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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    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Angel
    All things considered, Angel probably lacks the invention and imagination that it’d really require in order to be counted amongst the genuine candidates for the business end of the year’s ‘best-of’ lists; the sheer stylistic versatility that they’ve demonstrated, though, in swapping the claustrophobia of Crawling Up the Stairs for Angel’s wide-open spaces, should be enough to ensure that they’ll be there or there abouts.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Midnight Sun
    By being unafraid to turn up the grit of the guitars and building the wall of sound above the foundations of their debut even higher, it manages to set a more recent benchmark for newer acts to reach, but is still similar to acts who have toyed with the genre before it’s more mainstream return.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Artificial Sweeteners
    Artificial Sweeteners doesn’t have a great deal of low-end to it, and struggles for genuine groove as a result.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Doom Abuse
    The Faint have finally hit upon the idea of letting all of those varying sounds simply collapse in on one another, only to arrive at an album that sounds the most like them, even if we’ve never quite heard it before.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Slow Phaser
    Just like her songwriting, her singing has developed and matured and with Slow Phaser Nicole Atkins has produced a record of much deeper confidence, one that will surely exist way beyond any of those physical losses she experienced at the hands of Hurricane Sandy. ​
    • 76 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Everyday Robots
    Modern life might still be rubbish, but it is rarely shown to be so beguilingly beautiful.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Shrink Dust
    Shrink Dust is still very much a CVG record, just one that you can cozy up with a little easier.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    9 Dead Alive
    9 Dead Alive has strength, beauty and often a spirit of engagement with the tenebrous. At times, dialogues areunresolved, yet despite (because of?) this, there is vital music-making from two uncompromising artists.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    May You Marry Rich
    May You Marry Rich is something all of its own; it has a sense of danger and a distorted outlook that is extremely alluring. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ryonen
    Man Forever harnesses the power of repetitive drumbeat-drills and the misdirection of some innocuous silence and droning vocals to create a sort of synesthesia, blurring the lines between each piece’s individual components with clarity as yet unheard within Man Forever’s canon.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    May
    Broken Twin may eventually necessitate more gusto and variation in tempo and dynamics should Romme want to further forge her plow forward. However, she intended for May to be a return to basics; with it, she has produced a compelling and painstakingly beautiful triumph of understatement.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Shriek
    Shriek is perhaps not what we expected from a Wye Oak record, but it’s blinding nonetheless, and, while destroying any preconceived notions of the band, lodges itself near the top--if not at the top--of their canon.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Diploid Love
    Dalle sounds as if she’s on autopilot for much of Diploid Love; she’s obviously got talent to spare, but she’ll need to provide herself with a sterner challenge than she has here if she’s to truly capitalise on it.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Embrace
    Despite the curveballs and their extended break from the biz, the band’s phasers remain set to festival-primed, punch-the-air anthemic bravado, a formula as solid today as it was in their early feted period.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Illmatic XX [20th Anniversary Edition]
    Like all great works of art, Illmatic isn’t just about the story it tells; it provides us with a fully-fledged character study of the genius behind it.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Indie Cindy
    All the components are there, Joey Santiago’s guitar work is still impressive, Lovering’s drumming is still vigorous, but the problem is Black Francis himself. The compelling songwriting that completed Pixies is no longer there.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Way and Color
    Every track here is distinct and complex. The Way and Color is not an album designed to blend into the background noise of your day. It really demands your time. It demands to be listened to.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Loom
    With Loom, Fear of Men have proven to be just as brilliantly complex as that natural wonder they so often invoke--deep, refreshing, mysterious, life-affirming.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hard Boiled Soft Boiled
    Hard Boiled Soft Boiled is an album of progress for Odonis Odonis, and while appearing to be a bit conceptual on the outside, it’s got one hell of a tasty centre.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The New Classic
    There’s no rap entitlement on display, and even brand-dropping doesn’t feel disingenuous or superficial, somehow--and, furthermore, she’s a grounded everyman rap icon. It’s endearing to no end.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Food
    Even when tracks are slowed down, momentum is kept up through classic, subtle funk elements and hints of gospel-music playing behind.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    We Are Catchers
    In many ways it’s a simple record, favouring technique over technology and to-the-point lyrics rather than those that miss the point completely.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Undress
    It’s emotional, it’s hooky and it’s loveable, and as a straight-up folk record for those who’ve never heard Hoop’s sounds before, it ticks a great many boxes. But, alas, as dazzling as the album regularly is, it is a fan’s record.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spiderland [Box Set]
    There’s a wealth of delicious treats held within this set to more than sate your curious appetite.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Effra Parade
    The record does get a little samey in parts, and at times feels like a soundtrack for another Juno or Away We Go. But the album fits a very particular aesthetic.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Minimum Rock N Roll
    It’s not as thrilling or elemental as his earlier work, but Minimum Rock N Roll is a hell of a lot of fun.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
    This record utilizes straightforward folk-rock with understated string and brass accompaniments, mostly stripped of the whimsical music box quirks of yesteryear.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Fear in Bliss
    The songwriting is there, as are great performances. But with a band like Horse Thief, the difference between in studio and on stage is a distraction that’s as unfortunate as it is glaring.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Amphetamine Ballads
    Amphetamine Ballads probably shouldn’t feel like quite so much of a breath of fresh air--there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that it wears its influences (or has them tattooed, probably) very much on its sleeve--but it carries a threatening urgency so often conspicuous by its absence nowadays.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With Light and With Love
    On With Light and With Love, Woods once again prove that they can casually strike the perfect balance between imaginative pop confections and untethered psychedelic jams.
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