New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores

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For 6,302 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Lowest review score: 0 Maroon
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,469 out of 6302
  2. Mixed: 1,680 out of 6302
  3. Negative: 153 out of 6302
6302 music reviews
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    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One More Time...
    The issue is, however, that it’s perhaps lacking in variety. Although the rocket-fueled, lightning-paced ‘More Than You Know’ and the gently atmospheric closer ‘Childhood’ do offer changes in pace, there’s only really subtle things differentiating many of these songs from each other. Sometimes, the hooks aren’t as strong as they could be.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bossalinis & Fooliyones
    When they do keep it 'cloud'--with the dissolving beauty of 'Cloud Body' and the fairytale-like 'Love Is Life'--the results are remarkable. But elsewhere, romance and originality suffer.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Aaltopiiri
    Here is another dry collection of sullen machine drones and subtle tonal manipulation; signals to the outside world explaining that all is well in Pan Sonic's overpoweringly masculine universe.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love, Angel, Music, Baby
    One of the most frivolously brilliant slabs of shiny retro-pop anyone's had the chutzpah to release all year. [20 Nov 2004, p.56]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fragrant World
    Instead of an album hurtling 100mph in one of those directions, Fragrant World feels like the work of a band with stabilisers on.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cherish the Light Years
    Considering the scattered legacy that feeds the roots of this album, and the other OTT keyboard abusers of our times, some foolishness is only right and proper. Fortunately, there's some belting tunes to chew on too.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beacons Of Ancestorship
    Tortoise have made a welcome escape from the dusty ’90s indie crypt.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Strictly 4 The Scythe
    Like its namesake, the tape hits like the swing of a scythe: wide rather than precise – not every cut lands cleanly, but enough to make the chaos feel intentional.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Classic
    It’s not an easy listen and moments, notably the faux-soul of ‘Shame’, can grate, but this is a fascinating and rich record.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    L'Aventura
    Here he delivers a 14-minute psychedelic disco odyssey ('Comment Revoir Oursinet?') about missing his teddy bear. The rest of 'L'Aventura', his sixth album, is deep-pile funk ('Sous Les Rayons Du Soleil'), bouncing electro-soul ('Aller Vers Le Soleil') and as cheesy as a Camembert cravat.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Circles
    For those who can stomach its muscular experimentation, Circles is out of this world.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    God Forgives, I Don't
    It's thrilling. It's pantomime. It's what Ross does best.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Slow Gum
    A debut that breathes new life into old sounds.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Warm Slime
    Swiftly recorded in just one day, Warm Slime is an intuitively-conceived, addictively impulsive lesson in peculiarity.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Presents...Here Come the Bombs
    With 'Here Come The Bombs', frontman Gaz Coombes does a surprisingly adept job of retaining [former band, Supergrass's] oddball pop sensibility, but shaping it into something that's, if not mature, then at least slightly less frivolously young and free.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    We the Common
    It’s all lovely stuff, but the darkness within my soul says it’s maybe too lovely.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Broken Ear Record
    Tinnitus never sounded so good. [3 Sep 2005, p.74]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fantasm Planes [EP]
    The new EP by maximalist electronica savant Chris Clark covers yet more new ground while retaining his indelible touch of genius.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Afraid of Heights
    Afraid Of Heights takes the formula he toyed with there and beats it into something more coherent, focusing on decorating his punk with this new sonic tinsel.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Anthems for Doomed Youth
    While the music may not always match up, the lyrics reaffirm The Libertines’ place as one of the most vital British bands ever and should usher a fresh generation of believers on board the good ship Albion.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Further
    Seven albums in and Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons might no longer be raving on the most future-facing side of dancefloor, but their way with an effortless arms-in-the-air banger is undisputable.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Heroes
    He excellently lends Coldplay's 'The Scientist' a terse fragility, but less successful is a sanitised, Sheryl Crow-featuring version of Tom Waits' 'Come On Up To The House'.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Our Love To Admire
    Interpol have made a great album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Permanent Signal
    Permanent Signal finds beauty in loneliness.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Birds of Satan
    Dave Grohl and Pat Smear both make cameos on the record, but high profile guests aren’t the album’s high point. That accolade goes to the gentle soft rock triumph of ‘Raspberries’, the shred-happy ‘Pieces of the Puzzle’ and the piledriving, ’70s-era Aerosmith ballad ‘Too Far Gone To See’.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Flourish and a Spoil
    A freshly squeezed record with the pulp left in it.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Good Sad Happy Bad
    Beneath those perverted pop bounces, though, are some sadder, softer moments, and a reminder that Levi doesn’t just need discordant noise to twist your insides.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Beautiful Revolution, Vol. 2
    It’s rich with Afro-centric grooves and dusty drum breaks, the spirit of James Brown weaving in and out of the pro-Black messaging, which emphasises hope and progress but still acknowledges the pain and suffering endured along the way.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Snoop Dogg Presents: The Algorithm
    ‘Algorithm’ will probably appeal more to the older hip-hop cynics, though anyone who grew up in a house where their parents played ‘California Love’ or ‘It Was A Good Day’ will also revel in the nostalgia offered by the record.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go
    An album that sounds like it was written as a soundtrack to the best film never made. [20 Jan 2007, p.31]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
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