Pitchfork's Scores

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For 12,767 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 41% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 Sign O' the Times [Deluxe Edition]
Lowest review score: 0 nyc ghosts & flowers
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10,500 out of 12767
  2. Mixed: 1,953 out of 12767
  3. Negative: 314 out of 12767
12767 music reviews
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    • 88 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Vespertine
    While undeniably beautiful, Vespertine fails to give electronic music the forward push it received on Björk's preceding albums. Rather than designing sounds never before imagined, the album merely sounds current, relying on the technology of standard studio software and the explorations of the Powerbook elite.... Still, Vespertine makes for an intriguing listen, and manages to hold its own after hours on repeat.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Carnivorous Lunar Activities Of Lupine Howl
    Lupine Howl essentially take the bluesiest moments of past Spiritualized records and use them as the starting point for their sound, placing the emphasis on gritty rock rave-ups, and adding another Marshall to the stack for every orchestra member Pierce hired for Let It Come Down.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Getaway
    Getaway sounds remarkably youthful, split between brief, upbeat rockers, and longer, more meditative swaths of noisy psych.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sword Of God
    Unfortunately, the efforts made by the band to expand their oeuvre on The Sword of God just fall flat. Long-winded instrumental passages, extended exploration of new instruments, and more bird noises do not a good record make, and The Sword of God makes this all too evident.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 28 Critic Score
    We Are A & C
    We Are A&C is feckless junk.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    Time (The Revelator)
    More than simply an expression of her music, Time (The Revelator) is a glimpse into the artist's personality.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Beat 'Em Up
    It's all third-rate bar band stuff.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Out Of The Loop
    Dan Geller and Amy Dykes have a buried knack for the driving groove; songs like "Move On" and "Holland Tunnel" want to rock your body and jack you up hardcore, but are limited by their sound and recording quality.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 93 Critic Score
    Arde
    Nothing short of elemental in its beauty.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Faith In The Future
    The album awkwardly divides in two: the first half showcases Wiles' forward-looking tunes; the second takes a brief historical look at his dated earlier work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    Can Our Love...
    At 45 minutes, Can Our Love... is Tindersticks' most concise album yet, and it sacrifices nothing in content. Eight songs may not seem like much for a full album, but it's all this band needs to make a fully rewarding listen that only gets richer the more you visit.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    White Blood Cells
    White Blood Cells doesn't veer far from the formula of past White Stripes records; all are tense, sparse and jagged. But it's here that they've finally come into their own, where Jack and Meg White finally seem not only comfortable with the path they've chosen, but practiced, precise and able to convey the deepest sentiment in a single bound.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Rooty
    A few fatal flaws eclipse all of Rooty's abundant qualities. Basement Jaxx have taken kitsch a few steps too far.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 51 Critic Score
    Go Plastic
    Go Plastic exhumes the corpse of stuttering, fast-paced percussion and arbitrary programming that was bled dry and buried in a time when the Y2K bug still signified economic collapse and nuclear meltdowns.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 59 Critic Score
    Everybody Wants To Know
    Everybody Wants to Know is the kind of album that grows more rewarding the second and third times through, as the subtle hooks gradually sink in. But once those hooks have engrained themselves in those old skullbag, it's pretty unlikely they'll offer anything you can't get from any other anonymous alterna-rock record.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    Drawn From Life
    It's impeccably recorded-- pretty at some points and vaguely somber at others-- but it never distinguishes itself.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 61 Critic Score
    The Invisible Band
    The tracks here are supported by a fuller sound and more complex arrangements than on either of Travis' first two albums.... They're all competently played, but never really inspiring.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Poses
    An epic album that speaks with grand gestures and a refined eloquence rare in young songwriters.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Amnesiac
    Quality aside, the questionable sequencing of Amnesiac does little to hush the argument that the record is merely a thinly veiled b-sides compilation...
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Double Figure
    The disjointed juxtaposition of styles on this disc is so pronounced that it feels intentional; like The White Album or Jega's Spectrum, this record underscores its versatility at the expense of consistency.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    10,000 Hz Legend
    For better or worse, this is not Moon Safari Redux.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Argyle Heir
    In fact, despite the thoughtfulness of the arrangements, it quickly becomes clear that nothing truly surprising will ever happen.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Flowers
    Because Flowers doesn't maintain the urgency of Echo and the Bunnymen's early records, it's not the place to begin any investigation into their trippy delights. But for us old-timers who remember reading NME before the editorial policy changed to shameless oh-so ironic hyping of teen pop acts, Flowers stands as a gorgeous bouquet of memories.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Ovalcommers
    This is an album packed with abrasive tones of unimaginable density and uncertain origin. Oval shares with Autechre the ability to craft sounds that defy explanation.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    Beautiful
    That the archaic should sound this fresh is at least a mini-miracle.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    I Believe
    I Believe is one of those albums that hardly anyone could bring themselves to hate, but almost no one could truly latch on to.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 94 Critic Score
    Ágætis Byrjun
    Sigur Rós effortlessly make music that is massive, glacial, and sparse..... They are the first vital band of the 21st Century.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Miss E... So Addictive
    Opens with a six-track attack that's rare for any genre, especially contemporary R&B.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Exciter
    From a production standpoint, the record sounds great, but at its core, it comes up empty, lacking a solid foundation of good songs to rest its adventurous studio trickery upon.... It's the most frustrating type of album there is-- one that's full of promise and shining moments, but never fully delivers.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Weezer [2001]
    Average from beginning to end.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Confield
    Confield promises elegant production, accessibility in moderation, and one of the most enveloping, thought-provoking listening experiences to come forth from leftfield this year.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Reveal
    What makes Reveal so disappointing is that the additions to the classic R.E.M. sound are all merely superficial. The increased reliance on burbling, jittering synthesizers actually makes the album a less engaging listen, turning many of its songs into messy sonic muddles.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 19 Critic Score
    Lateralus
    Now, with the early new century demanding "opuses," Tool follows suit. The problem is, Tool defines "opus" as taking their "defining element" (wanking sludge) and stretching it out to the maximum digital capacity of a compact disc.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Open
    Long time fans will undoubtedly be delighted, but it's tough to predict if this record will inspire converts.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Look Into The Eyeball
    Unexpectedly, though, some of the record's best moments come when Byrne strips away the rhythmic accessories and relies on basic orchestral backing... And yet, the majority of the album still relies on primal, swinging grooves.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Music Is A Hungry Ghost
    Perhaps as a direct result of I-Sound's presence, Music is a Hungry Ghost is a looser, more abstract affair than previous efforts.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 24 Critic Score
    Black Market Music
    I suppose that the backstreet Black Market Music will endear itself to gender-exploring teenagers who find the girl-on-girl action in Buffy the Vampire Slayer "fucking awesome."
    • 61 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Mechanical Wonder
    The Cliff's Notes of classic rock.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rock Action
    Granted, it's not mind-blowing, and it's not nearly as masterfully executed and affecting as their earliest work. But there are only a handful of bands out there that can put out an album as well-constructed as Rock Action and still expect people to bitch and moan about it.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Dilate
    While previous albums gave a studio sheen to the noise, Dilate has a looser, more spontaneous feel to it.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Coquelicot Asleep In The Poppies
    Coquelicot, like most Of Montreal albums, is at times sublime and lovely, at times infuriatingly catchy, at times simply infuriating, at times overly twee, and at times seriously fucking scary. What sets this record apart from its predecessors, though, is a level of intricacy and detail that Of Montreal have never previously attained as a band.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sad Sappy Sucker
    Overall, Sad Sappy Sucker feels as if it was sort of put together in a hurry, despite it having sat around in the warehouse for seven years. The album part has plenty of good songs, though, and any completist will want to hear it.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 96 Critic Score
    Idiology
    If the additions are what make this record distinctive, what's left out is what makes it brilliant.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Know Your Enemy
    Know Your Enemy finds the Manics attempting to write a protest song in just about every genre. This project, stretched out over 16 tracks and 75 minutes, quickly reaches epic proportions, with an ambition approached only by the magnitude of its flaws.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Dizzy Spells
    The excitement is sustained so consistently over the hour-long running time that you'll almost begin to wish the six-minute songs were even longer.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Electric Pocket Radio
    There are a few key moments of guilty pleasure, and the overall aesthetic of the record is appealing on the surface. But underneath the scratchy record sounds and the canned Casiotones, Fountenberry hasn't got enough substance to sustain him for ten minutes, let alone the length of an entire album.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Leaves Turn Inside You
    In many respects, Leaves Turn Inside You is the band's most ambitious, sweeping, and difficult outing yet.... I'm convinced that, if you've been following this band's development, the initial bewildered expression on your face will give way to total enchantment, and this new, boldly different Unwound album will have you in its grip for months to come.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    Just Enough Education To Perform
    Considerably tamer than their stadium-rocking, chart-topping previous albums, Just Enough Education to Perform sounds less like a band voluntarily growing into their new-found maturity, and more like a pet's first, forced visit to the castration clinic.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Take Back The Universe (And Give Me Yesterday)
    Really, if your parents don't dig this, there's something wrong with them. This is music for the drive to pick up the kids from soccer practice, or to the doctor for dad's yearly prostate exam.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    lemonjelly.ky
    Lemonjelly.ky's nine tracks consist largely of samples from atrocious Nana Mouskouri songs and soundclips nipped from 100 Strings mood music albums. What binds these samples together is a series of predicable hip-hop beats and root-note basslines.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Old Ramon
    Many slower outfits-- Low, American Music Club, Codeine, et al.-- are sometimes pinned with the theory that if you've heard one of their albums, you've heard them all. Such is no longer the case with the Red House Painters.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No More Shall We Part
    Goddamn if he doesn't sing like a cranky Neil Diamond here...
    • 75 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    The Negatives
    Everyone needs to have a doomed romantic stage, but Lloyd's is going on twenty years.... The lyrical juvenilia is a bit of a shame, because this is a solid collection of pop songs otherwise.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
    Consistently excellent and deserves to be heard by fans of 70's glam and shoegazer alike.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Isolation Drills
    A solid, riff-driven rock record that may disappoint those still awaiting Bee Thousand II, though it offers plenty of treats to those who are willing to approach it with open ears.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Interlude
    Its best moments come with the one-off experiments that propel the band further from traditional dance music.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The Impossible Thrill
    By bombarding the listener with innocuousness, Alpha forge a test to determine exactly when the pedestrian becomes excruciating. By the third track, they more or less have their answer.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    The Facts Of Life
    It's all extremely pretty, and without seeming completely manipulative or cloying. Black Box Recorder, however, are still a bit dopey when it comes to lyrics.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure
    The test of any conceptual record is how well it stands on its own, removed from the angle. And A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure is a first-rate work, even if you're unfamiliar with the backstory.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Discovery
    In truth, Discovery rarely invokes its predecessor's slap-bass funk, and few other tracks resemble the obviously single-designed "One More Time." Instead, Daft Punk focus on fusing mid-80's Kool and the Gang R&B beats with post-millennial prog flourishes and more vocoders than you can shake at Herbie Hancock.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 62 Critic Score
    Faux Mouvement
    This is a great album to throw on when you need something to enhance the mood or otherwise fill the air when working on something else.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Nice Cheekbones and a Ph.D
    The Posies, if you'll recall, used to compose entire songs of understated pop brilliance, instead of just moments.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Driving A Million
    Though much of Driving a Million rides along on a similar, slightly heavy new wave pop groove like "Neon Tom," it's the subtle lapses into more diverse sounds that are perhaps the record's most welcome aspect.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    God Bless The Blake Babies
    Another album of somewhat charming and unexceptional tunes.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    We Love The City
    Sorry, this is decent pub-rock, but there are 1,000 albums released every day. Buy another one.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    Quiet Is The New Loud
    The formula of acoustic arpeggios, light drumming, tender pianos, and the occasional subtle horn or string section makes for an album that's as slight and gentle as Saltines and mineral water. The boys never deviate from this, and thus Quiet is the New Loud, inane title and all, never reaches higher than saccharine easy listening.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sunny Border Blue
    Diminutive, but mom-tough, Hersh casually cusses her way through a baker's dozen songs that are as personal as ever, and far less cryptic than in the past. Her voice remains creaky and pregnant with emotion, matched against her signature bright-toned Collings guitars.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Group Sounds
    Group Sounds is nonstop, straight-ahead rock for the most part, more reminiscent of Scream, Dracula, Scream!, but with enough flourishes to keep things from sounding too monochromatic.... Right through to the end, every song on Group Sounds is solid, pure, high-octane Rocket fuel.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 59 Critic Score
    Uh-Oh!
    Slipping dissonant, screeching bleeps into a placid, space-age bachelor pad schema seems oddly passive-aggressive, though not enough of either to pass as legitimately interesting.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Live In Chicago
    On these eight Apples originals and one Beach Boys cover, Schneider and the band sound like they're having a blast, and the energy is instantly detectable.... Live in Chicago has the charm of a well-recorded audience bootleg sanctioned by the group on one of their best nights.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Folktronic
    And while, at times, Momus constructs a bitingly clever post-modern take on folk music, Folktronic has an unfortunate tendency to choke on its own concept, rendering the album a bit hard to swallow.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Sleepwalking
    Sleepwalking doesn't have a startling track like Northern Sulphuric's "Spellbound" to lift it out from the polite sludge of trip-hop mush.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    The Red Thread
    The music offers few surprises this go around, relying instead of the tried-and-true guitar arpeggios, atmospheric noises and orchestral, rainy-day crescendos.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 61 Critic Score
    Cydonia
    Though Cydonia is far from being a dull, sequencer-heavy Namlook ambient release, it regrettably sounds irrelevant in today's climate.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 41 Critic Score
    Crown Royal
    Run-DMC wind up overwhelmed by the guest stars and the schizophrenic nature of the production.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Girls Can Tell
    Girls Can Tell is more mature and accomplished, but at the expense of the spark of spontaneity.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fixed::Context [EP]
    If ever an album rewarded repeated listening, it's this one.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hello
    Anyone following Half Japanese's albums over their long stay in the rock arena has to enjoy the project's increasing comfortableness with complexity and craft. Hello demonstrates this sophistication to terrific effect, letting Jad's charming quirks take flight with more complex backgrounds.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 92 Critic Score
    Standards
    Not only is it the most acoustically enthralling album they've released, it's also without a doubt the most playful, dynamic, and anthemic post-rock album that has been released to date.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    What's Next To The Moon
    If there's one positive remark to be made about What's Next to the Moon, it's that it sheds revelatory light on the subjective nature of lyrics. Yet, that might be the only truly positive remark this album deserves. Sure, Kozelek's voice is still smooth and sad, and his guitarwork is still deft, yet modest. But these are standard factory settings.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Rollins In The Wry
    Sounding like a profane camp counselor telling stories by the fireside, Rollins' naturally animated raspy voice is the perfect chaperone through eleven tracks of commentary.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    The Sleepy Strange
    While it is by no means a good album, The Sleepy Strange is a small step up from its brain atrophy-inducing predecessor. On the album's closer, "Vinyl Fever," the band almost attains a tight, Tortoise-esque instrumental groove. But after over 40 minutes of boredom and frustration, odds are the album will most likely be occupying a precious spot in your septic tank before you get there.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    Stephen Malkmus
    There are two immediately apparent differences between Stephen Malkmus and Pavement's catalog: first and least surprisingly, there's less of a group dynamic here than on Pavement albums. It definitely has the sonic hallmarks of a "solo" album-- the songs are less jammy and spontaneous, more rigidly structured. Second, it's a lot more fun-sounding than Pavement was near the end of its shelf life.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 96 Critic Score
    Complete B-Sides
    It goes without saying that the Pixies' b-sides don't make for an average, run-of-the-mill outtakes compilation, as many of the songs are almost or equally as radiant as the more fortunate tracks that made it to the five classics between 1987 and 1991.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    604
    Ladytron's musical interests stretch back before MTV, to '70s Bowie, Roxy Music, Kraftwerk and Cluster. They're like an unabridged Encyclopedia of musical Eurotrash with a sharp pop sensibility. And with 604, they've made a fine debut full-length.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Mission Accomplished [EP]
    I've listened to this EP twice; that's once more than I would have ever liked to have heard it, give or take one listen.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Things We Lost In The Fire
    Things We Lost in the Fire's high points are, without question, the best they've done.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Live!
    Sadly, the album is a few years too late in coming. As an example, the guys, while opening for Lou Reed sometime back in 1996, pulled off an amazing rendition of the Velvets' "Ride into the Sun" with Reed and Wareham handling the vocals together. Where were all the tape recorders back then?
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    From The Desk Of Mr. Lady [EP]
    Mostly, From the Desk of Mr. Lady comes off like sub-standard material that didn't make it on to last year's full-length.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Dog In The Sand
    By this time, though, even Frank may be chafing at the limitations of their bar-band sound, staunch as he is in refusing to do overdubs or even edits in the recording process. Fortunately, there are just enough tweaks to that process this time out to enliven the resulting album, making it his most diverse and listenable since Teenager of the Year.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    The Donnas Turn 21
    Every song drips with bawdy attempts at sexually shocking the listener. But just as Vince Neil screaming "girls, girls, girls" and name-checking strip bars is unlikely to whip a woman into a frenzy of amour, the Donnas attempt to titillate and fail miserably.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Maxi On [EP]
    Minekawa reveals herself as yet another artist helping to forge the path for interesting and exciting musical landscapes.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Aaltopiiri
    Aaltopiiri feels much more like a soundtrack, with creeping drones sliding in and out of the mix, and more subtlety overall.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    York Blvd
    Acetone manage to take enough twists and turns on their dusty trail to stave off outright boredom, and they certainly have a talent for doing as much as they can with a fairly limited formula. However, as York Blvd progresses, the album's dreamy torpor becomes stifling, and the songs, while never anything other than pleasant, fail to distinguish themselves from one another.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Super Sound
    Mixing downtempo with trip-hop and some samples from a funky-ass toolbox (where you keep your funky-ass tools, of course), Pepé Deluxe seem to have struck upon a recipe for success.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country [EP]
    In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country runs like updated material from their majestic 1998 offering, Music has the Right to Children. And like that album's namesake, these five elegantly mournful melodies creep and explore like adored but unruly children, full of wide-eyed astonishment and naïveté.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Mass Romantic
    Their peppy, gleeful, headstrong guitar pop sounds a hell of a lot like yesteryear's Britpop.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Volume 2
    Instead of crashing rock and roll and electronica head-on, his integration is a more subtle mix. He's not a pioneer by any means, but Volume Two is testament to his more nuanced approach. On this, his third album, Warren allows the guitars and "real" instruments an equal say, and ends up with music that sounds incredibly intelligent in light of many other clumsy cross-breeding musicians.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
    It would be extremely easy to dismiss this album as Billy simply taking out the accumulated garbage of the past couple years. It would be easy, that is, if it didn't almost redeem the Pumpkins.... This album features an abundance of tracks that throw the deficiencies of their previous record into even sharper relief.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    Poem
    When Delerium forego the listless Gregorics and stale beats employed by their more renowned contemporaries, they truly shine. The beat-heavy "Aria," for instance, and the salsa-esque "Fallen Icons" are arguably Poem's strongest tracks. But these moments occur only now and then, and are often sandwiched between songs that, while helping you survive the subway's rush-hour crunch, won't meet your needs at any other time-- unless you're about to have a mid-life crisis.
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