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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    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jumping the Shark
    At times, the simplicity of the melodies (the synths at times sound like readymade ones you'd find on a Yamaha keyboard) and decidedly uncomplicated drum machine beats may leave the listener wanting more, but they play into the notion of these characters being pathetic, exhausted and disappointed so well that there really isn't a need for much more.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Between Waves
    One of the best things about the Album Leaf is the mental imagery that comes naturally with the music, and Between Waves provides a fresh canvas.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mangy Love
    Mangy Love sounds like a collaborative affair from an artist who has the keen ability to keep his musical identity sounding completely idiosyncratic.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Blonde
    Vibrant, it colours outside the lines. Poignant, it's transparent with altering modes of bravado, vulnerability and desperation. It is, thoroughly, a Frank Ocean album, yearning for perfection, sating the audience's hunger for dynamism, yet with the persistent feeling that the artist feels it's all a failure.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    PartyNextDoor 3
    While PND's production is typically on point, his songwriting and vocal skills are still evolving.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pure & Simple
    Pure & Simple is at best a middle shelf release in Parton's discography.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Animal Races
    Animal Races is an homage to a bygone era, and a terrific one at that, so while it's far more influenced than it could ever be influential, it does have the potential to inspire sentimentality among those who lived through the era to which it devotes itself.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
    Golden Sings That Have Been Sung is a personal best for Walker, innovation for the genre and in general, just a damn good listen.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sweatbox Dynasty
    With 12 tracks and a run time of just 30 minutes, much of Tobacco's fourth solo LP almost sounds incomplete at times, but Fec somehow makes it work to his advantage.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Real
    Real, Loveless's confident and poppy fourth album, builds on what Loveless and her band were doing on 2014's grittier Somewhere Else.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    At Swim
    At times, At Swim feels like it drifts aimlessly. ... Nevertheless, At Swim is like a dream you won't want to wake up from.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Callus
    Callus is a harrowing experience, not for the faint of heart. It's more of a preach than a rap, at times more post-rock than hip-hop, the overall experience something akin to hearing slam poetry at knifepoint.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    And Then Like Lions
    If you want to just chill at home in the afternoon, give this beauty a spin. Those wanting a reinvented wheel, look elsewhere.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    SremmLife 2
    A rarely relenting party with more substance than the last.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fishing Blues
    Between Ant's eclectic, subtle production and Slug's equally nuanced lyricism, Fishing Blues stands out as one of the best hip-hop LPs of the year thus far.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Weird Exits
    Time has been kind to Thee Oh Sees, who remain proper royalty in the garage rock universe and manage to shape-shift without losing their boisterous and impactful delivery.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Home Wrecking Years
    This is feel-good music. On Home Wrecking Years, Canning has developed a sound that is genuine, heartfelt and liberating.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hangin' at the Beach
    Fans of surrealist, lo-fi beats and the 1980s will finds Edwards' beach worth visiting.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Boy King
    Wild Beasts have always been strong performers, but only when seemingly unaware; by tackling the trope of hubris-laden bro rockers, Boy King finds them becoming the butt of their own jokes, with little more than mindless dance tracks to show for it.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Man Machine Poem
    Man Machine Poem is the Tragically Hip's most cohesive release since at least Music @ Work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Interior Architecture
    What makes Interior Architecture such a success, though, is how effortless his attention to detail feels, as each movement flows into another to help create an experimental noise concept album.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Innocence Reaches
    Throughout the album's 12 tracks, of Montreal manage to come off inspired, inventive, re-energized and wide-eyed on Innocence Reaches, utilizing new sounds rather than rehashing old ideas.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
    Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not is another fine entry into Dinosaur Jr.'s ever-expanding catalogue. Whether or not the group are attracting new listeners with these releases is unclear, but they're certainly doing nothing to dissuade old ones.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Morning Report
    Opting to work with four different producers led the band to a wide variety of sounds on Morning Report, and while that will be a sticking point for some listeners, the record shows they're far from content in solely making plays towards accessibility.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Night Melody
    On Night Melody, West has created a touchingly personal piece of art that feels more like an addendum to Howl than a jarringly new chapter in his musical journey.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No Hard Feelings
    No Hard Feelings isn't quite ground-breaking, but it's an exciting step forward from Dreezy's previous project, Schizo.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Major Key
    It starts off deceptively strong, with standouts like "I Got the Keys," "Nas Album Done" and "For Free" all loaded near the beginning. But once the album advances past this bit of clever sequencing, it barely strikes a chord.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lovers
    There are certainly lulls among the 18 tracks, moments of randomness, and even an occasional lack of direction. But if Cline is indeed trying to conjure a feeling of romance through instrumental jazz, he's done just that on this record.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Guidance
    Compared to Memorial, the band's previous release, Guidance plays it straight and heavy, granting the listener fewer moments of mercy from the onslaught of Russian Circles' music.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Disco's of Imhotep
    Though at times a little too cacophonous, the nine-track LP is an impressive collection that remains true to its Afrofuturistic roots.
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