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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    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Flight Of The Conchords
    But as a musical concern, the Conchords can’t hold a candle to [Tenacious] D, a shortcoming that’s much more apparent on this homonymous CD than it is on TV.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Tromatic Reflexxions
    A merger made in musical heaven.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    In A Town Called Addis
    Blending in traditional strings and flutes, singular soulful vocals, trenchant dub pockets, and inventive production flourishes, this is the most powerful contemporary release out of Ethiopia in years.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Lenses Alien
    So many wonderful things happen on Lenses Alien that you can't possibly remember them all. The only solution, of course, is to listen again.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Travels With Myself And Another
    Travels with Myself and Another doesn't quite live up to the band's first studio album, 2007's "Curses," but it reaches the same boorishly absurd heights on the spastic 'Drink Nike' and on 'Stand by Your Manatee,' a catchy freakout about the "shame" of using plastic silverware.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Son
    Son exudes the studied calm of a laboratory technician engaged in heavy-duty experimentation.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Ouliposaliva
    What makes this inspirational lyrical gimmick work is the quality of the songs and the sure-footedness of Mottet's approach to sound, a not-so-distant European relative of the Elephant 6 palette.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    I Am Very Far
    The smooth shape of this album - there's no rising or falling action - and lack of a big concept won't replace 2005's Black Sheep Boy for diehard fans, just as the superior The Stand-Ins didn't in 2008. But Elvis Costello fans should holler.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    In Prism
    More than just a slack reunion, the album marks another turning point in a band who may yet wind up describing a circle.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    So This Is Goodbye
    You can’t ask for much more from a sophomore album.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Biophilia
    It's a grower--don't go in without some time to invest, or the desire to listen multiple times and peel apart these lavishly constructed layers.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Unfairground
    His philosophizing is rarely twee, and his fine-oaked voice gives new authority to his pastis-and-mushroom-fueled musings.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Glitter And Doom Live
    the Waits of Glitter and Doom Live values theatricality as much as storytelling. As on his previous live album, 1988’s "Big Time," Waits often borders on playfulness.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Coexist
    At a certain point, the xx need to turn off that reverb pedal and learn to sing above a whisper - but I'll be damned if they haven't worked their magic again.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    4
    Ejstes seems more concerned with texture and feel than with hooks. Translation: it all sounds better once you’re stoned.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Father, Son, Holy Ghost
    The reason Father, Son, Holy Ghost is so uniquely, imperfectly swell is because the band plainly give fuck-all about convention or stylistic uniformity.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Brooklynati
    Whereas their 2006 disc, "Moonlighting," was across-the-board impressive but a tad monotonous, their latest hinges on memorable and unpredictable style jumps.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Pedestrian Verse
    The Scottish outfit have delivered again with jangly pop full of skittering guitars, self-flagellating lyricism, and whimsy under a pall of darkness that no amount of the big spotlight can dispel.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Beast
    There might be something deeper rolling around here than "There's nothing that will change me/There's nothing sure as shit" ("Bring the Fight"). Probably not, but if you want to bang your head, this will do the trick.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    D
    The melange of old sonic idioms doesn't say anything remarkable about their sources or feel particularly original. White Denim sound ready to craft a groundbreaking record--D just isn't it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Exploding Head
    Exploding Head is less an interpretation of a forgotten sound than a restoration of an abandoned mission. Even if you've heard it all before, you certainly haven't heard the end of it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Middle Cyclone
    Middle Cyclone is her most fearless and arresting record, ruthlessly composed and beautifully recorded.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    What Day Is It Tonight? (Trans Am Live 1993-2008)
    These numbers are soaked in a disorienting futurist nostalgia that epitomizes Trans Am’s ironic humor and their ability to transform leaden clichés into gold.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Western Teleport
    Every so often a bright, nerdy, nasal-voiced and infallibly catchy male songwriter appears to less critical notice than he deserves for his remarkably concrete lyrics and thoughtful melodies.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Velociraptor!
    For the most part, Velociraptor! is a stellar representation of K-sabes magnificence and dexterity.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    National Ransom
    National Ransom isn't the midlife masterpiece that obsessives have been pining for, but its finer points are worth seeking out, in all their sepia-tinted glory.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Lungs
    Even though damn near every third song sounds designed to sell overpriced sweaters at the Gap, the nectar at the heart of this album is worth the roughage you have to chew through to get there.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Trials Of Van Occupanther
    The warmth and the easy familiarity enable The Trials of Van Occupanther to stand on its own.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    All Day
    Sublime production quality and danceability aside, this mix scores as a chronicle of American pop music that elicits a dual layer of nostalgia: the first for the sampled songs themselves, the second for the thrill of the novelty of early mash-ups.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Shapeshifting
    There are synths that buzz, synths that whiz, synths that glow in the dark--the luxurious texture may put you in an electro-psych trance. But Young Galaxy are greedy. Not satisfied with being masters of atmosphere, they also aim for hooks--most of which are not sticky enough to jolt you back to the waking world.
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