XLR8r's Scores
- Music
For 387 reviews, this publication has graded:
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64% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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33% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.8 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 76
Highest review score: | Awake | |
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Lowest review score: | Audio, Video, Disco |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 354 out of 387
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Mixed: 31 out of 387
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Negative: 2 out of 387
387
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
While the duo proves to have an able hand at constructing reflective, chilled-out, or pleasant vibes, the record's darker and more brooding auras come up a little short.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 16, 2013
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- Critic Score
The LP's strength is in that undecidedness. When he leans too far to one side, which actually doesn't happen all that often, the album can feel mournful or facile.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 15, 2013
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- Critic Score
Regardless of whether they're successful or not isn't quite the point; what makes Shaking the Habitual so important is that The Knife used an important moment in their own history to truly subvert the hierarchy that both the band and the album exist in. Thankfully, they also wrote some near-perfect music in the process.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 11, 2013
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- Critic Score
At it best moments, Overgrown proves that the two sides of James Blake—the dancefloor oddball and the crossover songwriter—can exist side by side, but it also demonstrates that, at least right now, the balance between the two is totally off.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 8, 2013
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- Critic Score
It's a confident attempt to stake out a distinguishable sound within the web of influences and like-minded contemporaries the band has been linked to, including stalwarts like New Order and Radiohead, as well as newer faces like James Blake and The xx.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 5, 2013
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- Critic Score
Without necessarily bucking the trends of today, Koze has provided a complete picture of his truly singular outlook on dance music.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 2, 2013
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- Critic Score
A cursory listen to The North Borders may give a "been there done that" impression at points, but a closer listen reveals just how much he's carefully pushing his own boundaries.- XLR8r
- Posted Apr 2, 2013
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- Critic Score
Nostalgic is an exciting journey, but during the moments when Lapalux fails to provide a coherent roadmap, it's a bit too easy for the rest of us to get lost.- XLR8r
- Posted Mar 25, 2013
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- Critic Score
Though Miami displays a jazzier, looser, and often darker side of Brandt Brauer Frick, it doesn't overshadow the classical techno-ensemble sound the trio first introduced on You Make Me Real.- XLR8r
- Posted Mar 21, 2013
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- Critic Score
Disregarding the CD's tacked-on bonus cuts, what takes place between the record's two "Voiceprint"s is a richly detailed, time-dilating set from a producer who can make the most out of narrow limitations.- XLR8r
- Posted Mar 18, 2013
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- Critic Score
LISm remains a particularly mesmerizing listen, traveling through an impressively wide range of sounds and seamlessly blending them into a unified compostion.- XLR8r
- Posted Mar 12, 2013
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- Critic Score
As always, it's a lot to take in; even after a dozen listens, the album's too oblique to really register in the memory. That slipperiness does nothing to diminish the moments when things really stick, though.- XLR8r
- Posted Mar 5, 2013
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- Critic Score
In the end, Heliosphere is everything a techno LP should be, an effort that's not only a platform for delivering established sounds, but also an avenue for revealing new sides of the artist's production abilities and imagination.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 27, 2013
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- Critic Score
Anxiety is a draining front-to-back listen; it becomes much more comfortable when one is able to take each track as an individual single. However, there is a reward for making it to the end of Ashin's therapy session.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 25, 2013
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Field-Pickering isn't yet the type to release a grand album statement, but so far, his best moments have been the monolithic ones. Now, it's just a matter of amassing enough of them for a long-player.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 21, 2013
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- Critic Score
Picking up right where A Certain Distance left off, the Seattle-based producer's latest LP shows the same passion for methodical soundscapes, which are no less thoughtful for their glowing warmth.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 20, 2013
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- Critic Score
Ultimately, Dutch is less vibrant and, well, relevant than dance deconstructions by Actress or Oneohtrix, but it's also a lot harder to pin down, and there's a rogue-ish appeal to that.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 14, 2013
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- Critic Score
Whether or not one buys into Menzies' unrelentingly bleak vision, it's hard not to admire how well he captures the mood.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 12, 2013
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- Critic Score
The record may not be Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, but pieces like "Living Room" are the essence of Harris's singular oeuvre.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 7, 2013
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- Critic Score
The production is immaculately pretty, but it also tends to swamp the music's thrust, and one ends the album unsure of exactly what Darkstar is anymore.- XLR8r
- Posted Feb 5, 2013
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- XLR8r
- Posted Jan 28, 2013
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- Critic Score
Thanks to his savvy techniques and careful placement, his penchant for the far-out fringes of dance music doesn't seem weird at all, but delightfully intriguing.- XLR8r
- Posted Jan 23, 2013
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- Critic Score
Centralia, for the most part, goes back to the duo's tried-and-true dynamics for a seemingly exhaustive summary of the band.- XLR8r
- Posted Jan 18, 2013
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- Critic Score
A bleak and beautiful ambient record that occasionally reaches beyond its self-imposed confines.- XLR8r
- Posted Dec 21, 2012
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- Critic Score
When a dance album cannot contain a grander narrative, the next best result is certainly a selection of floor-primed productions, and on this front, Orbiting delivers.- XLR8r
- Posted Dec 11, 2012
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- Critic Score
What it may lack in sound system-minded sonics it makes up for with its distinctive mix of cacophonous rhythms and touches of warped soul that result in what is, simply put, an accomplished debut LP full of inventive house music.- XLR8r
- Posted Dec 10, 2012
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- Critic Score
Release is an impressive feat overall, one that offers up a handful of uniquely dancefloor-ready tracks while continuing to show that Pangaea and Hessle are not likely to fall behind the cutting edge of dance music anytime soon.- XLR8r
- Posted Dec 3, 2012
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- Critic Score
Although it may not represent a complete return to form, it's still a welcome stop on a production career that appears to have a lot of life left in it.- XLR8r
- Posted Nov 20, 2012
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- Critic Score
Ultimately, the restless movement here doesn't help the "classical" tracks connect to a non-specialized audience, but it does make for an inventive dialogue between the club and the ivory tower.- XLR8r
- Posted Nov 20, 2012
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- Critic Score
The thing that makes the LP so engaging is the fact that Shaw picks a mood and runs with it--this is not an album that lives up to the cliché of taking the listener on a journey; rather, it's a work that roots the listener to a spot and stares them dead in the eyes for an hour.- XLR8r
- Posted Nov 20, 2012
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