Sputnikmusic's Scores

  • Music
For 2,596 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 Exit
Lowest review score: 10 The Path of Totality
Score distribution:
2596 music reviews
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Love What Happened Here is still another compelling listen from perhaps the biggest sensation of 2011.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Emotional Creature provides enough to keep the group’s longtime fans happy, while also extending some tendrils to explore potential future evolutions. In short, it’s one of those transition albums whose legacy will heavily depend on reception to Beach Bunny’s future output. Growing up is hard, but for now, Emotional Creature serves a solid portrait of a band in motion.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A refreshing yet sweltering collection of acid rave and breakbeat conundrums, all held in check by Lone's perfectionist qualities, but despite the upheaval Lone's latest LP fires on all cylinders only when he chooses to hold onto that which has served him well in the past.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If their self-titled LP represented a slight dip in the usual quality of this band, Cold of Ages represents a trip both back and forward--back to their earlier days in terms of material and the quality of the compositions, but forward in terms of recording quality, evolutionary potential, and available elements at their disposal.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay does everything its predecessor did right, but better, and with more style, flair, and conviction.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Except for the last two somewhat average songs, this is an accomplished work that defies canons without ever truly dazzling.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Architects have made another harmless, inconsequential rock album that’s worth spinning once or twice for curiosity, as there are some decent – dare I say great – moments here.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 94 Critic Score
    Dirty Projectors is back with a reshaped identity, serving up experimental/artistic indie-pop while retaining its penchant for eclecticism and unpredictability.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    New Again feels focused and sure; the band sounds confident despite yet another lineup change.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Good for You isn’t a pleasant listen because Amine is so gosh darn happy, it’s because it appears so out of step with a relentlessly negative and dour mood. We could all do with just that much more happiness in our lives.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    The effects, walls of noise, sharp changes in tonality and song structure are engaging and well-executed. Despite stretches of atmospheric passages and droning instrumentals, Never Exhale doesn’t ever feel boring. It is deliberate without being robotic, and creates an introspectively bleak mood throughout the record.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Braindrops is somehow both more personal and more detached than Liddiard has ever been. It’s personal in that there’s moments of unmitigated passion, manifesting as anger, vulnerability, and virulent snark; the shrapnel from broken relationships and haywire politics ricochets off the band.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Surprisingly, The Cool works as an album despite its many obvious flaws: the pop tracks are as good as anything from his debut, and his attempts to branch out are at least hit and miss, with exciting tracks like ‘Little Weapon’ and ‘Dumb It Down’ breaking the monotony of his soapbox moments.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Overall, Attention: Deficit should be considered a successful debut, albeit mildly uneven.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It is sad to finally see the unpredictable hero of lyricism finally write an album that is only good. I'll still be listening to this album for weeks, I just hope it stays as consistent as the man's other work has throughout my life.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    It’s so perfectly and lovingly written and produced, recalling everything that made you fall in love with the band and their life affirming sound to begin with.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The speed at which the songs are played sounds not only like they are stuck in the mud, but that the weight tethered to them is also dragging them backwards. The final result is an anemic, lackluster 52 minutes.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    elseq may well be the most ambitious thing Autechre have ever released.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Daniel delivers the twofold triumphs of, first, delivering satisfactorily upon the band’s original talent for hooks and vibe, and second, demonstrating enough variety to suggest that Real Estate doesn’t intend to forever languish in their comfort zone to diminishing returns. I’ll take it.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's not often that a songwriter comes along that not only gives his listeners a chance to view the inner workings of his soul, but is also able to express his own situation so clearly and in a way that resounds so personally to everyone in earshot.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    There are moments here worth returning for time and again, but not much to put Eternal Turn of the Wheel in the same level of esteem as its distant predecessors.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Even though this LP may not be a complete game-changer, they are certainly on the right path to come out with one sooner rather than later.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    The transitions are what make the thing, equally as important as the actual songs here. Bad Witch finds Trent at a rare peak in terms of song flow and focus, and as a piece is absolutely deserving of the LP distinction, brutally short runtime be damned.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    ...So Unknown is a flawed record, but still a worthwhile one to check out. Underneath its misguided bells and whistles lies a grueling trench of hatred and rage, one that demonstrates Jesus Piece’s capability to pulverize their audience with a sort of backwards grace.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    It is every bit as excellent as I could have hoped for. Museum is a haunting affair, delicate and understated at all times yet bold enough to be decidedly impressive.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shimmering psychedelic post-punk to get lost into.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In general, 'Axe to Fall' speaks towards the stagnancy of most bands in the metal genre. The collaborators here can't even help a band as good as Converge make a solid record and when examining Converge's almost flawless discography that is wholly unexplainable.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    He displays that it’s just as impressive to make an effective pop song, as it is to create a progressive rock epic. Steven Wilson proves that an artist can venture into uncharted musical waters, even 30 years into their career, for ambitious and vibrant results like these.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    They’re all good, all memorable.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The overarching takeaway from Get Sunk, at least for me, is a reminder that few musicians can write a better sad sack meditation.