Dusted Magazine's Scores

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For 3,287 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: 2,670 out of 3287
  2. Mixed: 581 out of 3287
  3. Negative: 36 out of 3287
3287 music reviews
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    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    In Evening Air
    Nothing on In Evening Air quite achieves the slow-burning power of the title track to their In the Fall EP. But as a distillation of Future Islands' textured, unpredictable approach to pop, it's a fine starting point.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Swedish Love Story
    It's decidedly a Pallett album, just breezier. I like it.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Everything in Between
    Everything in Between is as fine a monument to imperfection as they've built so far.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pattern + Grid World
    As a literally small record, the EP can seem like a diversion. But it is an immensely enjoyable one.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    False Priest
    While some may regret Barnes's toning-done of quirkiness or ambition, False Priest plays to his best qualities while minimizing his weaker ones.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Epic
    Epic pulls from more corners. The voice at the center isn't arresting, exactly, but in the end that's unimportant. You'll want to stay.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Good Things
    For those, like me, who previously dismissed Aloe Blacc, Good Things warrants our reconsideration. Blacc's changed his tune. We probably should, too
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    New Chain
    Mostly these songs seem slight and shy, unable, really, to support the massive facades of synth and disco drums that Small Black layers onto them.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Small Craft On A Milk Sea
    The most interesting tracks on this album sound like music for the great Pier 1 Imports in the sky, suggesting an infinity of pure, terrifying stasis.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    O
    So even though Popp's new sound palette seems like a step back, the way he uses it is as au courant as an oil-soaked pelican. O is not a retro move, but the work of an artist dealing with the now.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Rain In England
    To all indications, Rain in England is irredeemably bad. This is what it sounds like when everyone fails to point out that an idea isn't worth indulging.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tidelands
    There's a strength in what these four musicians are capable of together, and the best moments on Tidelands explore the boundaries of such an approach.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    DIRTY BABY
    Timbrally, this is just another Nels Cline offering with all of its variety and surprise, but musically, it's his most mature and satisfying.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fantastic Explanations (And Similar Situations)
    This is still a fun and fast record, showcasing a band with as many ideas as bratty rave-ups. Next time out, they might take a look at the pros with ridiculous hats that co-inhabit their hometown, though, and tell a story.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ancestral Star
    Having demonstrated their ability to adeptly blend movement and atmospheric melody, Caminiti and Porras should aim higher than simple--albeit skillful--drones. That said, Ancestral Star delivers more than enough to reward the patient listener.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Blurry Blue Mountain
    Over the course of three decades, Gelb has managed to make two albums that are great all the way though: Chore of Enchantment and 'Sno Angel Like You. He's made dozens that are uneven, and this is another one.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Undercard
    What is peculiar about Undercard is the frequency with which Bruno flops back and forth between these two roles. The result is an inconsistent album that is sophomoric at turns and sublime at others.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Opticks
    With perhaps the exceptions of "Silver > Blue" and "Levitation," none of the songs catch your attention. No melodies stick in your mind. No spirit of the album lingers, and the room isn't warmed by its presence. It's there and nice, but then it's gone.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silent Movies
    Whatever ensemble he employs, and in whatever style he plays, unpredictability is a major component of his M.O. Silent Movies is no exception, and his formidable technique services music that continually thwarts expectation.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Play It Strange
    Play It Strange covers plenty of ground and suggests that the folks in The Fresh & Onlys are far from out of compelling ideas, it also finds the band playing at a kind of strangeness that sounds suspiciously like work.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Strychnine Dandelions
    While this workmanship-like familiarity leaves little room for surprises, it also makes the hit-to-misstep ratio almost negligible. With this kind of success rate, we can only hope Cartwright has another 20 years of near-obscurity in him.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Light of a Vaster Dark
    Lovely as it may be, Light of a Vaster Dark largely lacks the surprising, adventurous quality of Faun Fables's past efforts, coming off as monotone and unremarkable in comparison.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sports
    Weekend has crafted an aesthetically sound model of how a rock 'n roll band should work. It looks good, it knows how to talk to women, and some guys you know even think it's pretty cool.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Loud
    Pop chanteuse lets the sunshine back in.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Absolute Dissent
    Absolute Dissent reaches a few new peaks, no doubt. The band is still challenging itself, much like art punk peers Wire, The Fall and Nick Cave have in the past decade.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Funeral Mariachi
    It's powerful, it's supremely accessible, and, in a kinder, more playful world, it could be NPR button music--or at least a life-changing stocking-stuffer for scores of Panda Bear fans.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Not Music
    The melody is maintained, with the only difference between the two sections is a very pregnant pause added to the notes, the whole of robotic Europop from the '70s lodged into one oversized chrome éclair.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    WYWH
    The subdued guitars and steady percussive clip-clop are a noticeable change from the band's usual jangly late-afternoon pop, but even on the richest melodies lyrics and delivery drive the album.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    For the Ghosts Within
    At the end, Wyatt takes the For the Ghosts Within's over-riding mushiness, runs with it, and it makes it totally work.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    North
    North is an album intended to be accessible, and it embodies its time and place more honestly than most records released this year--which is a risky thing to say while also acknowledging that the title refers to a time as well as a place: the Northern England of Joy Division and The Human League.
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