The Independent (UK)'s Scores

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For 2,310 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 48% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 Middle Of Nowhere
Lowest review score: 0 Donda
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,261 out of 2310
  2. Mixed: 1,019 out of 2310
  3. Negative: 30 out of 2310
2310 music reviews
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    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    AIM
    Some of the backing tracks have novelty appeal--the cartoonish, kazoo-like loop of “Bird Song”, the Qawwali elisions percolating through the Zayn Malik duet “Freedun”--but the most striking work here is her virtually acappella treatment of “Jump In”, with just a sparse beat beneath her rhythmic vocal repetitions.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Soul 2
    while Seal's voice is a natural fit, it's hard to discern what these versions add, given their general faithfulness to the originals.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
    It’s both mesmerically appealing and cacophonously repellent, a paradoxical blend repeated in the shrill, thrumming monotony of “Austerity Blues”.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Throws
    The 10 songs of this debut album are all about character, change and companionship, from various angles.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Revelation, Pt. 2: The Fruit of Life
    The album only develops a steely ragga rasp in the last few tracks, when the hometown likes of Bounty Killer, Capleton and Sizzla make their presence felt.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Who Cares?
    Sweet and frothy. Probably still a little coffee shop. But not Starbucks, more the soundtrack to your local quirky independent caffeinator.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Here
    Six years on from the last Teenage Fanclub album, not much seems to have changed.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Xscape
    His talent survives in these songs. So does its fatal fracture.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jeff Bridges
    It's all tastefully arranged.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    At the BBC [Live]
    The erosion of control is palpable as the show progresses, though it's hard to tell whether it's due to damage or just boredom.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    EP
    Though inspired by Grace Jones's new-wave disco torch-songs, the results are markedly dissimilar.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Paranormal
    Musically, you know what to expect when Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin join forces: metal turmoil, churning beats and slashing guitar flourishes, letting up only for Ezrin to indulge his Pink Floyd heritage with the ponderous “The Sound Of A”, with its apt message, “Meaningless noise is everybody’s toys”. Quite.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Making Mirrors
    Has the dense, occasionally cluttered manner of the obsessive bedroom producer.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wilderness
    Wilderness uses wildlife traits as jumping-off points for enigmatic tales in typical Handsome Family manner.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    True Meanings
    A record with some rich layers and embellishments, but you sense that the excess of outside influence might be making up for something.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tomboy
    It's a gentle, woozy mood-scape in which nostalgia for the candyfloss summers of childhood shades imperceptibly into the sweet melancholy of encroaching autumn.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Unseen In Between
    Gunn has created a work of quiet, understated charm. But as far as helping him break out as a distinctive artist, it’s less likely to make its listener sit up and pay attention than lean back and close their eyes.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Symphonica
    Competently organised and confidently delivered, it’s an engaging set, but ultimately, like all live albums, essentially a souvenir.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Red Barked Tree
    This is just another competent rock record in hock to the band Wire used to be.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Doggumentary
    While a dozen singles will probably be lifted from Doggumentary, as an album experience it's an utter dogg's breakfast – as might be expected from a project that credits no fewer than 20 different producers and 35 engineers.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Live Blood
    There are successes here... but the overall effect can be gruelling.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Weird!
    Weird!’s eclecticism frequently threatens to overwhelm. ... Where Yungblud is consistent is his lyrics.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
    In a year already host to some brilliant albums, it seems tired and dated.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One People One World
    It’s always been hard to translate the irresistible propulsion of Femi Kuti’s live shows into a comparably effective studio realisation, but with One People One World he makes a decent stab.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    II
    The trio's manipulation of euphoric rave dynamics on tracks like “Therapy” brings a fresh approach to a tried-and-tested form.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Babelsberg
    Ten tracks of seemingly upbeat alt-pop, Babelsberg is a record that on the outside appears bright and breezy, bordering almost on the whimsical. Dig deeper however, and it quickly begins to reveal itself as a wryly written document of current social and political climates.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    In a Mood
    The results range from the soothing yacht-rock soul of “Don’t Believe” to the soft, weightless folk-soul momentum of “I Would”, which, with its acoustic guitar arpeggios tinted with strings, resembles an outtake from Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Swings Both Ways
    It's the original tracks that bring a new life to the form, while the standards--routine duets of "I Wanna Be Like You" and "Dream a Little Dream" with Olly Murs and Lily Allen, and a bland "Puttin' on the Ritz"-- sound like filler.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Here We Rest
    Musically, the 400 Unit is equally at home on Little Feat-style swamp-funk, and more countrified collations of fiddle and mandolin.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    How the West Was Won
    Former Only Ones frontman Peter Perrett sounds as languidly wasted as ever on How The West Was Won, though thankfully it’s the kind of wasted that demands the devotion of his sons, both involved in this solo debut, and sparks insights and locutions that enable him to make sense of his life.
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