The 405's Scores

  • Music
Select another publication »
For 1,530 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 57% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 39% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.9 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998
Lowest review score: 15 Revival
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,296 out of 1530
  2. Mixed: 209 out of 1530
  3. Negative: 25 out of 1530
1530 music reviews
view
per page
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Twerp Verse
    This album feels like the training wheels have come off, and Speedy Ortiz can really show what they’re capable of. For one, this is Speedy Ortiz’s poppiest album yet, with plenty of synths, hooks, and an overall brighter sheen. However, it’s not like Lazar infected their grunginess with an overwhelming flavour of the top 40.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Last Building Burning
    On Last Building Burning, Cloud Nothings provide their take on a stripped back album. Belts were loosed, fingers bled, and there was probably some howling at the moon. But in a world so interconnected, you can’t forget the primal that’s in you still trying to make sense of it all- knowing a starry sky is the back drop to honeymooners and prisoners.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    You Tell Me
    As pretty as much of the album is, it can lack the immediacy to really grab the listener and pull them into a different world.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Need a New War
    He’s gone as far as he can go, done all he can. He’s lost in a bursting world of endless storefronts, in an America he no longer recognizes. He hasn’t a clue what he needs, only that he needs it. Songs as easy to imbibe to as to heave a sigh to, these are fogged, fading portraits for the ages. We all need a new war.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Tip Of The Sphere
    In the face of so much uncertainty, it’s tempting to think that armageddon is the only answer. Whilst not standing toe-to-toe with the very best of McComb’s discography, Tip of the Sphere is as good a soundtrack to The End Times as anything he’s done.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    This Old Dog
    DeMarco has shifted his musical style in a way that does not feel forced or as though he lost anything in the process. In fact, he feels though he is more refined than ever, offering beautiful and heartbreaking sentiments with a remarkable economy of language, all the while delivering another sonic masterpiece that will undoubtedly soundtrack all too many summer soirees this year.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Prisoner
    It’s full of layers and little emotions, rather than just being a slave to the bigger issues and emotions, and that’s what makes it authentic.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Real High
    Real High is a considered, mature statement for Nite Jewel.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Bonny Doon
    Despite the underlying melancholy throughout, Bonny Doon is by no means a downer of an album, and it’s due to the winning and classic songwriting tropes Bonny Doon have adhered to.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Moon Rang Like a Bell
    The Moon Rang Like A Bell starts off with captivating momentum, a potential to take you on a whimsical, emotional journey. But along the way it seems to have sacrificed that sense of purity first apparent in its experimentation.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Smote Reverser
    Smote Reverser has a strange sense of uncertainty. While Dwyer hasn’t veered away from his band’s unmistakable proggy garage rock sound, he doesn’t feel as invigorated as usual. The multiple flavors of Oh Sees are swirled together, and it ends up a bit diluted.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Last Panthers
    There are glorious moments of reflection to be found throughout The Last Panthers too. Circuitous, sweeping pad interludes that, more often than not, come in the form of unusual and unsettling chord progressions to jolt the beauty that's frequently on offer.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    La Maison Noir/The Black House
    It may not be perfect but it's another solid release from a project that even after all these years still has plenty of promise coming from all sides.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bicep
    The music as a whole isn't as immersive as you would expect it to feel at first. Instead it works on a more subconscious level, gradually drawing you in with a subtle pull. That seeming lack of immediacy does nothing to take away from how enjoyable many of the highlights here are, and the album is well-paced in such a way that it never lingers longer than it needs to.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Preternaturals
    The slow pacing of the tracks, particularly the likes of 'Feet of Clay', 'Mister Skeleton' and 'Secrets of the Earth', are almost meditative. Richly detailed, so you're constantly finding new sounds and curiosities, but not so busy as to draw too much attention away from the trip.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Compassion
    There’s an incredible amount of space at play on Compassion; the instrumentation and samples inhale and exhale, breathing life into the tracks.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Dedicated
    While Jepsen has once again delivered a stunning hook-filled record that frankly gets catchier every time you hear it, Dedicated may not quite satisfy our lust for connection.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tied to the Moon
    There is song crafting of an exceptional variety as Sermanni delivers ten solid songs, the longest just a touch under five minutes, that all have an important story to tell.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Strange Diary
    It feels like a tightly wound, meticulously crafted gem of an album. When you tack on the album's intense emotional resonance, Strange Diary has vaulted itself into the conversation for the year's most powerful albums.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    The Healing Component
    Individually, many of his tracks are great. But the album itself can feel like a concept that has been too thought out. Despite this, Mick's message is what still makes The Healing Component worth a listen.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Orc
    Orc is another immensely satisfying offering from one of underground rock’s modern heroes.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Parts
    Ohmme deliver on magnificently over 9 fully realised tracks that demand attention.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Life Without Sound
    While infested by hooks, yet Life Without Sound bears itself with moral clarity and resolve while rocking damn hard.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Alas Salvation
    As we're thrown directly and unmercifully into 'Curtain Twitcher', we're already heavily bruised from the first half of the album, and will have to wait until 'Take It' to finally take a breath.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
    Dedicated to Bobby Jameson picks up where the late Bobby Jameson left off, solidifying his name as an inspiration for one of the most impressive indie-rock records of the past decade.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Paradise
    One cannot help but feel as though, if White Lung had let themselves get a little messier on Paradise, it might have yielded an even more compelling result.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    C U L T U R E
    Migos see no need for a limit to the fun, and invite you in with familiarity, guiding you right into the consistency that follows throughout the album.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Until Silence
    Their third album, Until Silence, is a pleasant listen, but falls at a couple of key moments.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wheeltappers and Shunters
    And, on the whole, Clinic’s paean to the 70s is a satisfying reinforcement of the current, clichéd view of that decade. It is lovingly put together. It yearns to experience an age that is tantalisingly close, but entirely out of reach.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sirens
    Sirens runs swimmingly from track to track, and it’s ideal to consume it without a tracklist; listening as its samples, beats, and voices travel without a map or a compass. It’s clear Jaar wanted to do something similar to what the average listener considers to be an “album”, but making a strong case for his intentions takes patience. Contrary to pop music and accessibility at large, it works well in his favor.
Page: