Clash Music's Scores

  • Music
For 4,423 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 58% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 37% 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 Dead Man's Pop [Box Set]
Lowest review score: 10 Wake Up!
Score distribution:
4423 music reviews
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Its brevity might lead some to think it slight, but those who persevere with ‘Seeking New Gods’ will find yet more evidence of Gruff Rhys’ undaunted off piste genius.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    ‘Melt My Eyez See The Future’ finds Denzel Curry sitting in a lane of his own. A unique, unified experience, it’s a boundary-less work of endless fascination.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Though the days of the jangly, innocuous Britpop they were so integral to establishing are gone, Suede haven’t lost their roots – they’ve just re-established them for a new era.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At over an hour, it’s not casual listening. But SUNN O))) have always been about testing limits, pushing boundaries, (destroying speakers). That’s precisely why the album works and why the band have endured.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    If they’ve perfected the modern pop template associated with acts like SOPHIE (on production duties here) - and they have - it’s somehow not the most impressive element of the record. The second half of the album includes a pair of breathtaking epics, ‘Cool & Collected’ and ‘Donnie Darko’, that showcase a songwriting maturity well beyond their 18 and 19 years.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whilst her talent has been evident in previous releases, there’s something in ‘My Method Actor’ that sees her stand taller, more certain. Yanya’s movements feel deliberate, smooth. An effortless transition from one song to the next, as if telling a story passed on to her, that she now gifts to you.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It finds Fontaines D.C. moving ever outward into a realm of their own. Powerful and probing, ‘Skinty Fia’ is a record that relishes tough challenges, and refuses simple answers.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It's a strong and accomplished debut, and Jessie Ware has provided the missing link between SBTRKT and Sade. Whether you think that's a good thing is your call.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It’s a debut that captures so much of the excitement surrounding her, whetting appetites for the next steps from a potent talent.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ‘Year of Love’ opens the record with a palm-muted guitar riff, unexpectedly, and from there ‘Classic Objects’ blossoms into classic Jenny Hval, ‘Cemetery of Splendour’ and ‘Jupiter’ forming its plain, heavenly, skyscraping highlights.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fender lyrically distances himself from his first-hand experiences on ‘People Watching’, adding a new dimension to his already accomplished repertoire. Still, this album is a quintessential Sam Fender experience – a heartfelt, homegrown immersion of the mundane and extraordinary people and places this dweller was lucky enough to know.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A remarkable return to form by one of rap’s finest wordsmiths, it’s Pusha’s most focused and cohesive solo effort to date, and one of hip-hop’s strongest long-players of 2015.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A beautiful outing in hauntingly pastoral heartbreak. Impressive.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Multitude is the perfect return for such a formidable musical talent, serving not only as a reminder of his innovative talents, but also highlighting how much richer his soundscaping and storytelling has grown over his hiatus.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    66
    Moving further than ever from the sound of those initial solo albums, he seems to constantly reach out to new definitions. It doesn’t always land, but it’s incredibly brave; it also needs more than a few listens to truly absorb, and accept – on first listen, this writer couldn’t understand it at all.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    For every Beyoncé, there’s a Michelle Williams. For every Harry Styles, there’s a Niall Horan. There’s no doubt this is a good record but only time will tell which side of the road JADE will land on.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The duo have created something extraordinary here - something that definitely needs to be heard.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Far from dipping into past glories, the Mael brothers continue their storied run on a stylish, impactful record that illuminates their continued engagement with the wonder of the pop song.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Elaenia is one of those rare albums that crosses genres and audiences with ease due in thanks to the sheer craft that's gone into its seven tracks.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Succinct – a smidge under 30 minutes, all told – ‘I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away’ manages to be extremely impactful.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The friction between these two worlds is rife throughout the album, creating moments of explosive hyper pop euphoria (Bites on My Neck) and complete emotional vulnerability and devastation (Friendly Machine).
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A stunning work of self-analysis, it’s Jamila Woods’ finest record yet – high praise in itself – one of the most absorbing, illuminating records you’re going to discover this year.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Once again I am moved with the delicate care Gia Margaret approaches her art with, something of a prayer and an anthem to the sovereignty of unraveling, longing and finding.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Misty keeps this album pretty genuine. There are jaunts and horns and dancing mixed with sorrow and piano and heartache; his lyrics cutting through any joy with wicked humour and his comic persona still second place to his incredible songwriting.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A raw, primitive nod to the planet we inhabit and our connection to it.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It’s evocative and like much of Empress Of’s entire discography, it’s a reconfiguration of laptop material and pop expectations. It subverts heartbreak, makes it sexy, and silhouettes a continuous desire to distort dancefloor traditions with experimental come-ons.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ‘Fir Wave’ is a subtle triumph, a record whose innate beauty dissipates to reveal complex aesthetic machinery, while never fully revealing its secrets.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    ‘Coral Island’ is huge in scope and ambition, while also remaining staggeringly consistent. The bar is set high from the off, and they never fail to reach it. A lazy comparison: it’s as creative as ‘The White Album’ and as unified as ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’. A truly superb experience, it feels as though The Coral have painted their masterpiece – a one way ticket to ‘Coral Island’ is a truly an offer you can’t turn down.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Even without images, you can see the raw emotion etched on Gore’s face as he delivered the poignant torch song ‘Home’ or the energetic maelstrom of windmilling arms that Gahan kicks off toward the end of ‘Never Let Me Down’. .... The album concludes with four unreleased songs recorded during the ‘Memento Mori’ sessions. Quite why these tracks never made it to the final album is beyond this writer.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A powerful album, confirming Home Video as another exquisite offering from Lucy Dacus.