Blender's Scores

  • Music
For 1,854 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 39% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 58% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 7.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Together Through Life
Lowest review score: 10 Folker
Score distribution:
1854 music reviews
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Start the 18-song album in the middle, and embarrassments like Nicks's "Illume (9-11)" reced behind love songs that exorcise pain with an accusatory chorus and a skein of guitars. [May 2003, p.116]
    • Blender
    • 86 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    An album of languid grooves and slowly descending melodies. [#16, p.117]
    • Blender
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A gorgeous, streamlined piece of acoustic Americana, beautiful and fully realized. [May 2003, p.120]
    • Blender
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's almost as much fun as 1981! [May 2003, p.114]
    • Blender
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wailing, distorted guitars and jumpy backbeats deliver messages of escape, refuge and, ultimately, sweet hope. [May 2003, p.124]
    • Blender
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Faceless is exactly that. [May 2003, p.120]
    • Blender
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They sound comfortable in their own skin--and able to get under yours. [May 2003, p.127]
    • Blender
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's unfortunate that the balladry is rendered via anesthetized soul instead of the ambitious arrangements of Timbaland. [May 2003, p.118]
    • Blender
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Unlike 2001's spare Essence, this album prickles with the lyrical details that make Williams's work exceptional. [#15, p.126]
    • Blender
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Isn't so much minimalist as just plain minimal. [Aug 2003, p.120]
    • Blender
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The music is dramatic with a glammy Britpop insouciance, and Garcia is a refreshingly earnest romantic. [#16, p.117]
    • Blender
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They break their own rules, even adding expansive guitar solos, to keep themselves interested and fans off-balance. [May 2003, p.123]
    • Blender
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    McNew adds his own hybrid theory, wittily merging classic and iconoclastic by exploring his influences. [May 2003, p.116]
    • Blender
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cocky and nicotine-stained, the Kills revive the cheap art of sinister underground rock and puzzling, mysterious pseudonyms. [May 2003, p.121]
    • Blender
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ultimately, the anthems are as generic as they are hooky. [May 2003, p.123]
    • Blender
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Being shallow and immature is both his strength and his weakness. [Apr 2003, p.131]
    • Blender
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The music is sexy in the dirtiest possible way, which makes up for the band's stoopid posing. [May 2003, p.114]
    • Blender
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sad, pretty, funny and touching. [#14, p.137]
    • Blender
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Continues Cash's no-fun, high-literary period. [#15, p.121]
    • Blender
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Harder, denser, uglier. [#15, p.128]
    • Blender
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    THe result is like a cross between R.E.M. and Coldplay, but Idlewild show their true smarts by continuing to attack every track with youthful energy and passion. [Apr 2003, p.124]
    • Blender
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Longwave sound more British than Strokes-ish, with a mild talent for writing melodies that demand your attention. [Apr 2003, p.125]
    • Blender
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They've made a great record of choogling and--surprisingly for the wonky Malkmus--tender tunes. [Apr 2003, p.125]
    • Blender
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    One of the country highs of the year. [#15, p.121]
    • Blender
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    They still spit nervous energy, but Shelly's melodies have suffered, and his pubescent whines have unfortunately matured into apologies for bad behavior. [#15, p.121]
    • Blender
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The songs transform emo's search for truth and its vivid angst into great drama. [#15, p.122]
    • Blender
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Full of standard-issue street rhymes and treacly R&B hooks, Back Again makes you want to shout "Cut!" halfway through. [#15, p.125]
    • Blender
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    As familiar as alt-country has become, Ward makes it worthwhile again. [#16, p.125]
    • Blender
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Not since the Clash has a band evoked so precisely the grime and thrill of young London. [#15, p.124]
    • Blender
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The production sparkles.... But the songs are dull. [#14, p.131]
    • Blender