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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    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Easy Pain
    Easy Pain proves hard to like; and with little more than aimless aggression to cling onto for eight songs, you realise it’s all muscle.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sylvan Esso
    Heartfelt, human electronica that pulses with a folksy emotion thanks to Meath’s beautifully warm vocals, the duo’s debut LP is a summer essential.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Into Forever
    Sparkling synth melodies abound on ‘Time Enough’ and ‘Shapes And Patterns’, with only the meandering Pink Floyd indulgence ‘Vapour Trails’ dragging the journey down.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Music for Insomniacs
    Aside from the vocoder-enhanced cosmic disco that features midway, this is an introverted offering--though much too good to fall asleep to.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love
    Love is a lush, romantic, folk-driven collection that moves away from his earlier, more psychedelic work.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ghost Stories
    Ghost Stories is a feeling more than a collection of songs, and takes a willing reception for granted. That feeling's not rancorous, it's bloodless and resigned, but touching as well.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Process
    This Brooklyn band, completed by Dale Eisinger on drums and electronics, strike a thrilling balance between extreme industrial sound and remarkable artistry.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Herd Runners
    Aldred shares Richard Hawley's producer Colin Elliot, but also his gruff, warmhearted authority, and it's a similar hard-won wisdom that makes Herd Runners so moving.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Uzu
    Their 2011 debut album was nominated for the Polaris Prize, Canada’s equivalent of the Mercury--although UZU, its follow-up, is bolder, rangier and more ambitious than anything likely to trouble that bauble’s orbit.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Midnight Sun
    This time there are killer hooks aplenty that immediately hit the spot. Midnight scorchio, more like.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Life Among the Savages
    It all sounds immaculate, but lacks the memorable lyrics and direct hooks of Papercuts’ pop forbears.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    III
    Bo Ningen have become more approachable without losing the ferocity and anything-goes attitude that made them so exciting in the first place.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    American Interior
    A mid-section of orchestral Bacharach lounge pop, hints of Gorillaz afro-hop on ‘Allweddellau Allweddol’, the glitchy gospel of ‘The Swamp’ and some glacial grandeur on ‘Walk Into The Wilderness’ and 'Year Of The Dog' bring a sense of nobility and glory to the tale of this tribe-hunting madman.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bermuda Waterfall
    The heart of the record, Bermuda Waterfall, crystallises a real sense of existential loneliness and leads into the outstanding, lilting waltz of ‘Darkness’ and ‘Hands Dance’.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nabuma Rubberband
    When they get it right--‘Let Go’ is precisely the sort of arthouse R&B blockbuster they could’ve done with more of--they flirt with perfection.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    White Women
    Even a run of solid guest stars--Solange, Toro Y Moi and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig--can’t pump any passion into this flaccid cringe-fest.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    To Be Kind
    It’s an insane and challenging, ambitious and exceptional work of art.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Turn Blue
    There’s a lot to like about Turn Blue, but it’s a cruel irony that the heaviest hand in Dan Auerbach’s warts-and-all confessional sometimes seems to belong to his producer.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Nihilist
    It’s melodic, competent stuff, but if you’re going to try and push the crazy buttons you’ve got to go full straitjacket, and Liam Finn is just a tad too straight.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Psychic Mess
    Exploratory, intense and without a kickflip or kingskin in sight.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    III
    III is a fluid, inventive affair.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Way and Color
    Armed with a wide array of instrumentation, it’s an ambitious attempt at an extravagant pop record and, at their best, the band show a deft touch for layered orchestration.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Brightly Painted One
    It all has an affecting, intimate power.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Asiatisch
    Asiatisch, however, is even more pretentious [than two previous EPs], pairing instrumental UK grime with Asian flourishes to explore the relationship between the west and China.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Artificial Sweeteners
    Their attempts to assimilate their record collections often fall between two stools--unlikely to do the business on a dancefloor or spirit you away at home through the power of its sequencing.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nikki Nack
    The songs splatter unpredictably with little concern for cohesion, forming a whole that is emphatically unique.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Someday World
    Not a misstep for Eno, but not quite the best of both worlds, either.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Luminous
    Almost every part of it sounds sublime.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I Never Learn
    I Never Learn is an album about love, but not a record to love.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Sheezus
    Allen’s old sharp eye feels watery on Sheezus, squinting at the discourse around feminism, race and privilege unfolding online in 2014, and riding them as a bandwagon back to the middle of the very space the Myspace-spawned pop star once owned, but not having the conviction to do much with them once she’s arrived.
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