The Line of Best Fit's Scores

  • Music
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:
4492 music reviews
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This definitely isn't for everyone, and the production and mixing is particularly un-inviting this time around. ... But the sheer tunefulness in the songs beneath it all is actually incredibly heartwarming, and something that deserves as much attention from the adventurous indie listener as it currently gets from the rock and metal gatekeeping elite.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It’s a real pleasure listening to the group traverse a new obstacle in working more with external artists. And while this album may lean on them too heavily, this is undoubtedly the same BROCKHAMPTON.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Being given the chance to reappraise the original tracklist is a joy, too. As part of this new release, it’s a tremendous pleasure to re-hear the artistry in “White Horse”, the restraint and delicate pull of “Change”, and the heartbursting strength of power ballad “You’re Not Sorry”. ... The only downside to this new edition is that it will be virtually identical to the original to casual listeners.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The record is certainly clever but feels stripped back in comparison to their 2017 debut, now relying mostly on pointed lyricism that deftly avoids pretension. It’s a move of maturation as they continue to shift further from their Portobello Road busking days of indie hits “Over and Out” and “Light Me Up”. In a strange way it feels as if Flyte have returned to their roots.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It’s equal parts silly, serious, camp, and on occasion mildly ridiculous, but remains wildly inventive throughout, it’s one hell of a party.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    If Neo was hyperpop’s answer to Squarepusher, Lei is our Autechre. IGLOOGHOST has managed to create sounds that feel completely organic and naturalistic yet hyper-digital at the same time - anchored on occasion by violin embellishments, dutifully adding a tragic grit to the songs, stopping them from drifting away. There's a real variety too
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Her earnestness makes for both difficult and comforting listening, as she vocalises some fairly morbid tales while offering comradeship through the strife.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Godspeed continue to perform with a bold and alluring command and unlike their peers, a majority of their output lands on a much wider scale.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Luckily, on a 19-track album, there are more gems than duds. Lovato is more willing to experiment than on previous releases, both through her music and her voice, which is more versatile than ever.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    With the totally triumphant Course In Fable, Walker has devised the ultimate two finger salute to anyone who has ever pinned him down as an artist chained to vintage inspirations: this exciting, moving, beautiful and complex album sounds only and exclusively like Ryley Walker music. Listen to it with the attention it so richly deserves, and rewards.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In the past decade or so, countless bands have been brought up from the same well of tightly-wound, expressionistic rock (Protomartyr, Preoccupations, Shame, IDLES, Shame, Fontaines DC), but none hold the same uniquely fascinating appeal that Dry Cleaning have. Play New Long Leg loud, and play it often.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Unfortunately, for an album that’s main theme is duplicity, it can’t help but feel a little one-dimensional (lyrically at least). ... However, Wasner’s sculpting of emotive music through sound and texture rather than key is special, and Head of Roses is by far her most successful rendering of it.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Promises matches the patience required for the project’s realization. Built on a sparse keyboard figure, the composition at the core of the collaboration can initially seem underwhelmingly slender, even repetitively monotonous. Repeated listens gradually reveal a different story.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Some of what emerges from this flood of archival activity is essential (unreleased 1974 album Homegrown, released June 2020), some of it is must-hear for even medium-level fans (Rust Bucket) and some is for die-hard fanatics only (Return to Greendale, a live rendition of 2003's tune-dodging rock opera that came out in November 2020). Young Shakespeare belongs firmly in the richly rewarding middle category.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sketchy is a bold album in so many ways but it’s also incredibly, comfortingly Tune-Yards: High energy, offbeat movements, looped vocals, powerful cries, incredible rhythms, a belief that fighting for what is right is the only option. It’s life affirming.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The album as a whole is a sure-fire sonic adventure. Allowing creativity to take the reins, Howard has reinvented himself with his latest installment through a blend of storytelling and evocative sonic fillers. Now, he is one of the UK’s most naturally talented songwriters, with an added sense of style.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    By the tenth track of verdant metaphors and leafy imagery, it's hard not to wish for the return of some of the angst which characterised The Antlers' earlier works, just to add a bit of bite. Still, with spring just around the corner, it's hard to be churlish. Green to Gold is a befitting album for lazy summer mornings.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    His creation of such an overt sense of nostalgia, grief, loss and mourning, whilst also making time to make statements on social justice issues is impressive.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    These are world-class songs, thoughtfully sequenced into an endlessly replayable record. DEACON is, quite clearly, a complex, rich and elegant collection that points at one very simple truth: love is central to a life well lived.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Twin Flames sees Postdata at his most carefree, in this sense – a split-tone successor to the tumultuous nature of its two preceding albums.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Owusu’s debut offering not only manages to deftly balance style with substance, but does so with a jubilance that gives as much reason to curl up your own most toothy grin. More importantly, it also offers moments of reflection.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Joy’s fluttering vocals reflect the ancient feeling of the folk genre, but the soaring chorus balances that feeling with a modernity, paving way for the more pop-leaning aspects of the record.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    With Great Spans of Muddy Time William Doyle has now become his own man, capable of producing work on an equal level to those who have come before. It’s exciting to think of what might come next.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Chemtrails leans further into the sounds of sunny, ‘70s California - summoning Judee Sill and Karen Dalton - and it’s watertight too: her first 45 minute album since her debut. Sonically, things sound gorgeous.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    There's no doubt that Spaceman offers guilt-free pop with a tinge of R&B. Unfortunately, this doesn't make up for the lack of depth and emotion which means, despite being Jonas’ strongest work yet, the album still runs the risk of being forgettable.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nubiyan Twist and their cast of collaborators are so adept at what they do. Bouncing off each other, and melding genres while still always feeling like a Nubiyan Twist record. Creating an album that’s satisfying in it’s playful and oh so funky breadth, if not it’s depth.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A concept album this is not, but the with the veins running deep with recurring themes, as a second album, Davies has managed to construct a weighty signifier of impassable change. ... Packing a punch musically; twisting and turning; immersing with piano interludes branching elegantly from the albums introductory roots (“All Shall Be Well”), the softest nature is held for later cut “5am” which feels as vulnerable as it does honest.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Won’t Care How You Remember Me marks the first true collaborative Tigers Jaw album. The result is a record that feels more emotionally nuanced than anything that’s come before it, and as such feels richer, and lusher than Spin, despite harbouring thinner production qualities.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Echo is an offering with a success that can be judged in the way it evokes such imagery, notwithstanding the fact it wears its influences so visibly.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Poster Girl excels in its creativity, riffing on familiar pop music tropes to make fun and surprising tracks.