The Line of Best Fit's Scores

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For 4,492 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 32% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 77
Highest review score: 100 Adore Life
Lowest review score: 20 143
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,038 out of 4492
  2. Mixed: 437 out of 4492
  3. Negative: 17 out of 4492
4492 music reviews
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    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Dose Your Dreams
    Fucked Up’s personal narrative draws an uncanny parallel with that of Dose Your Dreams. In creating a tale of dreaming big and clinging on to hope they are living out their own script, refusing to be bound or compromise in the creation of their art. The importance of dreams cannot be understated.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    C'est La Vie
    C’est La Vie once again finds Houck creating sumptuous soundscapes of scorched Americana that range from slow burning laments to tipsy waltzes, but this time around with a renewed flow and finesse.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Abysskiss
    In ten aptly small songs Adrianne evokes our ability to vanish at the feet of nature, creating a black hole all of her own that’s both comforting and suffocating.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Obey
    The album proves that Exploded View are at their best when they refuse to be constrained by reality, to listen to consensus or to obey, and instead, exist in the dazzling reverie of their collective dream.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Konoyo
    As harrowing and malevolent as it occasionally is, it also serves as a feasible theory that even during one’s search for restoration and tranquility, existence isn’t symmetrical; it’s lop-sided and a belief that Hecker can unknowingly abide to--that even within the bounds of beauty, there will always be pockets of chaos.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Autobiography
    Humble though she may be, Jlin is quickly becoming a staple within an esteemed circle of experimental, inter-disciplinary creators, with this score representing a vital step forward.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Battle Lines
    Their latest album Battle Lines is a potent reminder of the power of the combination of hard rhythm, electronic experimentation, and hard-hitting lyrics.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    King of Cowards
    Not only is King of Cowards Pigs’ best release, the promise of their previous work fulfilled; in a year of hip hop and R&B dominating charts and critics’ minds alike, it’s probably also the best time you’re likely to have with a rock album in 2018.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    For My Crimes
    Far from showing signs of slowing down, Nadler sounds more focussed here than ever, continuing to challenge herself and evolve, with her eyes fixed firmly on the horizon.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Course of the Satellite
    The Liverpool five-piece let the album form organically and in doing so have released a sharp, shimmering and versatile album.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Iridescence
    The more you listen, the more intricacies you notice. The more you listen, the more you realise just how defining this record will be for the future of Brockhampton.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos
    ["Atropos"] (and the record as a whole) is a testament to the enduring potential of the old, mythical Woodstock tradition of a band setting up in a room (or a basement) and waiting for inspiration to strike.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Infinite Moment
    Since the very beginning of his debut, From Here We Go Sublime, Willner has remained a top-tier stalwart and in one grand, sweeping gesture secures the reality of being one of the very few who continually sound like no one else while expertly giving little in return.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    East Atlanta Love Letter
    6LACK isn't doing anything new. But he is doing it better than everyone else. With East Atlanta Love Letter, the artist has trumped his opponents and influences with a fragile grace and solid talent for songwriting, echoing that of our most decorated balladeers.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Art of Pretending to Swim
    This is a songwriter who has mastered his craft and now has applied a frivolity to his record and the outcome is the most essential release to date.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beak 3
    At its best, >>> retains the weirdness but manages to staple it to some fairly colossal tunes, with an emphasis on huge grooves that nods towards Barrow’s background as a drummer.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gave in Rest
    This is an album that has developed from careful study of, and attention to, how sacred music could define time and enrapture the spirit in past ages; and how it still offers up its potential to a twenty-first century sensibility when treated with technology and with reverential respect.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pastoral
    The wonder here is that Bernholz manages to combine the contrasting elements of modern technology and Old England in a way which is both meaningful and new.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Chris
    Like Chris’ persona, the album is lean, unashamedly self-aggrandising and thrillingly audacious. Here, pop is a transformative power. Subverting male privilege to her own advantage, Chris has built an album of tunes that could not only top charts, but also change worlds.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Heart Head West
    On her debut LP, Lola Kirke offers up an impressive set of songs, putting her own spin on the ‘70s rock and 21st century country for which her family name is famous.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Mind Makes Noises
    These young Mancunians have perfected what makes pop such an addictive, essential genre, and My Mind Makes Noises is both immediate and idiosyncratic. Pale Waves’ presence may be gloomy, but their songwriting and ambition could not be brighter.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Collapse [EP]
    Collapse isn’t accessible per se, but it is a release which perfectly reflects the finest elements of Richard James’ oeuvre. It is a record liberated from convention, unafraid of failure and confident in its depth.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    For Ever
    In For Ever, J and T have taken their ability of animating moments in life, and have looked inward, applying it to their fresh heartbreak. Littered all round there’s signs and sounds of love’s wreckage.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Double Negative
    An album rich in darkness and in texture, finding Low in experimental sublimity, further reminding us that their range has only gotten exceptionally larger and better over time.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shelly's on Zenn-La
    Shelley’s on Zenn-La is renewed proof of Coates’ gift for flexing considerable technological and musical muscle without ever becoming alienating. For all talk of its complexity and Coates’ varied background this is, simply, a generous and fascinating album that’s difficult to stay away from.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    re:member
    Ultimately, Re:member succeeds through the brilliance of its composer’s craftsmanship. The technological advances incorporated are, if not incidental, then very much secondary to an outstandingly humane creativity so consistently in evidence here.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This Behavior
    Sticking to their core tenets, This Behavior is perhaps the record where ADULT. get the weirdest and the most lost, taking their aggressive electronic soundscapes to a plain more immersive and menacing than they’ve ever been before.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Great Thunder [EP]
    Breathing new life into a set of songs that could have otherwise been tragically forgotten.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deaths
    The violence and sheer horror of Deaths is not only immensely enjoyable, but utterly necessary.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Language
    Language is satisfyingly expansive, exploring the connection between communication and physicality in contemporary queer relationships.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Render Another Ugly Method
    Things are once again totally captivating, though not in a daze-y, dream-like way; rather because this album demands your attention through the sheer scale, sprawl and scope of it.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bodied
    In embracing a formlessness, he may have found a new, truer form for his work. In making this album, he has in fact created a world; perhaps not one you would want to inhabit, but one inspiring awe and dread in equal measure.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kingdoms in Colour
    Kingdoms In Colour is an album that lingers with you even once it has finished; leaving an afterglow of warmth on everyone it touches.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    And Nothing Hurt
    This being a Spiritualized record, you should know exactly what to expect. ... The only minor gripe that you could have with the project is that it’s nowhere near as vital as Pierce’s recent collaborative record with Föllakzoid.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    New Hymn to Freedom
    The result is that rarest of things: an improvised album that sounds so perfect, you’d think it was all planned.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Magus
    Magus maneuvres its songs in such a fashion and that patience and allowance for their gradual build shows their skillset as a group with a revering quality, thus placing Magus in the running for one of this year’s most auspicious metal releases
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kamikaze
    Kamikaze is the sound of Eminem with his back against the wall, and this has led to some of his most invigorated writing in years--albeit with some troubling lyrical results. Whether he'll be able to maintain this level of energy into his next project is up for debate; for now though, any inspiration is promising.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Until The Lights Fade
    It’s a considered, thoughtfully constructed record that adheres to a stylish, seductive aesthetic.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    KIN [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
    KIN is the uncommon soundtrack that doesn’t require any context other than its own to command more than passive attention.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bloom
    Bloom is an exceptional pop album, but maybe more importantly it’s a beacon for queer people who struggle to reconcile our neuroses--societal and personal--with our potential for joy and love.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hunter
    Three excellent albums in, Calvi has produced her most complex work to date.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Joy As an Act of Resistance
    IDLES aren’t being macho or destructive in suggesting that we might have to tear it all down and start again if we’re going to truly come together. This is the jarring sound of sensitivity in a new age of chaos.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Negro Swan
    The past few years have seen Dev Hynes become one of the most prominent, important voices in pop. Negro Swan builds upon this legacy.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Go to School
    Go to School is an artistic statement on a grand scale, and it cements their reputation as world-class songwriters. It’s a once-in-a-generation epic.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Performance
    Performance is, thankfully, anachronistic to the point of absurdity--if you close your eyes anywhere in this record, you’ll be transported to somewhere deep in the '70s, where there are no genres because nobody really cares about that kind of nonsense.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Woman Worldwide
    For all of its positives there is the leftover taste that this is an album that will please die-hard fans, but will ultimately leave those outside of that pondering if it was really needed.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Don't Look Away
    If the album’s mind is fixed on a future world, it is an open-ended one. The tendency at this point might be to assume that all imagined futures are dystopian, but the spirit of Don’t Look Away and the sum of the pictures and story fragments Tucker has strung together in the record are reflected in its title: the good, the bad, the beauty, the fear...don’t look away from any of it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Marauder
    Like every Interpol record, listening to Marauder is a draining experience for the right reasons. Their sound is designed to deflate, to alienate, to offer no resolution, to poke and prod at your most depressive tendencies.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    The Long Walk
    While touching briefly on new ground, The Long Walk is generally what you’d expect it to be, but with minor variations alongside the engrossing quality that make Uniform so distinct to begin with. It’s nothing too far off from Uniform’s standard layout, but right now it shows them precisely where they should be as a young band.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 95 Critic Score
    At Weddings
    Guarded and beautifully measured, At Weddings has an absorbingly intimate quality.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Sweetener
    Keeping the ratting trap beats across most of the tracks keeps the record bang up to date, but adding in flourishes of experimental instrumentation sees Ariana going so much further.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tangerine Reef
    I have no doubt that Tangerine Reef will be a remarkable experience when paired with its visual stimuli, but without it, it is an album hard to recommend.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Thank You for Today
    You have Gibbard’s forlorn yet criticising voice, the personal yet accessible lyrics, the melodic yet clashing guitars, which all create an incredibly atmospheric record, brimming with nostalgia, defeat--and hope.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Acts Of Fear And Love
    They're far more adept at widening our eyes than most realise, with a vicious soundtrack to boot. This pair are one of the most exciting and forward-charging rock bands currently active.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stranger Today
    They’ve slowly yet surely gathered momentum and a self-assurance which can be heard in abundance on the record: closer “Boring” is proof that Our Girl are truly in their finest form, producing a debut that is anything but.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Time
    Time has its highs and its lows. It’s an album that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The lyrics may be tongue-in-cheek, but the craftsmanship of each song is nothing to smirk at.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Diet
    The songs are beautifully crafted, shimmering with an alluring magic and aura, existing in their own time and space.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Be the Cowboy
    There's an outlaw spirit to this record: when shit happens you just gotta get back on the saddle.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Smote Reverser
    Less thematic or cohesive than other records, Smote Reverser is, quite deliberately, a record that sounds like an endless stream-of-consciousness, with no underlying nucleus that pulls it all together. Any of these tracks, each so distinct from the others, could potentially hold the charm of the record.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Queen
    Queen includes 19 tracks, which some might consider to be too long for an album. But Minaj avoids boring her listeners by changing up her flow and the atomosphere of each track.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Ben Khan
    It will take you places. Places that don’t feel like they exist in our dimension, on our plain. This all just feels so brilliantly different and new; a very special debut indeed.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nearer My God
    There are no bad songs on the record, just ones in which fewer ideas work.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Astroworld
    Scott could have easily made another distorted, debaucherous project like his previous two albums, but by emphasizing his vocal performances and finding the best middle ground he ever has with his bevy of superstar collaborators, he’s made Astroworld a theme park worth revisiting whether you came in as a stan or a skeptic.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    hej!
    Hej! marks an evolution for felicita and, by extension, PC Music. It is a big twist away from tongue in cheek nature for which they are at times dismissed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Devotion
    Tirzah has made 11 raw, honest, and beautifully unusual pop songs that will remain with you whether you like it or not, bringing you back time and time again, motivated by your devotion to this record.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Wide Awake
    Thankfully, despite everybody and their dog comparing Baxter to legendary musicians and writers, he has managed to make an album that not only does justice to those comparisons, but actually warrants them.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Physical
    To its credit, a lot of the tracks on Physical get to the point at a much earlier stage in their development than they would have done on a FF record, but the creeping intensity of tracks like “Two Different Ways” or “Dial Me In” is missed as a result.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread
    Equal parts easygoing and eternally troubled, upbeat and melancholy, silly and profound, Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread certainly sounds like the real thing, and it’s bound to leave you feeling pretty good indeed.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Qualm
    With Qualm, Hauff has further enhanced her reputation as a vital voice in contemporary dance music.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Gate of Grief
    At 14 tracks long, Gate Of Grief is a long listen and, in truth, a lot of it sounds the same. But after a while those icy beats and warped vocals begin to sound more like a bony, deathlike finger tapping into our instinctive fears. If White Ring are hoping they can exorcise the past and begin a revived new chapter, this is a decent effort.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Phantastic Ferniture
    Phantastic Ferniture is pumped with enough care-free energy and catchy pop hooks to brighten up the darkest of days.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Kill the Lights
    Kill The Lights is one of the best albums to come out so far this year, and you can listen to it four times in an hour and still not be bored. That’s great songwriting.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Basic Volume
    Breathtaking debut album. ... Basic Volume is one of the most cohesive and meticulously thought-through albums of the year.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Harlan & Alondra
    2018 is barely halfway through, but Harlan & Alondra will have to be crowbarred out of end-of-year lists come December. An absolute triumph.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Family Portrait
    While it might sometimes lose that heart, when it rediscovers its path again, it becomes an incredibly immersive and exciting album.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Hive Mind
    It all results in a moreish stew of hazy, swooning R&B that’s practically impossible to resist. Welcome to the party. Grab a drink and let’s watch the world go by.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Arrhythmia
    Spacious but awash with invention, Arrhythmia will be easily overlooked by many, but cherished by those that take the time to live with, and in, it for a while.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lamp Lit Prose
    It’s an overdose of things that would, individually, be fantastic, but are made lesser by their combination.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Palo Santo
    An album that sees Years & Years revisit the musical, lyrical and aesthetic concerns of their debut and refresh them with unprecedented confidence and self-knowledge.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sculptor
    Ultimately, the album repays careful and repeated attention, its varied qualities cohering effectively with a measured sense of control that, simultaneously, offers positive indications of the considerable potential for future even more diverse arrangements.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
    While Deafheaven do their best to coalesce their efforts on OCHL, it’s the bigger moments that resonate most satisfyingly. It’s not perfect, but on this evidence, the Cali-based group are still one of today’s most stimulating metal bands.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album
    It’s a most welcome and inevitably stunning missing chapter from one of jazz’s finest quartet.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    High As Hope
    Vulnerability is presented here as strength, where before it’s been masked in metaphor. It’s not that Welch isn’t scared any more; it’s that she’s made her peace with that, and in turn one of her strongest records to date.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Year Of The Snitch
    To put it simply, Death Grips have never been afraid of pushing ever boundary around them, and Year Of The Snitch is no different.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Now Now
    It’s no Plastic Beach, but, by ditching the often hackneyed attempts to stay relevant that verged on self-parody and digging into their identity and other existential fears, Gorillaz have demonstrated that they still have the power to feel vital.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    I'm All Ears
    Reflecting Walton and Hollingworth’s growth and maturation over a period of approximately two years, it is a creative and infectious record, which after repeat listens, moves from being intriguing to simply irresistible.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bad Witch
    This is NIN revitalised with Reznor’s thirst for chaos truly quenched.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Uniform Distortion
    Uniform Distortion may be the most straightforward sounding a set of Jim James songs has ever released, but they’ve somehow absorbed the distortion of today’s world and turned it into something we can all make sense of, and in which we can seek some solace.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Shelter
    It becomes powerful when given proper care and attention.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Magic Gone
    Lotz knows how to craft her work, using every moment to her advantage resulting in an album that’s an absolute indie-emo masterpiece.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Heaven & Earth
    This is a record that throbs and vibrates with an infectious pulse even when the instrumentalists aim for the outer reaches of lightning-speed look-at-me flurries of virtuoso showing-off.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
    “It’s Okay To Cry,” “Ponyboy,” and “Faceshopping,” open the album in that order balancing SOPHIE’s pop instincts with her weirder ones. “Faceshopping” is a highlight, both visceral and compulsively listenable, using Photoshop as a metaphor for becoming more comfortable with her body.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Mental Wounds Not Healing
    Mental Wounds is a spectacular display of two bands continuing to push expectations and who’re willing to be the flagbearers for revision.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Nothing Is Still
    Each track is like a new stride upon their voyage, each sound a new experience or emotion.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Mien
    Liberated from certain commercial expectations of their primary bands, MIEN have made an album that experiments freely without sacrificing broader appeal.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Call the Comet
    Call the Comet finds Marr in his element, making articulate, direct rock ‘n’ roll with an ultimately optimistic sense of purpose.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Two Parts Together
    Two Parts Together could be used to reference both dualities present here, that of the physical/metaphysical and the loud/quiet dynamic to Big Ups’ sound. Regardless of which one you choose, the band balance both almost to perfection, presenting both a musical and thematic journey that comes together to create a singular exhilarating experience.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ecstatic Arrow
    Ecstatic Arrow is frank in its representation of the struggles of women creators, but balances its anger with miraculous joy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    No Shame
    This record comes four years after Sheezus, and the time and space Lily has taken out has created a masterpiece. Ballads stand side by side with dance beats; rappers, dancehall and afrobeat singers feature alongside production from Mark Ronson, Ezra Koenig and Fryars--yet it all comes together into a smooth and succinct tale of finding your identity after a crisis.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Kids See Ghosts
    For the most part in fact, the album’s production is curated with Cudi in mind, a sonic bag of treats for those who vibe to the gloomy, celestial exploration of his early material as well as the rap rock stylings he has demonstrated since. ... Whereas the beats on ye sounded rushed and underdeveloped, the beats on KSG have some meat on ’em, crafting a sonic mood board that evokes thoughts of psilocybin mushroom trips, spiritual healing and yes, ghosts.
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