NOW Magazine's Scores

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For 2,812 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 Miss Anthropocene
Lowest review score: 20 Testify
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,287 out of 2812
  2. Mixed: 1,452 out of 2812
  3. Negative: 73 out of 2812
2812 music reviews
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    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Big Day
    With 22 tracks over 80 minutes (including a few skits you’ll skip after the first listen), it’s way too long. It’s themed around Chance’s wedding to his longtime partner, Kristen Corley – a rite of passage that mirrors the “big day” of his debut album release. And like a wedding in which the priest’s sermon is getting in the way of the dinner buffet, you can really feel it drag.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    III/IV
    There's plenty here to compare to his unfairly criticized Rock N Roll record: new wave influences, contemporary alt-rock. The difference is that Adams sounds comfortable rather than out to prove a point.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Night Creeper
    The record’s second half loses some immediacy, partly due to the hazy nine-minute epic Slow Death, but not enough to diminish the overall power.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fragrant World
    The fractured sounds give us little to hold on to; the songwriting's hidden behind so much distraction.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lightbulbs
    Despite a few uncomfortable moments, the Brighton trio turn in another solid effort.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Beacons Of Ancestorship
    The album has some great moments but a few too many fumbles to hold up as a complete package.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Green [EP]
    Bibio isn’t reinventing the wheel here (or rather, the acoustic guitar), but when you’ve already hit the sweet spot, you don’t have to.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ufabulum
    Ufabulum won't blow the mind of anyone familiar with his work, but it's a decent entry point for new fans and a very satisfying collection of light-hearted left-field dance music.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    God Forgives, I Don't
    The album's production work is predictable, and its high-concept narratives (Hold Me Back, Diced Pineapples) are painfully over thought.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We the Common
    Even when duetting with harp sprite Joanna Newson, she avoids the trappings of twee.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Afraid of Heights
    Surprisingly, the least punk moments are the most adventurous.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Further
    This stripped-down effort forgoes the high-profile collaborations we've come to expect to create an unstrained, repetitive thumpathon that fits right into their catalogue.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Seen It All: The Autobiography
    On his seventh studio album, however, he’s reinvigorated, dipping a toe into some of rap’s newer stylistic trends.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Our Love To Admire
    In terms of writing and production, this may be Interpol at their best.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Strange Grey Days
    You can hardly call it original, but they've definitely done their homework.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Art Official Age
    Once you get past the air-horn headache that is opener Art Official Cage, the album settles into a pleasant rhythm that plays up His Purpleness’s knack for whispery weightlessness and deep grooves.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Green Lanes
    Once you’ve finished playing Name That Influence, it becomes just a nice mid-tempo indie pop record with catchy guitar hooks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    World Waits
    While World Waits isn't lacklustre in any way, fans of Frog Queen may be disappointed.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Darkside, Vol. 1
    Unlike Rick Ross, who entertainingly describes his (completely fictitious) exploits in fantastically opulent terms, Joe brags with a dullness that betrays how often he's repeated this story. And the production seems dated all the way down to Kilo, which uses a sample that Ghostface Killah and Raekwon employed to much grimier effect in 2006.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everybody Loves Sausages
    Calling in favours from Neurosis’s Scott Kelly and Mudhoney’s Mark Arm makes Everybody Loves Sausages feel like a loose party record.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Glitterbust
    Glitterbust is the sound of someone coming out on the other side of that moment, armed with heightened instincts and unfaltering confidence.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Strangers to Ourselves
    Songs you'd expect to swell and boil over--which is what Modest Mouse are good at--often end up trudging humourlessly (Ansel, Be Brave), and things get far worse in the moments where humour is actually the goal.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mean Old Man
    Do too many cooks spoil this classic rock 'n' roll concoction? Hell, no.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Red Yellow & Blue
    Over the course of an 11-track album like Red, Yellow And Blue, all the unison way-hoo-hay-oohing gets very annoying, especially when it comes bracketed by earnest yelping and long strummy passages that go nowhere in particular.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Duper Sessions
    While Lerche could pull off Bacharach's breezy lounge swinger persona, he lacks the pipes, the pain and the maturity to deliver the smooth retro romanticism these jazz-inflected ballads require.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Five Ghosts
    The elegant album is wisely paced, cinematic with strings and keyboards, and Campbell and Millan sound great together. But despite the emotional drama on offer, it fails to be moving.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    See Mystery Lights
    Interesting, but not mind-blowing.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    World Peace Is None of Your Business
    The biggest problem is Morrissey himself, who sounds like he’s trying to be clever rather than actually demonstrating that infamously razor-sharp wit.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live At Carnegie Hall
    Veloso still sounds as smooth and warm as on his 70s recordings that helped spearhead the Tropicália movement.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ti Amo
    Ti Amo feels like the kind of escapism Phoenix and their compatriots could use right about now. And the fact that it’s the most summery music they’ve ever made is like a big, red cherry on top.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sea Of Cowards
    If Stripes fans want to give Dead Weather another chance, this one deserves space in the record collection.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    King Animal
    King Animal doesn't sound like a nostalgia-fed cash grab, nor is it poisoned by the desperate commercialism of Cornell's post-Soundgarden projects.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Human Energy
    Some Machinedrum fans will find his newfound cheeriness disconcerting, but Stewart approaches the project with so much enthusiasm that it’s hard not to get swept up in the good vibes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Stone Temple Pilots
    You can’t really fault the band for successfully doing much what it did in the 90s, but don’t expect Purple. There’s no Vasoline or Interstate Love Song.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    How We Operate
    They easily incorporate traditional folk elements like Nick Drake with contemporary indie rock and cinematic string arrangements that often soar above many of their songs' humble openings.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    21st Century Breakdown
    The story is hard to follow, but after a few listens the band’s rallying cries take shape.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers
    Every song has a lovely flow, with a steady cadence and easy accessibility that no fan of poppy indie rock will want to do without.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Something For All Of Us...
    Great sleepy Sunday-afternoon music, but it could have been more than that.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    More Beautiful Than Silence [EP]
    It relies heavily on ambiguous world music tropes, highly melodic, canned inspirational hooks and arena-style arranging.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Oak Island
    The album is rich in texture but light on memorable melodies.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Year of the Hare [EP]
    It’s the band’s plainest meta-record yet: a recording that calls deliberate attention to its own materiality as a recording.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    What A Time To Be Alive [Mixtape]
    When Drake swoops in to pick up the thread, his clear, articulated voice is so much more animated than Future’s that the impact is jarring.... Occasionally the two conjure interesting spaces between underground murk and pop-star sheen (Live From The Gutter, Scholarships), and the tension, as they adapt to each other, is compelling.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Icarus Falls
    It’s an inward, headphones-on plug into a young man wrestling with varying levels of success, from codependency and addictive behaviour to self-acceptance. It’s the sound of Zayn grappling with toxic masculinity.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Lemonheads
    An album defined more by its background players than its star.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Takes
    Takes’ boldest move and its artistic centrepiece must be the mashing up of Aphex Twin’s positively scary To Cure A Weakling Child and Boy/Girl Song into a melodious lullaby.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Buck The World
    The bigger problem, though, is Young Buck's yawn-inducing rhyme flow, which, paired with relentlessly slow, chugging beats, creates pure aural Sominex.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Unorthodox Jukebox
    Too many of the tracks seem more like very good imitations of song types than like actual songs.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Strange Pleasures
    On Strange Pleasures, Still Corners ditch their 60s psychedelia shtick for sounds two decades younger, and it works.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kelis Was Here
    Kelis... raps, rants and successfully maintains her spacey freakiness while sailing out into even radio-friendlier waters.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Release Me
    Some stand up to the violins and mandolins, but others get overwhelmed.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Soul is Heavy
    Occasionally, it feels like she's trying a little too hard to reach American ears, but she balances the conservative neo-soul vibes with just enough hard left turns to keep listeners on their toes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sun Structures
    The songwriting is outstanding: striking and smart, concise and full, and James Bagshaw sings superbly throughout.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Colin Meloy Sings Live!
    For diehards only.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Queen
    There are enough good songs to give Queen a pass, but if it’s going to be 19 tracks, it needs to be more consistently awesome.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Computers & Blues
    The production on this unfocused album is, as usual, nothing mind-blowing. Still, Skinner has an insightful charm and a lyrical gift that makes this a respectable send-off.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Our Bedroom After The War
    In Our Bedroom After The War is better than expected even as it wallows in its own broken heart.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone
    Whether Hill's singing or rapping, the fearlessness and tempestuous drama in her voice are palpable--and matched by equally raw accompaniment that makes many of the other cuts sound a little too clean by comparison.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Garden
    It feels like a bunch of friends jamming on a farm, even if there are still a few electronica elements here and there.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    La La Land
    The album basks in sun-drenched classic rockisms while managing to sound leagues above throwback jam bands like Phish.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Himalayan
    On their third album, Band of Skulls stretch even further.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
    Rather than risk experimenting with anything radically new, they’ve cautiously tried tweaking their tempos and varying instrumental textures here and there in hopes that listeners won’t notice that they’ve written the same song about romantic frustration in 12 slightly different ways.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This Is All Yours
    The departure of founding member guitarist/bassist Gwil Sainsbury hasn’t left them uninspired.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Another Eternity
    Three years later, Purity Ring's sophomore effort lives up to the anticipation.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I'm Not Dead
    Surprisingly impressive.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Go! Pop! Bang!
    At times it feels like she's stuck in one gear, but her energy refreshingly and irresistibly recalls the un-cynical era of old-school breakbeat and hip-house.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    House on the Hill
    Many of Morby's tunes sacrifice his twangy, down-home warmth. Luckily, both still write simple, timeless hooks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ride Your Heart
    Hard-hitting drum rolls, reverb and hooky guitar refrains are all over the album, so it’s a shame that it still grows stale by the end.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Pinkprint
    Had The Pinkprint included 12 songs rather than the extended version's 22, it could have been a classic.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse [Live]
    Even though he’s become a much more expressive musician, the updated Berlin is no more powerful or gripping than the original commercial flop. It is, however, much more consumer-friendly.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Air Conditioned Nightmare
    Air Conditioned Nightmare has fewer traces of the experimental Montreal loft party scene Doldrums originally emerged from, but it's not quite accessible enough for big festival stages either.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Long Player Late Bloomer
    To Rock's credit, his touches don't actually get in the way of the songs, and hopefully his tweaks are just what Sexsmith needs to garner the support he deserves.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Thin Mind
    If Cry Cry Cry had the feel of a band shaking off the cobwebs and getting used to each other’s company once again, Thin Mind leaves no doubt about Wolf Parade’s continued vitality. You instantly feel that renewed vigour in the storming first seconds of the opening Under Glass.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Saturdays=Youth
    Surprisingly, the least pop-based tracks stand out most.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Widow City
    As usual, this record will leave many scratching their heads, but for fans who like their music a little more complicated, this is easily one of the more interesting records out there.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Phosphene Dream
    Everything from the production to the songwriting seems aimed to evoke the 60s, and the album would probably sound killer on a good turntable.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Record Collection
    Ronson approaches pop almost like a hip-hop producer. He's assembled a cavalcade of guest collaborators too numerous to name, but for the most part his focus keeps Record Collection from feeling overcooked.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rad Times Xpress IV
    It's garish and gross but undeniably fun, an audacious train wreck of an album that's hard not to enjoy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    FutureSex / LoveSounds
    The Sexyback single makes wise use of filtered vocals to artificially deepen his tone and support his macho pose, but only so much can be done with studio gimmicry. He's soon back to tweeting his game in a prepubescent chirp; the more suggestive his come-ons, the funnier it gets.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Off With Their Heads
    Ronson lowers Ricky Wilson’s maddeningly limited vocals and amps the bass, but the disc still fails to come alive.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fish Outta Water
    Now, two years after the barbershoppy crew’s breakup, the Justin Timberlake of J5 delivers his solo debut, with predictably solid results.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Six
    Though its overall sound is depressing industrial indie rock with nods to Leonard Cohen, Marilyn Manson and Tool, Six’s varied instrumentation, catchy songs and emotional impact make for an interesting listen.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Noctunes
    There's little sonic variation, but that approach puts the focus where it should be: on the raw emotion of his singing.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Valhalla Dancehall
    The biggest flaw: the band attempts to cram too many ideas into a song (Cleaning Out The Rooms), particularly in the album's second half.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The North
    This batch of 80s-pop-inspired tunes is packed with earworms and remarkably filler-free.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Monuments to an Elegy
    While some songs veer too far into slick pop territory, most are balanced.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    B'Day
    Too bad only the icily sardonic Irreplaceable has any real weight or relevance.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Knowle West Boy
    Butler might consider himself lucky he got out when he did, as Tricky’s ideas are scattered all over the place and Knowle West Boy is mostly a mess.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sugar at the Gate
    As on their previous two records, the rewards here are in the refinement, the well-wrought voices and the sublimely subtle performances.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Orchard
    The follow-up to Ra Ra Riot's well-received debut album opens with a slow-moving reminder that this romantic indie-styled Syracuse sextet love their violins and cellos.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Within and Without
    The album drowns in atmospherics to the point where it could be entirely instrumental. Greene casts an enjoyably suggestive spell but it wafts right through you.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Django Unchained [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
    Not Tarantino's most essential soundtrack, but maybe his most original.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Range Anxiety
    Occasionally their influences come through too heavily, and the album would've benefited from one or two fewer songs. Still, a hugely pleasant listen.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Wolf
    He seems bent on making a career out of his adolescent emotional turmoil, resulting in a thematically stagnant, myopic and ultimately immature record.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lantern
    The problem is that Birchard spreads himself so thin in his rush to tick off all the stylistic boxes, some songs sputter into half-realized cliché.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Know It All
    Yet for a singer/songwriter who has one of the most emotive voices on the charts and mesmerizes live, the album lacks a certain swagger, thanks to super-slick pop production.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tha Blue Carpet Treatment
    Snoop plays to his storytelling strength, crafting a record to show he still cares about the music.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD
    Where the project falls short is in the handful of filler tracks that pollute the listening experience, including the repetitive Temptation, F&N and Overdose. Yet it still counts as a victory for Future, who has now introduced The WIZRD to the world. It will be interesting to see what he does next with that persona.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin
    The half-hour run time makes the relentlessly cerebral approach more palatable, though the ending feels a bit too tidy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dry Land is Not a Myth
    It's nowhere near as offbeat as they'd have you believe, but if you're looking for catchy, danceable rock, it does the trick.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Damage and Joy
    The album’s clean production (courtesy of producer Youth) and comfortable mood (nicely summed up by the song Mood Rider) is somewhat surprising and a tad disappointing. However, they don’t sound aloof, either. The mirror JAMC are holding up to the mainstream nowadays is less distorted, but still fully engaged in sharp and timeless songcraft.
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