Pitchfork's Scores

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For 12,713 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: 10,450 out of 12713
  2. Mixed: 1,949 out of 12713
  3. Negative: 314 out of 12713
12713 music reviews
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    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Movement In Still Life
    Brian Transeau is a trance artist-- not hip-hop, big beat, breakbeat, or any other beat for that matter. And he is certainly no rock and roll artist! Yet, I listen to Movement in Still Life, and what do I hear? All those things!
    • 73 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
    Blonde Redhead's biggest detractors focus on the group's uncanny resemblance to Sonic Youth. But while Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons won't exactly silence such suggestions, it does seem to move conscientiously away from the influences that have marred the group's previous work.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    Transcendental Blues
    Earle's music doesn't simply mirror the transcendence of its creator; it lends transcendence to the listener as well, as all excellent music will. But what truly makes this one of Earle's best records is that he refuses to be pulled down by musical decisions. It's as if he never faced a problem of whether or not to add this or that instrument, or to veer off in this or that direction. He simply had the idea and went with it.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
    There are some good songs on here, I guess, but they're not as good as anything from If You're Feeling Sinister, or even The Boy with the Arab Strap. It's weird, because the songs definitely sound better, but the album is still kind of disappointing.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
    Volume II is like an unnecessary b-sides compilation.... Nonetheless, the album has its high points.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Communicate
    Sasha and Digweed appear to be suggesting that, along with setting an NYC club aflame, they can also bore you to tears in your living room.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Pt. 2)
    It's a great bunch of songs, and it solidifies the notion that XTC are back from the wilderness and ready to rock the show.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    First of the Microbe Hunters
    Stereolab engage in the funkiest, heaviest music of their career. While monotony still remains a passion, subtle psychedelic flourishes and thick percussion pumps add much needed verve.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    nyc ghosts & flowers
    An unfathomable album which will be heard in the squash courts and open mic nights of deepest hell.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Supermodified
    Remarkably intricate and razor sharp compositions... more accessible than anything he's done before, yet it surpasses them insofar has he has shown the beginnings of a total sonic mastery of each subtle aspect of a work.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Volume 1
    Echoboy slakes our thirst for accessible but quirky pop.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 17 Critic Score
    Wishville
    This album is absolutely terrible, a total abomination.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 61 Critic Score
    Dusty Trails
    If few of these tracks could be called great, there aren't any terrible ones either-- the entire thing floats along nicely on a snug bed of cotton.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    The Geometrid
    Although it's unlikely that Stuart David will ever become as gifted a songwriter as Stuart Murdoch, he's crafted a distinctive sound with this band. The Geometrid serves as a charming, if slight, pleasure, but with more time to devote to the project, Looper may yet create a more substantial sound.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    All Hands On The Bad One
    All Hands on the Bad One finds the Northwest power-trio at their most melodious, playful, sarcastic, and punchy-- both musically and lyrically.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    White Pepper
    White Pepper lacks the cohesiveness of earlier works, but it also demonstrates how a band can undergo some serious genre-bending, while still retaining a sound that is uniquely theirs.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    XTRMNTR
    Primal Scream have always understood the power of a groove and a lyrical grenade. Their entire career reaches a melting point on the raw, caustic Exterminator.... The album has its shortcomings. "Keep Your Faith" and "Insect Royalty" dip a bit too much into the more sentimental song-based style of the last record, Vanishing Point, and "Swastika Eyes" needs no reprise. But the fighting spirit keeps Primal Scream ahead of the pack.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
    If The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone fails to find the Apples branching into James Brown territory, it's still the band's most diverse outing, and debatably their finest. Wisely jettisoning the noodly experiments that made Her Wallpaper Reverie seem much longer than it actually was, the Apples turn their focus squarely back on the catchy song, with a more pronounced feel for instrumental variety.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    The Noise Made By People
    There's a prevailing sense of definite vision, but not one of the product being excessively labored over. Sure, there's craft at work here, but whereas most albums recorded over long periods of time sound weary and defeated in the final analysis, The Noise Made by People is positively vibrant and alive.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Good Looking Blues
    While generally more song-oriented than previous outings, Good Looking Blues is built on a foundation of acid-jazzy, polyrythmic beats... [it] shows a Laika that has learned from its past mistakes-- they don't get lost in their own loops like they used to-- and willing to stretch out and explore their surroundings.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Figure 8
    But while Elliott Smith includes some of his least inspired music of all time on Figure 8, he also surprisingly pulls out some of his best to date.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Come to Where I'm From
    There are enough solid songwriting chops behind the facade to sustain him, and there's just as much-- if not more-- to be said for the production. T-Bone Burnett, Rick Will, and Arthur himself each take co-producer titles, and what results is a raw, endearing sound that blends each instrument perfectly while remaining crisp as a bell.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 93 Critic Score
    Dongs of Sevotion
    Every track on Dongs of Sevotion is chock-full of some of the most poignant, disconcerting lyrics you should ever have to hear.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Ecstasy
    While Ecstasy is essentially a concept album about the fantasies and realities of love and family, it includes as much sex, drugs, and rock n' roll culture as any of Reed's earlier work.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Gung Ho
    On Gung Ho-- much like 1996's Gone Again and 1999's Peace and Noise-- Patti and the band aren't exactly bad, but they hardly rock like they did back in '77.... when you listen to Gung Ho and forget about myth, legacy, mystique and all that crap, you have to wonder-- does Patti Smith really matter anymore?
    • 81 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The Covers Record
    Marshall traipses around on just about everybody's hallowed ground here and pulls it off without inducing winces.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 41 Critic Score
    Winners Never Quit
    Winners Never Quit plugs along on two gears-- the "ballad" and the "rocker." The ballads rely on obvious signifiers like acoustic guitars, brushed cymbals, and pianos. Moody!
    • 78 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Broken By Whispers
    Broken by Whispers shimmers and glitters, alternating from hushed ambience to ringing guitar and synth interplay.... The songs on Broken by Whispers are resolutely catchy, simply bogged down by tried-and-true heart-on-the-sleeve sentiment.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    NakedSelf
    NakedSelf once again finds Matt Johnson in his element, tackling issues of alienation, global corruption, and urban squalor and decay with potent, more succinct lyrics and some of his most affecting melodies in ages.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Original Motion Picture Score for The Virgin Suicides
    Though the record does aim for the same kind of prog-rock atmospherics as their earlier releases, Air have managed to alter their sound this time out, drawing from a wider array of rock influences, instead of limiting their scope to Perrey and Kingsley.... Of course, The Virgin Suicides has its dry moments, but surprisingly, they're few and far between. For the most part, the album showcases Godin and Dunckel's dramatically improved songwriting skills.
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