Pitchfork's Scores

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For 12,704 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: 10,441 out of 12704
  2. Mixed: 1,949 out of 12704
  3. Negative: 314 out of 12704
12704 music reviews
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Future
    FUTURE is a fine mix of the stylings of past Futures layered in a rich blend of sounds from a now refined sonic palette. It doesn’t communicate the same intense and complicated emotional concoction that fills his songs when he’s at his most vulnerable and compelling. But it doesn’t have to.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Hard Love
    It’s a perfectly fine album by a guy who wants to be much more than perfectly fine.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Saturday Night
    From the outset, Saturday Night both plays to expectations and subverts them.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    II
    Vermont have figured out how to make these comparatively short, sketch-like pieces work for them. They stretch out just long enough to draw you in and wrap you up in their atmospheres, but they never wear out their welcome.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Life Will See You Now
    The triumph of Life Will See You Now is how it suggests that the 36-year-old Lekman has never been more skilled at his craft, or had more stories to tell.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Chief
    In his efforts to break out of one-hit-wonder-dom and demonstrate a wide range on his debut album The Chief, Jidenna sometimes comes off as shapeless.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Circle/Triangle
    O’Connor’s a true eccentric, but O∆ has a universal appeal. The hooks are so intensely hooky that you can find yourself singing along to them without even knowing it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    An Act of Love
    While Long only uses a steady beat and some deeply resonant chords to convey this revelation, he nevertheless moves like a poet to unearth that heartening sense of truth here.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Soul Sick
    Her energetic thrashing is infectious, like an open invitation to dance away your own pain.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Field of Love
    The beats she’s produced on Field of Love, meanwhile, flirt with unabashed garishness and fully match the whimsy of her vocal theatrics like never before.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Occult Architecture, Vol. 1
    Occult Architecture Vol. 1 is a good record that’s at its best when Moon Duo fully give in to these seductive inklings, like on “The Death Set” or “Creepin.’”
    • 81 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    No Home of the Mind
    The new album stays focused on wringing as much feeling as possible out of narrower terrain. And No Home of the Mind is the earthiest Bing & Ruth record yet. You can smell the sweat that went into it.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Pink Sunset for No One
    The variety of genres and sounds that emerge within her compositions give Lipstate’s work a multitextured feel, but in moments I found myself wishing for more concision in the way such ideas are digested.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Unfold
    On Unfold, they’ve wondered aloud if the spell of their long-form magic works when stunted by the limitations of physical media and shuffled by the will of the listener. It does.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Elwan
    While Elwan may not herald any grand stylistic breakthrough, it does manage to synthesize some of the group’s most recent experiments in a way that helps distinguish it within their overall catalog.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Alice
    While there are a few livewire moments that recall Meatbodies’ most exciting work—the triumphant riff from “Touchless,” for example--Alice doesn’t exactly come out swinging. It’s a more sedate record; mellow grooves and acoustic strumming make up its core infrastructure.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Heba
    Lowly’s previous work hovered in a state of somber, slightly edgy, but otherwise unremarkable introspection. The music on Heba is exponentially more rich.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Undying Color
    Tasteful and restrained as Fennelly’s playing is, here it doesn’t have quite enough energy or movement to sustain such a runtime. That said, the expanded palette and membership bodes well for future explorations.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Terrible Human Beings
    Terrible Human Beings can still be cherry-picked for catchy singles bound for algorithmic playlists, but it’s impossible to overlook how much of the Orwells’ appeal is bundled into their persona as enfants terribles.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 62 Critic Score
    Prisoner
    It’s another down-the-middle, crowd-pleasing Ryan Adams record at a time when that crowd was expecting him to bring the heat.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Love If Possible
    Retired from the road but still quite active as a musician, Sakamoto’s mission isn’t novelty, but an expressive palette he has carefully made for himself with a ship-in-a-bottle-like focus.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Drogas Light
    Ultimately, DROGAS Light reaffirms, rather than fundamentally alters, Lupe’s place in the rap pantheon.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Blue
    The music on Blue is always lovingly crafted, and the album’s lack of musical pretense makes for an enjoyable, if predictable listen.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Memories Are Now
    Memories Are Now, perhaps more than anything she has done in the past, is closely engaged with the present moment, yet so lyrically and musically idiosyncratic that it never sounds overtly political.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Snowdonia
    It’s Surfer Blood’s first album since their debut that doesn’t invite you to think about what could have been. It simply makes the most of what is.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Reverse
    In the sure hands of Pinhas and his comrades, Reverse is big enough to contain emotional multitudes.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Backlash
    Lewis gives the briefest glimpse of a supremely raucous affair, then shunts you out of a side door, all dressed up with nowhere to go.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Life & Livin' It
    Life & Livin’ It signs off with a stiff jab to the nose, hinting at what could be if Sinkane’s next journey takes them deeper into the mud.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Borders
    Borders functions as a gateway between traditionalist dance forms and the artier end of the electronic-production universe. It also offers new ways of understanding both by reflecting each against the other.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Little Fictions
    Unlike its predecessor--where the weight of the past sometimes bogged down the tempos, too--Little Fictions moves.
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