugary can sometimes grate a little, especially when the band sound so vital and exciting when they amp up the dirt and energy (Silence is Golden; I Told You That I Was Afraid). Overall though, this is a solid collection of bittersweet pop gems for anyone with half a heart.- The Skinny
- Posted Sep 12, 2022
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The fact she’s instead opted for a bunch of gritty, Bunker Records-inspired analogue improvisations makes the end product all the more enjoyable. Qualm is also underpinned by a peculiar sense of Britishness.- The Skinny
- Posted Aug 3, 2018
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But with all this exploration, the record lacks a little impact, not quite achieving the cohesion and emotional gravity of Good at Falling.- The Skinny
- Posted Jun 30, 2023
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Which isn’t to say that she gets everything right--the new arrangements of both Killer and Georgia lack the immediacy of their originally released versions--but when she does, you can see her making a long career of this.- The Skinny
- Posted Sep 19, 2017
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God Games provides glimpses of what makes The Kills so compelling, but is unlikely to convert many new listeners to the cause.- The Skinny
- Posted Oct 26, 2023
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There are long stretches, particularly during the muted take on V1 in which the pieces are impressive rather than affecting, where you can marvel at Malone’s skill with timbre without being moved in any way. It leaves a sense that the album feels more like one for the most committed fans of all three artists, but one that, given the chance, has some astonishing moments.- The Skinny
- Posted Jan 18, 2023
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The risk of taking that deliberately vintage tack is contrivance, and though this album tows the line occasionally, it never disappears into itself.- The Skinny
- Posted May 3, 2017
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