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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    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Brutalist Bricks
    His social commentaries occasionally overwhelm the music, as on Bottled In Cork, a doozy that might elicit an “I get it, I get it, the world is fucked” response. And though he also stumbles on the underdeveloped, raspy, pop diversion One Polaroid A Day, Leo’s still built a sturdy addition to the band’s discography.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Battle Of The Sexes
    While a hip-hop album that’s not a complete kielbasa festival is refreshing, Luda’s feminist intentions are horribly misguided.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Quarantine The Past
    The album contains some indisputable classics (Here, Summer Babe, Shady Lane) but aims to dig deeper than the hits.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Big Echo
    Unfortunately, the band lacks Grizzly Bear’s songwriting chops. After that early-album peak, the tracks begin to sound like undercooked compositions coasting on bells and whistles.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Black Swan
    The closest this popportunistic foursome comes to satisfying songsmithery is "The Getaway," whose title is sound advice for potential buyers of this album.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hidden
    Here we are not even two years later and the band has taken a huge leap forward. Or, more accurately, sideways. Nothing in the angular post-punk of 08's Beat Pyramid suggested the band was capable of something this novel.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Black Light
    Album highlight Paper Romance's pulsating, danceable track makes up for the tedious rock-bottom rock-out Look Me In The Eye Sister.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton
    It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden sings on over half of the tracks, and her operatic voice is at times jarringly high. But it’s also soft and masterfully controlled, never distracting from the nuanced soundscapes bobbing in the background.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Almost Alice
    Robert Smith, Franz Ferdinand and Wolfmother offer glimpses of what this project might’ve been, but then along comes 3 Doors Down-clone Shinedown and it’s off with the heads of everyone involved in this nightmare.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Invisible Violence
    No matter which of their sonic dimensions the band happens to be bolstering, the resulting blast is always creative, energetic and memorable. In short, they make you want to fight and dance at the same time.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Golden Archipelago
    Luckily, they keep things relatively concise. If this album were any longer, it would be exhausting.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Magic Chairs
    There’s still a tendency toward icy detachment, but considering their affection for almost overwrought instrumental embellishments, the restraint serves them well.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    American VI: Ain't No Grave
    From the church-bell-ringing, banjo-plucking funereal title track opener to the into-the-sunset Hawaiian ballad Aloha Oe that closes the album in perfect cinematic form, Cash sounds completely at ease, and wholly preoccupied, with the approach of his own death.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Have One On Me
    For long-time fans, this three-disc (or vinyl) release won’t disappoint, though it’s not a total departure.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Magician's Private Library
    It’s ambitious for a debut, and for the most part Miranda is able to keep up.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Become Secret
    The brief tunes are sparse yet cinematic, tentative yet boldly inventive.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sigh No More
    They're not at their strongest when echoing the reverb-filled harmonies of Fleet Foxes, but when they drop their instrumental restraint, they achieve an alluring balance of plaintive folk and upbeat bluegrass.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Falling Down A Mountain
    Tindersticks’ return to form on their eighth album isn’t evident when you first press play. But look past the uninteresting six-minute jazz drone that opens the album and you’ll see that the prolific English group still has the enough soul to succeed.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
    Judging by Devonté Hynes’s ambitiously grand follow-up to Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, with its piano intermissions, ubiquitous orchestra and choral chants, there’s been some Freddy Mercury blaring through his player.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kollaps Tradixionales
    The co-founder of Godspeed You! Black Emperor still makes stumbling experimental rock but fails to improve on his previous work.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Field Music (Measure)
    It’s full of the proggy rhythmic U-turns, complex structures and virtuoso playing for which the band’s known.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Return Of The Wu & Friends
    Anyone who’s followed Wu-Tang throughout this millennium knows that the Clan’s DJ Mathematics is the proper heir to RZA’s Wu production throne, and his new compilation only reinforces this....One issue: at least half of the album is recycled.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Odd Blood
    Hopefully there’s still enough room on people’s psych plates for Odd Blood, a masterful follow-up that deserves to get into your ears.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    One Life Stand
    The real shift is in their attitude, which allows them to embrace earnestness and write some straightforward love songs. It’s a strategy that could have backfired, but instead it has inspired their strongest and most consistent album so far.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I'm New Here
    This brutally honest record is in many ways more powerful than anything from his agitprop days.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Heligoland
    When you listen to these gloomy trip-hop jams after their best work of the 90s, the results are underwhelming.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Soldier Of Love
    Sure, the production on Soldier Of Love sounds a bit tougher and chunkier than the band’s early work, but the classic Sade vibe we love is still front and centre.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ya-Ka-May
    Galactic’s Ya-Ka-May works as a concept album, but its execution ranges from grating to tolerable.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    XXXX
    XXXX is more than just pastiche, however. Songs like "Lonely’s Lunch," "She’s Spoken For" and "Glory," a callback to their earlier sound, reveal a chemistry that is entirely this band’s own.
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