DIY Magazine's Scores

  • Music
For 3,422 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.9 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Superbloom
Lowest review score: 20 Let It Reign
Score distribution:
3422 music reviews
    • 95 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Kendrick Lamar rose to the top with his last album, and on DAMN. he tries to rediscover himself while on this new perch, with spectacular results.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In its final form, Wilsen’s debut is big and bright, melodic guitar lines sprinkled across the whole thing.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Peckham three-piece Little Cub make electronic music with a human heart, Dominic Gore’s observant lyrics adding depth to the analogue synth lines and snapping beats that propel them.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It’s a confident release from a seasoned band still harbouring the energies of youth. Somewhat paradoxically however, it’s also a considered record, one that muses on the transient and a reminder of the importance of being able to appreciate what we’ve got, while we’ve got it.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    From the hyperactive ‘Momentz’, which sees De La Soul returning to the fold once more, to the creepy, intense Grace Jones-featuring ‘Charger’, Humanz is by far the weirdest Gorillaz album ever released, and a struggle to get through in one sitting. There’s a certain cohesion here though, largely focused around dissatisfaction and rallying together.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While it’s not always the easiest of listens, the raw emotional honesty and potency of her arrangements makes it truly a pleasure to have Leslie Feist back.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ultimately, though, it’s Pulido’s steady hand that brings an assured, if occasionally slight, album together where there was so much potential for these heavyweights to step on each other’s toes.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bolder, brighter and better than ever, Waiting A Lifetime is the sound of a band having fun being free.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    He’s created an admittedly imperfect but nonetheless loving ode to some of the greatest milestones in electronic music.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    As a lyrical and moral experiment it’s touching and does what it sets out to; as an auditory experience... not so much.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    They’ve created a huge, rich, brilliant documentation of youth, one which will last for years.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Overall, Write In shows that, beneath their more leftfield influences, Happyness have it in them to be classic songwriters of considerable skill.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    L.A. Divine is simply too rigid for Willett to shine. Joe Plummer, while undeniably talented, is a less subtle drummer than Matt Aveiro and locks Willett into predictable, percussive grids that give his voice a jarringly artificial, almost showtune quality.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A lot of the record shows a lack of streamlining, or a singular focus. If album four sees San Fermin filtering through the bucketloads of promise on show here, there’s something really special on the horizon.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    On all the evidence here, The Big Moon have succeeded in unearthing the secret to a fire debut.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dry wit and effortless elegance run throughout, which makes cinematic, poetic wonderment out of eye rolls and humongous sighs.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whiteout Conditions is a consistently engaging and occasionally irresistible collection of pop songs, carried off with the unmistakable assurance of old hands.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sincerely, Future Pollution is in some ways a perfect representation of our conflicted, uncertain times, but it also makes the record a challenging, uncompromising listen.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    She hasn’t managed to effectively distill her many ideas into something that sounds cohesive After seven years away, that feels like a bit of a let-down.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    On The Far Field Future Islands have captured their humanity in all its sparkling, chaotic glory.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Packed with wit, super-sharp song-writing, and charged with Diet Cig’s now-distinctive personality, Swear I’m Good At This should probably be called ‘Swear I’m Fucking Ace At This’ instead for higher accuracy levels.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It’s verbose and it aims high and it’s not a record you can stick on in the background while you play Candy Crush. But unplug from this modern game of life just for a little while and it’s a very, very special reward indeed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A innovative, inventive joy, Crawl Space is a bold first album from an artist likely to stick around for the long haul.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is a record dedicated to every band who’ve had to scrape together every last penny just to stay alive, and the result is an album that yearns to be heard.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silver/Lead is an accomplished record from a band who continue to challenge their audience.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There’s a minimalism in places here that even ardent fans might find a touch disappointing given how predisposed she normally is to extrapolating on her ideas. In fairness, though, the whole point of Documents is to capture the sound of a band, still hot from the road, bringing that energy to the studio. In the Same Room delivers.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Will and Alison will probably shift gears again on their next album, but Silver Eye is likely to become a standout record in their ever-morphing canon.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The eight-minute sprawl of ‘Don’t Blame Yourself’, too, is wildly self-indulgent and could have had at least a couple of minutes lopped off. Ultimately, though, he sounds rejuvenated on Star Stuff, and that bodes well for whatever he has lined up next.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ending with the sprawling ‘Alone Piano’, the record catapults to spheres beyond. Standing open-armed and resolute for whatever might follow, Let The Dancers Inherit The Earth is an echoing cry for a bright tomorrow.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Unfortunately, that sense of immediacy isn’t always present. Sometimes it shows that From Deewee was rehearsed many times and things get a little bit too mechanical in the middle. It’s still easy to find yourself getting wrapped up in it though and, when it hits, it’s easy to hear why Soulwax are hailed as such innovators.