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
    • 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.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Rain
    The recent full-band reunion "Volume 4" was a small triumph, but Rain may be even more satisfying, since it’s the best work Jackson has done with a line-up that’s not strict-rock-band.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Sleep Forever
    Sleep Forever is about accepting mortality, and if its skill represents the possibilities of their earthly journey, long live Crocodiles.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Fragrant World
    Yeasayer remain the new-millennium kings of studio manipulation, and it's downright jaw-dropping that they're able to experiment so wildly in the context of such catchiness. Fragrant World feels like a victory lap.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Dive
    Throw on those headphones and head heavenward.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Midnight Souvenirs
    Although his latest is less personal, it has a similarly broad emotional scope and a warm sonic palette far from the house-rocking R&B that’s the foundation of his four-decade career.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Velociraptor!
    For the most part, Velociraptor! is a stellar representation of K-sabes magnificence and dexterity.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Hysterical
    Hysterical is built for the long haul, and it appears, after a patch of rocky terrain, that Clap Your Hands are too.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Ladyhawke
    New Zealand multi-instrumentalist Pip Brown a/k/a Ladyhawke presents us with a treasure trove of found blips, as if the 1980s had been nothing but a gigantic mirror ball to smash and paste back together.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Everything Is Borrowed
    Even though his heavy drug phase seems to be largely over, Borrowed is his "Sgt. Pepper"--not because he’s spelunking far-flung experimental trenches, but because he finally understands that life is larger than his ego (self-depreciating as it was).
    • 74 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    La Llama
    The sonic touchstones are rediscovered gems of Latin American psychedelia mixed with the work of romantic cantautores (singer-songwriters) from the waning days of Franco in the '70s.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Crazy Itch Radio
    So the first-listen impact has been lessened, but the growing affection ends up in the same place as always.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Angels Of Destruction
    Their songs of experience suggest they spent some time exploring that darkness, only to have found the light on the other side.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Still Living
    While mostly a California creation, Still Living echoes the sounds reverberating across the Pacific from New Zealand - think '80s/'90s bands like the Chills and the 3Ds, whose splashy reverb tanks were almost louder than their amps ("Call Me"). Or even Galaxie 500, whose Dean Wareham is a native Zealander ("Bradley").
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us
    Thibodeau’s melodies, which have always been pretty, are now beautiful.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Cannibal
    I can feel my IQ slipping a few notches with the passage of each track on this disc, and gloriously so: it takes brains and balls to make pop this smart sound so dumb.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Open Your Heart
    One of the more interesting rock albums in recent memory.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Survival Skills
    The guest-heavy formula mostly clicks, particularly on 'Clean Up Crew' with Rock and 'The Way I Live' with Mary J. Blige, but a few misfires--including awkward Slug and Immortal Technique verses--stop this memorable collaboration just short of greatness.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Quiet Nights
    Ogerman charts emphasize minor keys, creating a moody emotional palette for the album. And, as usual, Krall's honeyed voice and carefully chiseled playing are as spare and perfect on every cut as her core quartet's accompaniment.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Family of Love
    Family of Love is strong, with songs that suggest rather than demand, but nonetheless maintain Dom's glossy, candy-coated summertime sound.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Sun Bronzed Greek Gods
    The track's sonic cousin, "Burn Bridges," still stands tall on sparkly synth loops and bumper-sticker lyrics ("Burn bridges/Make yourself an island"), but the rest of the EP soars mostly on lo-fi surf pop made by landlocked youth using Casios and Fruity Loops in bored bedrooms.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Something
    Veteran rock legend Alan Moulder and eclectic electro-guy Dan Carey make sure Something sounds as huge as its aspirations, bringing an impeccably massive sheen to every note.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Kiss Each Other Clean
    On Kiss Each Other Clean, Beam's muse must have told him to pull back on the reins.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Still Night, Still Light
    Some bands make a third album; others make something more like a third refinement of "the album." This feels like the (charmed) latter.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    A Wasteland Companion
    A Wasteland Companion isn't a sonic tidal wave, per se - it's built on some of the folk troubadour's quietest, most intimate tunes in years. But where emotions are concerned, it pummels.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Koi No Yokan
    Koi No Yokan is not only the year's best metal-rock-space-pop album--it's also the finest Deftones album, front to back, to date.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    So This Is Goodbye
    You can’t ask for much more from a sophomore album.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Tron: Legacy
    We'll never know what goes on behind the helmets, but who cares? The sheer audacity of this action-movie-reboot soundtrack is its own reward.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    From Here We Go Sublime
    It feels endless — in a good way.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Hold On Now, Youngster
    Even Youngster’s more modest near-ballads, like 'My Year in Lists,' preserve the band’s boisterous style through outlandish lyrics (“You said, ‘Send me stationery to make me horny’/So I always write you letters in multi-colors”) and ecstatic delivery, making twee fare like long-distance relationships or working in a bookstore seem like serious pop paydirt.
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