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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    • 72 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Love's Miracle
    While Yow's performance is consistently excellent, it doesn't always seem to further the cause of the music; there are too many moments on Love's Miracle that effectively reduce Qui's extremely talented instrumentalists to a backing band and the inimitable Yow to a sideshow.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Autumn of the Seraphs
    If there's a gripe to be had with them, it's that a surface listen reveals a whole lot of lovely tones and not much else, and Autumn of the Seraphs is just as uniformly gorgeous and tasteful as any Pinback record.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Watch The Fireworks
    Pollock is clearly in her comfort zone here, both vocally and musically.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Good Bad Not Evil
    Good Bad Not Evil is the record where naysayers, disinterested friends and acquaintances, and anyone else within earshot has to sit up, shut up, and listen.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 59 Critic Score
    Civilians
    The sound is as warm and rich as could be expected from a craftsman of this caliber--David Piltch's upright bass tone alone should be bottled and sold to the highest bidder--but musically and melodically Civilians falls short of making much of a connection itself.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    North Star Deserter
    The more succinct songs on North Star Deserter sound like a return to the dark woods after years in the city.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    When The Deer Wore Blue
    Unless you're a diehard retro-rock fan, you might want to leave this figurine in its natural environment: on the shelf.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    La Radiolina
    The album is not as wholly satisfying as either "Clandestino" or "Esperanza," mostly due to a handful of truncated, underdeveloped tracks toward the end, but it's still full of excellent songs and inspired collisions.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    I Created Disco
    Harris reduces pop's limitless possibilities to one-joke self-parody, his youth his most distinguishing characteristic, an unremembered yesterday always more vibrant than today.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Going Way Out With Heavy Trash
    Going Way Out With Heavy Trash is a lot of things-- wild, aged, loose, dangerous, ridiculous, respectful-- but it's not a joke. Even if it is kinda funny.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Liars
    If it doesn't quite confound like "They Were Wrong" or thrill like "Drum's Not Dead," Liars still finds the band ignoring whatever you thought you wanted or needed from them, and doing what they damn well please.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    None Shall Pass
    Beats-first, lyrics-second people have enough here to return to, and lyric freaks know there's plenty here to unpack.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Bring on the Comets
    It was a mistake for VHS or Beta to subjugate their dance beat into a perfunctory structure for the guitars to smash against; the riffs sound like they're there for their own sake, biding their time and waiting for a moment of catchiness that never really arrives.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Level Live Wires
    Madson finally strikes an equitable balance with Level Live Wires, a tightly constructed soundscape that hangs together more cogently than anything he's conceived to date.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Can I Keep This Pen?
    Calling them wack MCs isn't saying much though--they're the only MCs of their kind, competing only against themselves. No wonder they make music that sounds like it was made in a void: heart in the right place, perforated with off-key singing and C-grade rapping.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We Are Him
    On We Are Him--Gira's sixth and arguably most engaging album as Angels of Light--he lands some of the best of those complete releases.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Places Like This
    The abbreviated runtime of Places Like This makes it seem as though they could have given their ideas more space to breathe, rather than piling them up like a stack of pancakes.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    Kala
    Kala is clattering, buzzy, and sonically audacious.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Challengers
    Challengers tracks end with uncharacteristic whimpers instead of bangs.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 51 Critic Score
    Under the Blacklight
    Either they're utterly serious about their flirtation with the mainstream or they're taking the piss with a wink. In both cases, the songs suffer a smothering slow death by context.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Andorra
    Andorra will undoubtedly win Caribou a lot of new fans and rightfully so; it's a big, bold, tuneful collection that impresses with its ambition and meticulous arrangement.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Ear Drum
    He's made a nice to return to form, crafting a mature album that nods to his past without being a retread.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 62 Critic Score
    The Hair, The TV, The Baby & The Band
    Hair finds Imperial Teen in full-bore navel gazing mode, talking both obliquely and directly about where they are and, more importantly, how they got there.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Mentor Tormentor
    There are still bands like Earlimart, quietly chugging away in Los Angeles and preserving the West Coast sound with a spirit that's more than just curatorial, as Mentor Tormentor elegantly shows.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    30 Year Low
    Their caustic, candid wit--especially in the face of such misery--keeps 30 Year Low from sounding too self-indulgent or self-pitying.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 79 Critic Score
    Natural
    Natural, the latest in the group's long line of records, is, per Tweedy's dictum, truly post-apocalyptic folk, music for when the lights go out and hope burns only dimly. It's the Mekons unlikely "unplugged" bid.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 57 Critic Score
    The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
    These songs rarely sound lived in or personable; rather, they're more like museum dioramas where he can pose figures like Calamity Jane, Casey Jones, and Casey at the Bat in stiff tableaux.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Planet of Ice
    Planet of Ice is better than its predecessor, "Menos el Oso," but only slightly so.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 79 Critic Score
    Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
    Skeptics be damned that's just what Hey Hey My My Yo Yo is, an improvement and distillation of the duo's sound.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Ditherer
    Broder is better at details than broad strokes, and Ditherer contains some excellent ones; they're just buried in the piecemeal and decidedly indelicate songwriting.
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