The Boston Phoenix's Scores

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For 1,091 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Pink
Lowest review score: 0 Last of a Dyin' Breed
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 956 out of 1091
  2. Mixed: 88 out of 1091
  3. Negative: 47 out of 1091
1091 music reviews
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    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Collapse into Now
    With Collapse into Now, there's enough reason to keep celebrating.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Communion
    As you might have guessed, nobody but TSOOL completists (and Mojo subscribers) needs all this stuff. Yet within Communion's overload lurk a handful of neo-Nuggets nuggets.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Shrines
    Although the band's sonic stew isn't particularly remarkable or consistent (instrumentation oscillates between warm and comforting, and distant and anemic), their lyrics have a peculiar charm that keeps them alluring.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Clear Heart Full Eyes
    The mood ... is decidedly bleak- populated by disillusioned lovers and working class escapists, the lyrics splitting at the seams with dark religious imagery.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    I Love You
    Blank is a product of the cut-and-paste era; nearly everything on I Love You, which arrives in the wake of several buzz-building collaborations with Spank Rock, seems like a tongue-in-cheek version of something else.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The Hundred in the Hands
    It's all a very pretty sequined package, but moving forward, the Hundred in the Hands might find their music as cornered as Captain Fetterman's troops were off the Bozeman Trail.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Gallery [EP]
    Craft Spells certainly live up to their name on this six-song EP, with the charm of its effortless, pixie-light production and the warm, plangent harp sounds of their major-key melodies.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    brand new eyes
    This is a trick the band deploy again and again, using darkness of tone and lyrical bent as a foil for their almost overbearingly ebullient trill.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    No Mas
    The duo can't possibly keep up this kind of frivolous pace, and several of the 15 tracks are just (and I apologize for using the term) chillwave jams--but nearly all are expertly crafted, and hedged with mirthy dance flavor.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Further
    There's no risk here, but there's plenty that's right.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Sees the Light
    Pleasant enough, and skillful, but all too familiar.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Anarchy, My Dear
    Initially, the album seems to lack focus, save a steady burn of fury. But the anarchy's in the lack of cohesion, opening with the hand-clapping force of "Burn a Miracle" and progressing manically toward the melodic woe of "Peace Out".
    • 77 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do
    A few songs in, I was reminded that I hate mixtapes--or at least, I find it hard to make it all the way through them, especially when they're made by other people and especially when they're filled with weak endless dub reggae.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Come Around Sundown
    They seem hell-bent on pleasing everyone, and at times they succeed.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Everyone I Ever Met
    But that's just it; much here is good, even great, but it's all too familiar.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Who Kill
    w h o k i l l may be strange on first pass, but only by its uniqueness, a music whose microgenre would disappear in a whiff were Ms. Garbus to have never stumbled upon it within her.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Pink Friday
    There's nothing particularly wrong with what Minaj has given us - her pipes are worthy of wide-ranging pop stardom - but the album is a misallocation of the talent and quirk that thrust her into the spotlight in the first place.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The Century Of Self
    Texas's Trail of Dead settle into a nice groove somewhere between the two on their sixth album.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    This Machine
    This is a subdued, atmospheric affair, rooted in bangs-in-the-face, black-polish-on-the-fingernails '80s rock.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Fear Is Excruciating But Therein Lies The Answer
    Red Sparowes can’t shake the post-rock stereotype--but occasionally they do point the way forward.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    NY's Finest
    NY’s Finest finds the legendary producer consistent, if not innovative.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Detours
    Cohesion’s where you find it, but headphone delights are everywhere.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Atlantis: Hymns For Disco
    It’s still too lightweight to win any hip-hop race, but at least you’ll want to add K-OS’s name to your mental checklist as you peruse those small-rock-club listings.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Expo 86
    Ambition might sound like an odd thing to chide a band for, but if Wolf Parade had figured out when to push the hooks and when to pull back the excess, Expo 86 would have shone.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Personal Life
    There are rare glimmers here, but maturity sure is sobering.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Skeletal Lamping
    This feast isn’t without a good deal of filler.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Watch the Throne
    Jay dawns that ever-frustrating mush-mouth flow throughout the LP's duration, and only sounds awake when his bars are bookended by Kanye.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Push the Sky Away
    Push the Sky Away feels heavy on breath-taking and woodshedding, an album of waiting for sparks to ignite.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The Human Romance
    Mostly The Human Romance is just Darkest Hour reiterating a formula they already know. There's no need for a drastic overhaul, but some risks would enliven the flavors they're clearly intent on keeping.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    LP4
    A good deal of the album (particularly the first half) uses the new-fangled instrumentation sporadically, as an afterthought to a slightly darker version of the duo's time-honored techniques. This is where LP4, though flawlessly produced, is messy.
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