Drowned In Sound's Scores

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For 4,812 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 It Won't Be Like This All the Time
Lowest review score: 0 BE
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,477 out of 4812
  2. Mixed: 1,220 out of 4812
  3. Negative: 115 out of 4812
4812 music reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Empire Strikes First
    This is by no means a ‘bad’ album... and you’ll be hard-pushed to find a more topical anti-Bush punk album released this year, but after 20+ years and umpteen albums that - lets face it - haven’t really strayed much from their influential style, does anyone really need another Bad Religion album after this one?
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Slow Wonder
    These songs are timeless. These songs are addictive. These songs are great. Why can't every album be like this?
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Louden Up Now
    One of the most assured, unashamedly danceable albums that we’ve heard for quite a while.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Glass Floor
    An unexpected treat.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    I Com
    She writes beats and creates streetwise slithery DogPop with b-lines and brawn and occasionally shows us that wide-open vulnerability is as vital and visceral as virulent heartsteppin’ sin-sharing.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Auf Der Maur
    For all its celebrity tricks and years of pipeline evolution, ‘Auf Der Maur’ still has all the hallmarks of the debut record.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Sung Tongs
    Stunning and dizzying, Sung Tongs’ strangeness will spin around your head for months to come.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hopes And Fears
    Despite some fine moments, on the whole there's not enough that's memorable or above average. No one would give Keane a second glance if Tom Chaplin did not possess such a gift of a voice.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Long Gone Before Daylight
    Music is supposed to be a form of entertainment, but ‘Long Gone Before Daylight’ feels like a collection of aimless lullabies.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire
    It’s darker in tone than its predecessor and it sounds meaner and more sarcastic in spirit. And while Steve Albini is back at the dials on production, ‘Fire’ sounds so raw it leaves you with the impression that he tackled every track individually with a power-sander.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Faded Seaside Glamour
    Unfortunately, though, almost a third of the album is devoted to namby-pamby ballads which, stripped of the band’s trademark sugary hooks, sound truly wispy by proportion.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Are The Quarry
    ‘You Are The Quarry’ sees Morrissey back in the ring, lean, limber and fighting fit.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bright Like Neon Love
    Bright Like Neon Love feels like the record The Human League could have made if they’d remade Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours in 1985. It’s like the soundtrack to the best party you’ve never been too, but always wish you had.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    i
    Similar to Ben Folds and Aimee Mann, Merritt revives the lost art of inventing captivating fictions entwined with personal reflection.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trial Of The Century
    Lavished with luscious keys and gently chiming guitars throughout, ‘The Trial Of The Century’ tickles and teases the listener, offering subtle hooks that take time to appreciate.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Penance Soiree
    The opening half of 'Penance...' alone blows every so-called rock act polluting our airwaves clean away, such is the savage malevolence that resonates within every single syllable that spouts from Joe Cardamone's mouthful of poison.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Rejoicing In The Hands
    Banhart is a complete antidote to all the consumer focus groups or hit-writers, too scared to tamper with the formula. He has stumbled upon a personal Eureka that says there're no laws governing what can be written about in song except self-imposed ones and he's taken that to his heart, and in Technicolor.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Summer Make Good
    A tender, smouldering album of drifting, rudderless beauty.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Heroes To Zeros
    Frustrating... We know that the Beta Band have one jaw-dropping album in them. 'Hot Shots' was nearly it, but certainly this is not.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Van Lear Rose
    Her voice sounds so goddamn fresh, spontaneous, uncompromised. There's an intensely visceral quality to these performances that is so utterly compelling.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Musicology
    As a whole, it’s a 3 [out of 5], but the first two tracks are worth the extra point.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Inches
    Defeatist it may be, but such genius is very rarely recognised in a band’s lifetime. So be it – because there genuinely is no verbal persuasion that could exceed a single listen to America’s most underrated.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Almost Killed Me
    'Almost Killed Me' is a rock album that is – above all – listenable and fucking energetic but never calculated and never sneering.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Runaway Found
    If you like your heart soaked in red wine, and your records to sigh and sway, come hither.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lay Of The Land
    Whether or not the album really captures the bands reputable live show is utterly debatable, but it’s certainly one to inspire the imagination.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It's All Around You
    The LP as a whole is a remarkable collection of ideas, which manages to be overwhelmingly creative, but intrinsically listenable.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused
    Throughout ‘The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused’ runs the coherent theme of creeping, haunting lullabies, and that furrow which sees The Silent League ultimately master their own unique beauty.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Absolution
    A truly elemental opus.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Volunteers
    It’s one of those growers. The lyrics are clever. The running-order is immaculately conceived - it's practically a concept album.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Murs 3:16 The 9th Edition
    He's effectively run aground in the middle of the alt-rap landscape.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Animal Serenade
    The material ranges from the sublime to the good to the galling.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ambulance Ltd
    But then after a couple more artistic false starts and nearly-getting-it-together moments, the clouds part and Stay Where You Are' shines through with its grainy 12-string splendour and thrownback halo backing vocals and they finally seem to wake up to what they are: a good pop group.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Winning Days
    Ultimately, ‘Winning Days’ is an highly frustrating listen.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ten
    This is hip-hop for post-rock fans and vice versa.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Seven Swans
    Stevens has a beautiful voice and a rare melodic instinct but it is the passion with which he performs these songs that causes them to communicate so much, so well.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fall Back Open
    The overall effect is intoxicating -- some sort of triangulated point in the middle of REM, New Order and Statistics.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Pawn Shoppe Heart
    Hands down, ‘Pawn Shoppe Heart’ is the record to blow their contemporaries out of the water.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
    TVOTR splurge slabs of strange sound into almost freeform structures that draw on jazz sensibilities, alt-rock peculiarities and the whole NYC infatuation with cool.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Franz Ferdinand
    Piece everything together and this is where your mouth might, quite rightly, start to drool a little.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kick Up The Fire And Let The Flames Break Loose
    It's different without being aggravating and intelligent without ever being overbearing.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
    Frequently unpleasant, but consistently interesting.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Monsoon
    It’s not as focused as it could’ve been, considering the freshness of the songs.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Aw C'Mon
    Notice the way whole songs skulk past without you ever noticing; how half the material here is ornate but unmemorable muzak, with all the emotional force of a feather. [combined review of both discs]
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    No, You C'Mon
    Some of the weakest, most un-affecting songs that Kurt Wagner has ever written. [combined review of both discs]
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Probot
    ‘Probot’ is the full length dream of a teenage metalhead.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    America's Sweetheart
    'America's Sweetheart' is still more 'Celebrity Skin' than anything.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Power Out
    Swapping the winding soundscapes of ‘Rock It To The Moon’ for punchier, vocal-led pieces, Electrelane have struck creative gold.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Bows & Arrows
    ‘Bows And Arrows’ isn’t a bad album, merely average, struggling to match the level of excitement generated by the brilliant single ‘The Rat’.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Start Something
    Playing to their strengths at last, they've taken the lustre of their energetic live shows and injected into their second record with an enthusiasm that shines out of every song.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Talkie Walkie
    Talkie Walkie is a startling and beautiful record, as curious and timeless as Moon Safari and as intelligent and listenable as any of the year’s best records.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Margerine Eclipse
    Like classic Stereolab at their very best.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Leave Your Name
    This is one of the greatest rock epics to drop through our door in a long while.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Folklore
    There's nothing on 'Folklore' that comes anywhere near the catchiness of anything off her debut.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Is Hell, Part 1 [EP]
    'Love Is Hell' is proof that Ryan Adams is still on form and as splendid as ever.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Rock'n'Roll
    'Rock N Roll' is the worst record Ryan Adams has ever put his name to; a mess of identikit garage buffoonery and amateurish production, filled with rushed lyrics and written-in-a-weekend tunes.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
    There’s enough continental plate-shifting histrionics to keep any unsatisfied Godspeed! fans amused.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Room On Fire
    An adrenaline-fueled head-rush of precision-perfect pop tunes about modern life.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Kish Kash
    Struggles to offer the same level of excitement that previous Jaxx albums provided.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Logic Will Break Your Heart
    It’s not a pretty record; while of course, being at times a very pretty record.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
    The mood is buoyant, the instrumentation is varied and the childlike naivety runs rampant throughout.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Coral Fang
    The record sounds like a seamless amalgamation of the three Hole eras (punk, grunge and rock), with Dalle’s ska roots almost entirely supplanted in favour of a grungier muse.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    12 Memories
    Travis may have reached the kind heights where each new release is instantly dismissed by many as more disposable, daytime-radio fodder, but '12 Memories' is easily the best post-'Rush Of Blood…' soft-rock record there is.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hold On Love
    This is not a record of ballads for emo fans.... This album is a collection of proper songs.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
    The whole affair is deeply involving, full of odd punctuations and wonderful non-linear compositional structures.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Some Of My Best Friends Are DJs
    There appears to be no point or cohesive structure to it whatsoever.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dear Catastrophe Waitress
    The danger for B&S was that they would become trapped in a world of knee socks and introspection; the reality is that they’ve produced their best album since ‘Boy With The Arab Strap’, while proving that they can cut it in the world of well-adjusted adults.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Transatlanticism
    Grand without ever being bloated, humane without settling into pessimism, the best indie band in North America remind us why sometimes, the rewards do not equal the output.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Gallowsbird's Bark
    The duo manage to create the same raw fervoured energy of Jack 'n Meg, but also utilise a far more diverse array of sound and instruments.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cheers
    This album is chock full of more cast iron monster tunes than any mainstream rap LP this century.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
    If you can name me just one rapper that made a more complete record in 2003 than either of these two Southern boys' efforts, I’ll call you a liar.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    stellastarr*
    'Stellastarr*' is a rare beast; one that takes from its peers and gives back something fresh, imaginative and breathlessly great.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Reverie
    "In Reverie' is the record that sees STD (*snigger*) grow into their rather obnoxiously large boots and writing the sort of songs that sound less like =emo=tional pap and more like the nerdy, malnourished American cousins of Ash's biggest hits.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Thirteenth Step
    Thanks to the calibre of the line-up’s musicianship, and Keenan’s ability to write lyrics that don’t insult the intelligence of his audience, the gems on Thirteenth Step outnumber the filler.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lost in Translation OST
    A spectacular triumph.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hocus Pocus
    ‘Hocus Pocus’ is a tricky record to listen to and it’s twisted roots of songs are unlikely to win the band much more than a cult following.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Wolf
    ‘The Wolf’ demonstrates it is still essential for a rebel rock n roll record to compel you to punch the air as if Motley Crue were making a comeback, Vince Neill and all.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The New Romance
    A very special record, indeed.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
    It’s the sound of forbidden affairs, illicit sex with strangers in bars, drunken confessions, of real life. And it feels fantastic.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Reconstruction Site
    John K. Samson’s vocal and lyrical talent is the most immediate thing and, ultimately, what sets the band above the two-a-penny similar rock acts the world over.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Indestructible
    This is an essential purchase for any Rancid fan.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    truANT
    Blending careful harmonies with insidious melodies and woeful lyrics with clever vocals, AAF stick a couple of Hispanic influences and some string quartets in as well.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pole
    Ultimately, and refreshingly, this is not commercial, but hauntingly lush electronic music for all to enjoy.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    De-Loused In The Comatorium
    For the most part, Deloused In The Comatorium is truly exquisite and well worth the wait.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Elephunk
    The unashamed enthusiasm and fun in 'Elephunk' makes BEP the true heirs to the legendary De La Soul.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Keep It Together
    Overall, you can still expect the same and more from Guster on this very summery record: tempo changes that will catch you off your guard, melodies that will stay in your head forever, and lyrics that may seem simple, but actually go deeper into life than you originally thought they did.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If We Meet In The Future
    Despite their lyrical nods toward the future, this self-produced diamond ought really to be nestling in your collection now.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deja Entendu
    Ludicrous song titles and minor flaws apart, ‘Deja Entendu’ is a defiantly intelligent and singularly rewarding piece of work.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid
    While the album is nicely succinct, it lacks a peak, a song to get really excited about.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Evolve
    So, after all this time is she still worth the time of day? Without a shadow of a doubt.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Selling Live Water
    The production is progressive, but not difficult; the mixture of sampled melodies and live instrumentation gives the whole record a submarine clarity and (as with many Anticon releases) the more listens the listener gives, the more content the album returns.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Finelines
    If you only buy one album this year, make it Finelines.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Relationship Of Command
    The new album, Relationship of Command, is one of the most amazing collections of music I have ever heard.
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