The 405's Scores

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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
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Scorpion
    It’s not that Scorpion is bad music - it’s exactly what you’d expect, and too much of it. Its maximalism offers plenty for the converted (and the charts), after all, this far in, nothing is going to turn those set against him. For those of us with more complicated relationships with Drake’s music, there’s also nothing here to overwhelm the sense of stagnation dominant since Views.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Geist
    A touch more volume on the instruments and a bit of extra distance between one man's mouth and his microphone, this might have been a blissful exercise in studied yet clamorous rock music.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Beyond Clueless [OST]
    The handful of traditional band tracks that make the cut are a mixed bag.... On the whole, though, I was pleasantly surprised by Beyond Clueless; it's first of all proved Summer Camp's musical talent beyond doubt, by taking them in a direction so far removed from what they've been doing so far, and secondly lends them a little substance and credibility.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Minus Tide
    Minus Tide is a record that lets you recall the best moments from vacations both real and imagined in a way that's better and brighter than the original experience.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Aureate Gloom
    Barnes has had a habit of throwing dozens of these complex noises and genres my way within the context of a single song. The newest, Aureate Gloom, has collected these idiosyncrasies in the best way since Fauna's atom bomb performances.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Beck Song Reader
    An album filled with songs that seem unable to grab attention.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Hexadic
    Six Organs of Admittance has rightly earned a reputation for innovation, but with Hexadic, Chasny risks straying too far from the realm of palatable sound.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    Trick
    Kele has instead chosen a route that doesn't challenge the listener or, it seems, himself.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hard Believer
    Whilst Hard Believer has its moments, this sense of playing it safe permeates throughout the record.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kintsugi
    With Kintsugi, the cracks in the Death Cab veneer are undoubtedly visible, shiny or not. While many of the tracks fall flat, the vestiges of their prior form--confession and melody and, ultimately, charm--will likely still be evident enough to keep fans enamored. 

    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sir
    Sir occasionally works as an aggregate of flattering bric-a-brac and is irrepressibly sexy, but when its production’s skin-deep charm peels away there’s little to compel a return.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Data Panik Etcetera
    Data Panik etcetera delivers up-tempo, four minute slices of pop-perfection and in a variety of styles.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mass Gothic
    There's nothing particularly wrong with Mass Gothic. There's clearly a compelling artistic voice in there.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Dunes
    Compared to their debut album, Dunes marks a step up in the band's sound.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bones
    Son Lux's remix value is through the roof, settling nicely along the lines of Purity Ring's debut, The xx, or even some of Thom Yorke's solo tracks. That said, each of these examples are revered, but not lived up to.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Instant Money Magic
    Much like funsize Snickers bars, there's a gooey joy to be found in the brevity, but especially for us this side of the Atlantic, there are bands who have improved on the formula of twee-punk/whatever you want to call it.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler
    On a surface level, I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler--the group's first album to be released by Downtown Records--has some exceptionally catchy moments.... Still, I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler leaves the listener wishing for a little less preaching and a little more grooving.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Right On!
    It shows that she can create a cohesive album by playing out the songs she wrote. But while the poetry and the music are there and played correctly, there is that last little bit of magic missing.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Taiga
    This is what it sounds like when an artist matures, discovers a confidence they perhaps never knew they had, and return, revitalised.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    This Thing of Ours
    Production wise, it's got the whole package, but behind all the endearing words pouring out of Milo's mouth, there's a lack of emotional connection.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho
    It never reaches for more, and to bludgeon it for achieving its minor ambitions is bizarre practice. It may not leap, but it never stumbles. Calm down, sit back and vibe.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Everything Now
    Everything Now isn’t so much a misstep as a faceplant, hitting every wrong note with the same precision they hit every right one on Funeral. It’s a compositional mess, somehow both gratuitously moralising and morally repugnant, duller than watching already-dry paint.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Z [EP]
    Z is promising but it seems that SZA's identity isn't truly clear as there are too many different styles competing to be heard.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    When Shall This Bright Day Begin
    Although the production looks outward, the recording of these songs is up close and personal, playing up the physicality of Van Wissem's playing as much as the notes themselves. Each string slide and pluck is heard perfectly across much of the airy phrasing.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Junk
    It's a superficial thrill ride but without those evocative moments, that captivating emotional core, it lacks staying power.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Dirty Gold
    She's played it safe, probably on her label's whim, when really, perilous rule-breakers would have been better suited to her lyrical style.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Angel Guts: Red Classroom
    It is shocking, it's exciting and it doesn't attempt to give any easy answers or clues as to its real intentions.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    PersonA
    PersonA is an album based largely around Ebert's continued drive to reinvent himself to appease a particular audience. Unfortunately, the Magnetic Zeros and their brand of music is not one well suited to the audience they were attempting to find this time around.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Angus & Julia Stone
    Their latest adds a number of new facets to their performance, without diluting what makes their reality any less romantic.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Breakin' Point
    The songs get you moving just enough. The melodies and lyrics gently grab you by the ears.
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