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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    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Dream
    NO DREAM is punk rock that's fit for the masses without sacrificing any of its authenticity. For every catchy melody there's a brashness that says to the wrong people, "This isn't for you." But Rosenstock always makes a case for joining him in the good fight.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dedicated Side B
    Although Dedicated might be a more comprehensive piece of work as a whole, Side B is so impressively strong that it could easily be a continuation of the album (its B-side, even). Side B is brimming with starry-eyed euphoria, glittery synth-pop confections and her characteristically odd lyrical syntax.
    • 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.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Chunky Shrapnel [Live]
    King Gizzard's offerings, by their experimental nature, are a disjointed product. Rather than fight this, Chunky Shrapnel thunders headlong into it. ... While this jarring approach may not give you the best sense of a King Gizzard show, it certainly captures what makes them so appealing.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Island
    Island represents a tender, more melancholic chapter in Pallett's repertoire, but one that offers a refined perspective.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Future Teenage Cave Artists
    If Future Teenage Cave Artists is the only cultural artifact left behind in an apocalypse, future generations will at least have an interesting scripture to use to rebuild.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Notes on a Conditional Form
    There are at least two too many instrumentals, and songs that stand apart on their own start to bleed together near then end. But the ambition and execution can't be denied. This is the 1975 operating at the peak of their powers.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Don't Let the Ink Dry
    Don't Let the Ink Dry is a promising debut that showcases true talent.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Strange to Explain
    This album feels like they need to take another walk in the trees to reconnect with their namesake.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Love the New Sky
    While I Love the New Sky would have been a near-perfect nine-track LP, it's a rare treat that Tim Burgess can give fans something so inspired and inspiring this deep into his career.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Banana Skin Shoes
    Banana Skin Shoes is classic Badly Drawn Boy: Eclectic songs held together by heartfelt lyrics and rich instrumentation. The only thing that's changed is Gough has proved he can dance.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ghosts of West Virginia
    Instead of digging up coal like the miners grippingly depicted in these new songs, the Hardcore Troubadour and the Dukes unearth anthemic gems for America's marginalized.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Yeo-Neun
    Okkyung Lee has delivered an album so achingly tender that it is bound to stand as one of this year's best neoclassical releases.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Temple
    For each song where the more minimal sonic approach comes up short, there are places on Temple where it succeeds.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Quickening
    Although Jim White and Marisa Anderson never seem to give themselves enough time or space to truly stretch out, The Quickening nonetheless captures two masters at their most free.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mosaic of Transformation
    The Mosaic of Transformation is a generous record, a gift from Smith to those who need to lock into their body, to move quietly and deliberately.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    High Off Life
    Pretty much the only complaint is that, similar to all of his releases since the infamous EVOL, it delivers and lives up to the hype, but it doesn't build and surpass his previous work. It remains to be seen whether he will ever create an album that is better than everything he's done so far, but this is still an extremely solid release.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Starz
    Despite its brisk pacing, Starz still suffers from bloat. Songs like "Iceheart," "Dance in the Dark," and "My Agenda" could have been left off the track list and made the album more coherent and enjoyable to experience.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lovers Rock
    Lovers Rock reflects the Dears' identity as a band, illustrating their development, both lyrically and musically, by intertwining a sense of being down in the dumps with intricate, euphonious melodies.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    All That Glue
    All That Glue is a great compilation, and one that should please fans and newcomers alike with enough unreleased or B-side material to fill a full-length and enough strong picks from the band's past to give new fans a perspective on what to check out next.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sorceress
    It appears that Williamson is always fleeing from somewhere and yearns to live a life with no regrets with the time we have left. Sorceress is her personal but inspiring, magical journey to get to that point.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Will This Make Me Good
    Though without some of the magic of his debut, Hakim's sophomore full-length shows that he is still full of genre-bending potential.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Flight
    While the album could be described as moody, and there certainly are dramatic shifts in mood throughout, there is also always the feeling of sunny skies above. The music conjures up the grit of the beach, the flow of the ocean, and the hot concrete below the unrelenting sun of the Pacific coast.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Quickies
    At times jovial and elsewhere solemn, Quickies is an anthology of flash fictions, thematically clashing against one another like "I've Got a Date With Jesus" and "You've Got a Friend in Beelzebub," yet otherwise twinning mischievously like "The Best Cup of Coffee In Tennessee" and "The Biggest Tits in History."
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    All Visible Objects
    All Visible Objects is a welcome addition and one that offers a little bit of everything to everyone.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    how i'm feeling now
    Though it lacks the alien opalescence of Charli's best record, how i'm feeling now contains a different sort of thrilling delirium. It's fun and sometimes silly, made on the fly and under a tight deadline. But it's desperate too — a frenzied call for release, an ode to the love that keeps us going, and further proof that no other pop artist today can make the digital sound so disarmingly human.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Paradise Gardens
    Paradise Gardens digresses ever so slightly from this aesthetic, at least initially, resulting in a slight identity crisis resolved by the strength of her newfound pop leanings.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Reunions
    With Reunions, Isbell unites the disparate aspects of his craft — soothing acoustic and fiercely electric; Hemingway's word economy dashed with Oscar Wilde-worthy asides, relatable details and otherworldly allusions. ... For listeners immersed in similar bittersweet nuances on a daily basis, there's no better musical accompaniment than Isbell's latest.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It Was Good Until It Wasn't
    Lacks the clever subtlety of innuendos on songs like "Can I" (featuring Tory Lanez) and "F&MU." "Bad News," "Everybody Business" and "Open (Passionate)" are the album's standouts, showcasing elements of Kehlani's strongest contributions to music thus far, and highlighting her ability to make vulnerability a strength.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is an enormous, cavernous record – the kind that invites you to sit inside and let your fears and triumphs echo against its glittering walls. It's been a small marvel to witness the transformation of Mike Hadreas, and his latest offering is only more proof that he's an artist unlike any other working today, capable of opening doors to the unknown and illuminating new pathways.
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