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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    • 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.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Margerine Eclipse
    Like classic Stereolab at their very best.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sun and Shade
    If At Echo Lake hit the jackpot, Sun & Shade is more hit and miss. Still, I wouldn't have it any other way.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Last Place
    It’s beautiful and utterly captivating in its own way and, after all the band and Lytle have been through, that’s triumphant enough.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Postcards From a Young Man
    For a band so obsessed with invoking their past, you do wish the Manics weren't so reluctant to throw in a bit of the old grit and ardour. It's a very nicely put together record, but there are moments so far away from the music that drew you to this band in the first place that you wonder if it's wrong to question what you're actually doing here.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asleep on the Floodplain
    Asleep on the Floodplain is billed as a return to that pared-down sound, and it is as close as Chasney has come since to capturing the simple beauty of For Octavio Paz.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Why Love Now
    Why Love Now is the first in a potentially endless stream of politically charged punk rock records this year. However, it’s extremely hard to see any of them trumping this glorious, if uncomfortable, masterpiece.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Payola
    It doesn’t quite retain the piss and vinegar, lightning-in-a-bottle feel of its predecessor. But then of course it doesn’t: that album was turned out in a matter of days by much younger musicians, while this release spanned years and several recording sessions and it’s still absolutely exhilarating.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Eraser
    While The Eraser might not be a genre-busting classic like Kid A or OK Computer it's a good, solid record nonetheless.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Rave Tapes
    It’s not that Rave Tapes is disappointing, it’s just underwhelming--but it’s beautiful enough that maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Something
    However, as difficult second albums go; and given the circumstances Something emerged from, difficult would be the operative word; Chairlift can be proud at what they've accomplished.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Trouble in Paradise
    La Roux returns on its own terms, with at least five minutes and 40 seconds that capture tremendous artistic growth and expression.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ashes & Fire
    While it might not be a consistent classic like Heartbreaker or Gold, there's flashes of those earlier triumphs from Adams' career on Ashes & Fire.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    1,000 Years
    Shorn of Brownstein's intricate guitar playing, Weiss' wonderfully impatient drums and her USP: The Tool, The Voice, Tucker is operating at brave distance from her comfort zone. In doing so she's unveiled a whole lot of other things she's good at.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    SBTRKT
    Representing UK production at its best, SBTRKT's self-titled album is playful yet gritty.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Azari & III
    So with six months worth of perspective since their debut album's first release, Azari & III didn't quite create a storming LP to match the promise of those early singles.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Know What Love Isn't
    I Know What Love Isn't is a classy break-up record rather than just a classic one.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What Have We Become?
    That sunrise-smile that hits before the first half-minute mark isn't blighted by the slightest smudge of cloud right up to minute 45, this is one of our best writers and the soul and centre of why he's always mattered so much. Heartily recommended.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Few More Days to Go
    There’s no doubt that Few More Days To Go is an intriguing record by a very promising band--but it also feels like this is just a taste of their true power.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois
    The moments of unity sound accidental and haphazard, ambient music with the occasional breakcore eruption, as if a child was operating two stereos playing each artist and alternating turning the volume up and down on each one.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ruins
    Ruins is a thoroughly pretty piece of work, lovingly presented. The question hanging over it, though, is how long First Aid Kit can get away with making revisions to the original model before the law of diminishing returns begins to kick in hard.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Body Talk, Pt. 2
    The album is no Robyn and it doesn't quite match Body Talk (Part 1) in terms of the sheer number of highs.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shrines
    Shrines is the sound of the air beneath your bed whispering when you rest.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Who Built the Moon?
    This feels like Holmes’ record--a studio-created melting pot of awkward approaches, inspired instrumentation, the occasional colossal flop and a few genuinely unique moments. More power to Gallagher for giving him the reigns here and allowing himself to be guided into territory that’s often fresh, sometimes really interesting but, above all, utterly atypical and bizarre.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Seasons of Your Day
    Despite Mazzy Star sounding as good as they always have, Seasons Of Your Day only goes to show that the rest of the world has finally caught up with them.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North
    Magnetic North seem to take you to another place entirely with what seems like very simple ingredients--subtle, dare-I-say tasteful instrumentation, and languid, slowly infectious melodies.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Spilt Milk
    Some might sneer at its twee nature--especially in light of the extraordinariness of the recently departed, but Spilt Milk captures an ageing songwriter catching a second wind and reflecting with wit, charm and humility.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In the Same Room
    Julia Holter’s is a talent best shown stretched, pulled-out and free-flowing in live performance. This recording environment suits her just right.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Decade
    Davies’ solo output would increase in the Eighties, yet like his day job band, the quality began to vary markedly. Here we have a snapshot of a time when he was at the top of his game--but overshadowed in the public eye by his brother’s more easily digestible (and, let’s face it, available) work.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Go
    What's really satisfying about Go is the way the soaring architecture of symphonic hipster du jour Nico Muhly's compositional work looms just as large on the more effervescent numbers as it does in these quieter spots - it really drawing everything together into a wonderfully coherent whole, despite the record's ever-shifting tides and Birgisson's violently affecting knack for distilling every emotion known to humanity into a single echoing chord change.
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