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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    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Living Thing
    PB and J also don’t lose their mass appeal here.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Thunderheist
    Isis is an actual MC with real hip-hop history and skills, who, in between throwaway odes to ass-shaking, manages to tell some stories and flesh out some characters. That, coupled with Grahm Zilla’s versatile approach to beat production, puts them far ahead of the pack.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Good Evening
    She’s absurd, yes, but she also has an incredible melodic sense and can unpredictably weave trancey backdrops to brilliant effect.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lost Channels
    In a voice so fragile a strong breeze might overpower it, he offers sober ruminations on loneliness, life, love, longing, and artfully infuses each song with just the right amount of banjo, light drumming, acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies (often courtesy of the stellar Julie Fader).
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Hazards Of Love
    The band tries out big, fuzzy, folksy blues riffs on tracks like 'The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid and The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing,' but the proggy result is unmemorable and middling.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Junior
    Torbjorn Brundtland and Svein Berge move away from millennium trance tracks like '49 Percent' from 2005’s "The Understanding," and that’s a good move.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crack The Skye
    The overwhelming headiness, relentless heaviness, behemoth riffing, technical proficiency and epic scope of Crack (at least three listens are needed before it all sinks in) should be enough to prove that these guys are the Rush of extreme metal.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Enemy Mine
    The record will prove inaccessible for those seeking a retread of the members’ more famous projects but works when approached on its own terms.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ten [Reissue]
    The remix supposedly reflects how the band always wanted the album to sound, but it’s hard to tell what O’Brien did. It’s definitely cleaner, louder and more polished, but not dramatically different.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Blame You
    I Blame You is mean, raw and instrumentally tight, with splashes of surf and punk. Froberg and Habibion’s twangy guitars effectively interweave in highlights 'Fake Kinkade' and 'Pine On.'
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pray IV Reign
    With the exception of the exuberant 'Pop Champagne,' which was a Ron Brownz single before Jones hopped on it, Reign is a washout.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Slow Dance
    The L.A./Paris musician has a voice reminiscent of Owen Pallett’s and tends toward cutesy (see aforementioned Gallop). But these cloying idiosyncrasies are stirring on darker songs like Canter Canter and the title track.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    To Lose My Life
    Songs like 'Death' and 'Nothing To Give' are strident due to big production and well-placed hooks. But commercially geared goth is so much more hideous than the real thing because it wants to be palatable and accepted.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beware
    Some will long for Oldham’s minimalist era, but Beware is still an engaging record from one of the indie world’s best songwriters.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wavvves
    There’s mountains of potential here, but the initial hype was premature. If he keeps it together long enough for a second album, Williams may deliver on the promise of greatness.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fist Of God
    Not a mind-blowing work of art, but expect at least a few more singles to blow up over the next few months.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Rearrange Beds
    Rearrange Beds, the duo’s debut full-length, features the five EP tunes plus another five that aren’t as strong. While not bad in small doses, the disc has a cumulative grating effect if you listen from start to finish.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Some Sweet Relief
    While Briedrick produces artful, not too noisy drones through vintage analog gear, Balabanian’s vocals have a distinctly soulful quality.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    All I Ever Wanted
    While not perfect, her fourth is full of upbeat (and pretty damn good) guitar-driven pop like 'I Do Not Hook Up' and the title track, as well as a few requisite (and equally decent) ballads that make use of her impressive range.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Face Control
    There’s no denying the chemistry between these two; it throbs all over their impressive new disc.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Mama, I'm Swollen
    Kasher has zero ability to or interest in dialing down his drama and giving Cursive’s highbrow emo rock room to breathe.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Elvis Perkins In Dearland
    The intricate vocal arrangements and alluring harmonica parts of opener 'Shampoo' grab the listener with bright potential, while 'Hey' is a lovely upbeat duet with Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day
    It’s a rare and amazing thing when an indie musician finds ways to keep chugging along on her own steam for years and then releases an album that brings together in the most powerful way everything she’s learned. Moncton singer/songwriter Julie Doiron has accomplished this with her eighth album.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Invaders Must Die
    Flint and Maxim toss off innocuous, vague lyrics in the hope that something sticks. Nothing really does, and the joyless end result is flat-out exhausting.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Middle Cyclone
    Quirky melodies and unpredictable, anti-country structures make it interesting over repeat listens. A mid-career triumph.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    No Line On The Horizon
    The problems that litter No Line fall into two categories: mind-numbing blandness on the part of the band or embarrassing, face-palm-inducing vocal choices by Bono.
    • NOW Magazine
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Communion
    Overall, the record is solid: lots of fuzzy psychedelic riffs and infectious melodies. But inevitably, a few of the toned-down tracks miss the mark.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    X Marks Destination
    While opener 'Trash' sounds like the sort of thing Bloc Party should have done after "Silent Alarm," most tracks are hurt by a real lack of lyrical depth.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Troubadour
    Some songs work. He makes great use of Ethiopian-sounding jazz samples and M.I.A.-style children’s chants on ABCs, and excels while rapping over some of the album’s otherworldly beats.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl
    He rushes through the tunes, slurring syllables as if enunciating the lyrics would be too much work even if he could remember all of them. And clearly, one day wasn’t enough rehearsal time for his hired band, who are so often in vamp mode while trying to figure out where Morrison’s going that they lose track of the tunes.
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