Spin's Scores

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For 4,305 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 47% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.5 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971
Lowest review score: 0 They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,099 out of 4305
  2. Mixed: 1,151 out of 4305
  3. Negative: 55 out of 4305
4305 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Coral Sea
    Here, she's captured twice in concert feverishly reading her phantasmagoric memorial to friend and artist Robert Mapplethorpe with the accompaniment of fellow savant Kevin Shields, the reclusive My Bloody Valentine leader who matches the ebb and flow of her morphing prose with thunderstorms of guitar sustain that weep and roar empathetically.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Black Ghosts
    This debut from electro rocker Simon Lord (Simian) and Big Beat vet Theo "DJ Touché" Keating (the Wiseguys) has a sinister allure when Keating's dark, steely disco productions are paired with Lord's whiny, desperate alto ("I Want Nothing," "I Don't Know").
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Stoop
    Only in the fire-hydrant-ready title cut, where an around-the-way girl reminisces about bodegas in Bed-Stuy, does Coppola seem like more than a confessional folkie playing funky dress-up.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Blood, Looms, And Blooms
    With guest vocalists crooning over synth wiggles seemingly lifted from Aphex Twin's "Richard D. James Album," the Iranian expat's first record in eight years is as tuneful as it is brazen.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Someone Else's Deja Vu
    Omaha-based multi-instrumentalist Joe Knapp spent three years making Someone Else's Déjà Vu, and the album is another reminder that lush studio-reliant soft and prog rock of the late '70s can still offer legitimate inspiration.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Agony & Irony
    After five dark, swift albums, they tread fretfully toward maturity and make it seem like walking into the light. [July 2008, p.92]
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hymn and Her
    Earlimart's sixth full-length doesn't break new ground -- those Elliott Smith comparisons will keep on coming -- or approach the sublime sexiness of fellow Los Angelenos Rilo Kiley. But it's an undeniably solid set of droney hooks.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hercules And Love Affair
    DJ/Producer Andrew Butler mixes the poetic Apollonian aspects of queer culture with the Dionysian party represented by left-field disco and hypnotic early house, and crafts an unsettlung masterpiece that yearns and churns and ultimately pulls the rug from under your dancing feet. [June 2008, p.116]
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Real Animal
    The enthralling Real Animal presents a concise overview of the man's art and life, encompassing the punk fury of the Nuns, the country-rock twang of Rank and File, the rootsy guitar assault of True Believers, and the late-era tortured, string-quintet balladry that showcases his unbearably sad voice.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fire Songs
    The Watson Twins' songwriting isn't quite as memorable as their singing; too many of the tunes fade into open-mic background fare.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Digi Snacks
    Yes, the RZA is a legendary eccentric, but Digi Snacks is too impossibly weird.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Holy
    Indistinct lyrics and plodding dynamics confine most of the songs to "just okay" status, but a few arresting tracks seem destined for a yet-to-be-built rock Valhalla.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Naturally
    It's all blatantly unsubtle, but also raucously fun.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
    Musically, his sixth Silver Jews album is a low-key treat, country-inflected folk rock goosed by melodies that conjure both the Velvet Underground ("Open Field") and Johnny Cash ("Candy Jail").
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Viva La Vida
    For all of Coldplay’s experimentation, though, there’s no doubting that Viva La Vida, with its sturdy melodies and universal themes--think love, war, and peace--is an album meant to connect with the masses.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Devil, You + Me
    On their sixth album, these ever-evolving German indie rockers stick with the electronic-tinged direction of 2003’s Neon Golden, but with a little less emotional heft.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    At Mount Zoomer
    It's an irresisitible, exhilarating mix that sounds like no band but Wolf Parade.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A Thousand Shark's Teeth
    It's all quite mesmerizing, until you notice the overworked lyrics, which weakly describe heartbreak in terms of weather, stars, and, uh, hearts. [July 2008, p.100]
    • 47 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    One Of The Boys
    The rest of the album plods with formulaic, hormone-heavy Kelly Clarkson outtakes, or perhaps Liz Phair during her bleak, sparkly descent.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pacific Ocean Blue [Reissue]
    The raw-throated, harmonically rich ballads transcend the occasionally schmaltzy production [June 2008, p.119]
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    O
    Yet here they are on their third full-length, and rather than calcify into indie-scene shtick, Tilly's music has gotten funnier and more vibrant.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ice Cream Spiritual
    Presided over by Molly Siegel--a fiery young Yoko Ono impersonator--the disc is precocious but never precious, combining a smart, Juno-esque appreciation of old-school punk that steers clear of mere revivalism.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    19
    She represents a highly commercial compromise between Amy Winehouse's genuine soul danger and James Blunt's sclocky pop safety. [July 2008, p.92]
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Diamond Hoo Ha
    Thanks to Supergrass' long-standing dedication to the well-placed smirk, they never succumb to sappiness. [Apr 2008, p.100]
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
    Her sophomore disc hardly sounds like something dashed off between higher-profile gigs: Sardonic chamber-folk gems such as "Tower Song" and "You Cheated Me" (in which she tells a lover to "run your scared little ass down the block") offer lyrical and sonic detail for days.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Evil Urges
    Evil Urges is easily MMJ's most accomplished and ambitious record, masterfully sifting through genres.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Robert Pollard Is Off To Business
    Despite the invocation of those crusty legends [Guided by Voices], Business is no lo-fi throwback.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Flavors Of Entanglement
    Psychology textbooks are less linguistically challenged and just as littered with cases of emotional breakdowns. [June 2008, p.114]
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Here We Stand
    Here We Stand is tantalizing, but that's all. [July 2008, p.102]
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Seeing Things
    Melodically, Jakob could've dug a little deeper here, even if he was consciously avoiding radio-ready 'One Headlight' territory. But Seeing Things does manage a few unexpected moments of timeless grace.
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