Pretty Much Amazing's Scores

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For 761 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 59% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 0 Xscape
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 582 out of 761
  2. Mixed: 156 out of 761
  3. Negative: 23 out of 761
761 music reviews
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    • 78 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Bride
    There are over-arching problems here: the lyricism that doesn’t relate to anyone except the singer, which is especially troubling on the mostly lyric-driven “Widow’s Peak”; the lack of color from the lugubrious and minimalistic approach (excepting the vocal shading of “Joe’s Dream” and the Western-tinged “Honeymooning Alone”); the dearth of melodies, make the relatively short album get wearying over time, especially when you add the too-pristine production.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Joyland
    A record that’s all too often content with mediocrity even though its finest moments reveal just how close it came to greatness.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Is the Is Are
    Is the Is Are is certainly honest, but it could use a little more optimism, and the music’s circuitousness only adds to the feeling that a single issue is being poked and prodded to exhaustion.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Stay Gold
    Only the opening stanza of “Waitress Song”--in which a major label signee fantasizes about escaping heartbreak by assuming a romanticized working class identity--is outright egregious. The rest is just innocuous.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Honest
    Honest is a good deal more middle-of-the-pack for a post-Yeezus 2014 than its creator wants to admit.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    32 Levels
    The genre-spanning approach dilutes what could have been a memorable project, leaving 32 Levels with a storage of untapped potential and only a few beacons shining their fullest light.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Every Now & Then
    Overall, no risks are taken: all of the lyrics want to be mantras but end up as little nothings instead; practically all of the songs reveal their hands way before their often too-long song lengths; they mistake reverb as a songwriting tool.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Life of Pause
    There’s honestly no real low moment on Life of Pause, but then again, low moments were never this album’s problem. The problem is that there’s really only one high moment.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Autobiography
    While Mensa’s flow is capable enough (especially on the opening two tracks, which are some of the album’s best), he also indulges in some painfully cheesy lines, from references to television shows long dead (“Tryna take over the world like Pinky and the Brain”) no matter how ham-fisted (“If she see her name, she get Goku tough”).
    • 67 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Kintsugi
    Discarding the albums actually awesome opener, “No Room in Frame”,--which briefly had me hoping for some tangible musical progress from the band--Kintsugi is more or less 45 minutes of boy-next-door, paint-by-number indie pop
    • 75 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    High As Hope
    Lyrically, High as Hope forsakes Welch’s knack for vibrant imagery and symbolism for more human modifiers and concerns. While it allows her to share more personal information, Welch’s straightforward songwriting means there are no “Howl”’s or “Ship to Wreck”’s present here. ... Despite these critiques, High as Hope surpasses many of them to solidify itself as a decent record.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son
    Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is long on atmospherics, but woefully short on songs.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    This Is All Yours
    Alt-J remain impossible to put a pin in, which makes This Is All Yours almost as frustrating as it is absorbing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Corsicana Lemonade
    True, not every album needs to make a statement; sometimes it’s just nice to have music to listen to with your eyes closed and your brain off. But they can do better.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Close to the Glass
    Unlike the best of the Notwist’s output, Close to the Glass isn’t emotionally nourishing, primarily because there’s no real sense that anything is at stake.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    So Long, See You Tomorrow
    Despite its outward bustle and injections of colour throughout, the album’s personality is also disappointingly tentative and placid.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Neon Icon
    This album gets a C+ because I really enjoyed the time I spent hating it.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    IV
    IV feels subdued and professional, something you would never expect to associate with the quartet.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Barragán
    Atmospherically, Barragán falls to a part of the spectrum Blonde Redhead have never found themselves on before, but half of the songs here feel like placeholders for ideas that haven’t been fully excavated.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Night Time, My Time
    Unfortunately, Night Time, My Time goes awry at “Omanko,” a grave misstep that verges on parody. From there on out, the record’s spotty.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Night Thoughts
    Add production issues that have marred the bulk of their discography to the lack of tune and we have something that never lifts off: everything sounds mixed at the same level, resulting in mush.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Teeth Dreams
    Teeth Dreams is nowhere near the best Hold Steady album, but it shows the band aging in a direction that fills us with… hope? Perhaps that’s all we can ask for.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Hot Dreams
    New album Hot Dreams still struggles to find a unique vantage point on its assembly of vintage sounds and gothic vibes, but fans will be more than satisfied.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Amnesty (I)
    The first product from Crystal Castles 2.0 is a mixed bag of nostalgia, proficiency, and carefully staged continuity.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    In Cold Blood
    Overall, In Cold Blood is a pleasant listen in small doses, functioning better in manageable chunks than as a whole forty-minute work.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Songs of Experience
    This record is diet U2. Its pop-rock disguised as Important Rock and the disguise is transparent. “Blackout” and “You’re The Best Thing About Me” are the chief offenders.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Rebel Heart
    At its best, Rebel Heart has an ease, and a long absent softness, qualities sorely missed since her last masterwork Music. For every godawful moment, which come and go with a sad frequency on Rebel Heart, there are glimmers of virtuosity buried within the overworked mess.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Tetsuo & Youth
    The density of Tetsuo & Youth just could have benefitted from even the slightest dose of levity to throw its rhetoric and messages into sharper relief.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Dirty Projectors
    The supple dynamic shadings of earlier Projectors material is gone; everything’s annoyingly crisp, with lots of things at the front of the mix that shouldn’t be and Longstreth’s pitch-shifted voice running near-constantly throughout.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Haiku from Zero
    Haiku From Zero has none of its strength in songs or clarity of goal. The electro-funk mixed with the alternative dance and light tropicalia percussion ends up tasting like pizza and pie and popsicles all at the same time. It isn’t that this record is bad, its just meh.
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