Exclaim's Scores

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For 5,096 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 57% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Vol.II
Lowest review score: 10 California Son
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,315 out of 5096
  2. Mixed: 753 out of 5096
  3. Negative: 28 out of 5096
5096 music reviews
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Woman
    A distinct effort has been made to play up the sexiness of the project and, thankfully, the music lives up to that imagery.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Heterosexuality
    Heterosexuality captivates and transports the listener, making an ethereal landscape out of dissonance and nihilism. It never repeats itself, it does not stutter, and it absolutely never apologizes.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Remedy
    One of the best Americana records of the year.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If Only There Was a River
    The record starts to lose a little momentum near the end, and some parts of the record float by without registering much of an impression, but the highlights usually make up for this. Sometimes she gets too laidback for her own good, but St. Louis has enough charm to make the record work.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The World Is To Dig
    This far into their career, you don't need a They Might Be Giants album to be classic — you just need it to be a reminder of how great they are, and have been since before you were born, probably.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Days Are Gone
    Sure, the sequencing could have used some tweaking, but Days Are Gone is a commendable effort that manages to answer all of the hype.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Blues
    No Blues is precisely the grimly euphoric lift-up it purports to be, validating Los Campesinos! on their own terms as connoisseurs of perversely thrilling, desperately mundane misery.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Paradise
    White Lung sound both heavier and more accessible on Paradise, once again proving that there's far more to this band than meets the eye.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This Is What I Mean
    Stormzy finds balance on This Is What I Mean and delivers a record with clear intentions and messaging. While it's unlikely to please the entirety of his audience, those who find this record in the pits of depression, lost spirituality, heartbreak or falling in and out of love will undoubtedly be moved.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sermon on the Rocks
    It will always be a pleasure to hear Ritter's songs, to spend some time in his warm, rich universe. But he needs a new band, badly.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Frkwys, Vol. 13: Sunergy
    Ciani and Smith's exploitation of the Buchla's possibilities is exemplary, and worth looking into for fans of ambient or experimental music.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pure Luxury
    His third album Pure Luxury is busy yet balanced, drawing from a diverse and sensual set of influences.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Flood
    Flood is much less didactic than its predecessor — it isn't Donnelly's job to teach us, but she still demands and warrants our attention.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Okovi
    For a project that centres on tragedy, though, Okovi feels remarkably vital. After five albums, Zola Jesus's balancing act remains compelling.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Just Be Free
    Everything goes by at such a breathless pace and without much variation that for individual listening, it gets a bit draining at times.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light
    There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light is the sound of a band that know themselves. Stars speak to the truths we grapple with, and the internal nature of our emotional experiences. It's a gift to hear this realized.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Xen
    Fans of his hip-hop and R&B work will certainly be challenged by the sparse and experimental nature of Xen, which makes it one of the most satisfying listens of the year..
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mind of Traxman
    While this record is steeped in mature rhythms, the hype tendencies that make the music ghetto are never sacrificed.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    C U L T U R E
    The subject matter isn't new, but the trio's knack for delivering humorous one-liners, tasteful adlibs and memorable hooks in impressively technical fashion remains a winning formula here.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    True Predation
    Like that excellent mid-period of Entombed where they embraced raw production and an honest approach in every aspect of their music, Struck by Lightning have it all, minus any songs that worm their way into the listener's head.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow
    Reconstructed is a comprehensive and well-curated collection that showcases the diversity and talent of this exceptional California turntablist and producer.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Difference Between Hell and Home
    While there isn't much on display that will impress those with little desire for more of the same, genre buffs or fans of Counterparts' first two full-lengths will find the absence of filler and spirited momentum more than agreeable.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Double Cup
    You will be hard-pressed to find a fresher-sounding dance LP this year.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Every Hero Needs a Villain
    Those beats prove to be a dynamic soundtrack for Esoteric and Deck's shameless, endlessly entertaining punch lines, which are bizarrely charming enough to leave you rooting for the bad guy.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    No Recover
    The sense on this wondrous and haunting album is that he's a man and a songwriter that lives to command life and forge new ways forward, disproving the merits of convention by simply reflecting upon how falling in line is not for him and, damn it, it won't have to be for his family neither.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everythang's Corrupt
    While it's not quite a classic like his seminal late '80s to early '90s run, Everythang's Corrupt is a return to form, especially after Cube's rudimentary 2000s releases like Laugh Now, Cry Later and I Am the West. It's heartening to hear an icon with nothing left to prove rap with the hunger of a youngster so far into his career.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Corpse Flower
    Corpse Flower has a dynamic sound that is interesting for anyone. The record is another example of the masterful musicianship of Patton and showcases Vannier's capabilities in crafting perfectly balanced pieces of music.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Waxing Moon
    Waxing Moon presents a kind of transition in Foon's career, possessing full helpings of the despair and hope that is baked into the DNA of her earlier work, but with a further articulation of those emotions, becoming a visible and dimly spotlighted person standing in front of the monolith.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hollywood Park
    Ultimately, while not pushing beyond well-worn genre expectations, Hollywood Park does present the Airborne Toxic Event at their most sincere and vulnerable.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Heavy Sun
    This album reveals that Lanois is as gifted a collaborator and curator of talent as he is a creator of atmospheric productions for megastars. Let's hope the pandemic lockdowns lift soon, because Lanois and his bandmates deserve to delight audiences with their crackling chemistry and old-school gospel songcraft, all of which are vividly captured on Heavy Sun.
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