Dusted Magazine's Scores

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For 3,271 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 42% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Ys
Lowest review score: 0 Rain In England
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,655 out of 3271
  2. Mixed: 581 out of 3271
  3. Negative: 35 out of 3271
3271 music reviews
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    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Amadjar
    The decision to work these songs out while camped out next to a mobile recording truck shifts the instrumental balance; the bass is less mobile, handclaps and choppy rhythm guitar set the cadence and overall things move a little slower. And Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who sings over half the songs, has never sounded more world-weary. ... But deep blue sentiments touch deeply, and Tinariwen’s music still has that reach.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Weather Station
    Tense and uncertain, The Weather Station will keep you tuning in.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Infinite Worlds
    Rather than just a haphazard collection, the eight cathartic pieces that make up Infinite Worlds work as a genuinely affecting singular statement--its idiosyncrasies stitched together by a strong lyrical narrative, improbably forming a cohesive whole.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Plastic Anniversary
    It’s hard to overstate just how much fun this record is, how playful its complex rhythms are, how brightly colored its tonal variations. Plastic can be a lot of things, but here it is an utter joy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What Do We Do Now
    While it’s unmistakably a Mascis solo album, What Do We Do Now just stands apart from anything he’s done to date.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bloom
    Lovely as it is, Bloom makes no big departures and takes no risks. If you wanted Teen Dream all over again, and god knows there are plenty of people who do, this is your record.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Inland See
    Inland See is the kind of record that offers multiple layers of riches: the rich sound of the analog synthesizers, the mellifluous wind instruments, the subtle use of evolving rhythmic elements. It’s an addictive listen that rivals Totality for its elegance and depth.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bright Ideas
    The songs are reliably mid-tempo and catchy, although they certainly lack the heedless rush that made the first Superchunk albums such models of indie rock.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Cities to Love
    Sleater-Kinney is back in all its spiky, brainy, let-a-bunch-of-ideas-fight-it-out glory.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Noble Beast
    It has a warm, uncertain humanity that its predecessors, for all their depth and beauty, did not: it scans as genuine, music made from necessity rather than from the impulse of an extraordinary showman.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Don't Want To Let You Down [EP]
    Van Etten’s born-loser character could have been a bore were it not for her disciplined musicianship (her early years included classical music and multiple instruments) and her painful but enduring singing. It never stops sounding like real hurt.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spoon And Rafter
    Everything here is marked with a hint of familiarity, but it's surprisingly hard to mind.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Occasion for Song
    In recognizing this missing piece [violinist Noel Sayre] straight on, Occasion for Song may finally have found a way forward.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mouse And The Mask
    Like Paul's Boutique, The Mouse and the Mask is at times frustrating in its top-heaviness. Thank god it's got Doom.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings
    Even after several weeks of listening to this thing, I still don’t feel like I’ve truly got a handle on it. Prepare to immerse yourself in order to tap into its mysteries. Thankfully there are abundant rewards to be found amid the surges of widescreen sound.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Trip to Bolgatanga
    A Trip to Bolatanga is on strong ground. The combination of nyabinghi hand drumming, booming kick drum, funky guitar, house-ready piano accents and bobbing clarinet on “Accra Electronica” sounding simultaneously of this time and timeless, and there’s no denying the beats’ substantial bang, which both demands and rewards volume deals.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Depression in Heaven
    Even more than Luminol, No Depression in Heaven builds up such a heady and consistent ambience that you can relax into it like a warm bath.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pink Dolphins
    The interaction between machines and the power and tone of branch’s trumpet is the core here and the duo play off each other with unerring control and infectious joy.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sun Piano
    The album varies between affecting and emotionally resonant straightforward pieces, and at times moments that increase the level of abstraction and repetition into minimalism. ... Sun Piano is a meditative and elegiac set, yet points towards the possibilities of endless variation and reflection.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Music For the Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs
    Shackleton, if there was any doubt, can do big picture and tight focus equally well; he can lead us into the future musically while digging in his heels against the one that's actually in store.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Lemon Of Pink
    Perhaps the best thing about The Lemon of Pink is that it possesses a cohesion that its predecessor, even at its frequent best, still somehow lacked.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Curious Hand
    Elements jostle together with the pitch and roll of the walk home after last call, the songs themselves are beautifully put together, with striking images that fit the melody exactly, shine for instant and then are tossed away.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Closer to Grey
    This is world weary pop, but it’s completely uncynical. Reserved and melodramatic at the same time, it doesn’t worry about the incongruities, satisfied to be both wilted and very alive.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's Up to Emma
    On It’s Up to Emma, her sixth album, songs like “My Man” and “What Can I Do” are a bit of a shock--lusher, denser, subtler, their gut-punching intensity smoothed with sustained sounds.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Vertigo Days
    As the music comes full circle, Vertigo Days forms a satisfying whole. On subsequent spins, more and more subtle threads and parallels become apparent, highlighting the craftsmanship The Notwist have invested in what may prove to be their finest album to date.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pond Scum
    The song selection, from two very distinct periods in Oldham’s discography, makes for a cohesive album, and it exemplifies how strong his songwriting has been from the beginning.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Swanlights
    It's a difficult accomplishment, encompassing pop and the avant-garde while also featuring a particularly striking element (in this case, Hegarty's voice); all three are well-represented here.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Singularity
    There are spoken words buried in these machine-like architectures, only the tone, not the sense of them coming through the music. It is a rather lovely space that Hopkins creates, lyrical but inhabited, precise and well-lighted and buoyant.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Killer
    It succeeds, unequivocally, as usual.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    1985: The Miracle Year [Box Set]
    A number of the record’s best songs sizzle and churn on Miracle Year. The atmospherics of the live setting suit the combination of incisive melody and the chaotic fuzz-and-feedback issuing from Bob Mold’s guitar; check out “If I Told You,” “Powerline” and especially New Day Rising’s title track. .... 1985: The Miracle Year includes another four LP sides of live Hüsker Dü, from various gigs in ’85, and you can hear some serious hard psych: “Chartered Trips” from a show in Switzerland, “Eiffel Tower High” from Salt Lake City, “Sunshine Superman” from Hoboken.
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