The Skinny's Scores

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For 1,576 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Aa
Lowest review score: 20 Heartworms
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,069 out of 1576
  2. Mixed: 502 out of 1576
  3. Negative: 5 out of 1576
1576 music reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    End of the Day
    As a standalone record, End of the Day does not always justify its existence. Some tracks are simply too empty, leaving a noticeable divide between audience and artist. It takes a concerted effort to listen to the album as a single track, and it perhaps would be best enjoyed alongside the film it was first written to accompany.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Throws
    The spoken-word closer Under the Ice--an eerie tale of wintery metamorphosis, albatrosses and nudity--is a step dangerously close to the edge, but the orchestral backing is cinematic enough to round out this record of overblown emotion and chilling natural phenomena.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Highway Hypnosis
    While brevity has consistently been a feature of Moolchan’s work, here the relatively short song lengths mean that some tracks can feel somewhat intangible, ending before they seem to be getting into their stride.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Youngish American
    Some tracks, like Pretty Good WiFi, fail to hit the spot leaving the singer somewhat exposed at times. Still, with his parent band said to be writing album number four, it won’t hurt to add another string to the bow.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Summer of '13
    For any listener beholden to folk-aligned contemplation behind the rest of the similarly-monikered canon, Summer of ’13 is an anomalous curio, bringing to mind an ‘80s hit not mentioned here: Eddy Grant’s I Don’t Wanna Dance.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Zeppelin Over China
    There is nothing necessarily new offered here in the way of direction or sound, however Zeppelin Over China adds a suitable chapter to the story of Robert Pollard, who recently celebrated releasing a mind-blowing 100 albums over the course of his career in various projects.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Sun Will Come Up, The Seasons Will Change
    While it may not be the collection of hits we were hoping for, The Sun Will Come Up, The Seasons Will Change is a little like a compilation of musical diary entries sprinkled with newly learnt wisdom: it’s fun, it’s new, and it’s Nesbitt's coming-of-age moment.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    137 Avenue Kaniama
    Baloji often presents a grand, cinematic vision here that can be thrilling in short bursts. Taken as a whole though, the sheer scale of 137 Avenue Kaniama can be a bit exhausting.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Black Star
    It’s strange then that in its opening stages it feels so lifeless. .... Then there’s the one-two of immaculate singles Girlie-Pop! and S.M.O., and it’s like the record has put its finger in a plug socket.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Abysmal Thoughts
    The overall charm is undeniable, even if it does feel very familiar.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fate & Alcohol
    Familiarity – and earnestness – is, however, what Japandroids do expertly at their most locked in. It’s also been the heaviest load for their music to bear, the easiest way to knock them down.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Box Set #4: Curated by Erykah Badu [Box Set]
    Badu collects good work, but the second half of the collection trails off; the whole doesn’t stand up to sustained listening without herbal aids (which, to her credit, Badu recommends).
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Deap Lips
    Deap Lips works best when Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd are in the background, as messy closer There Is Know Right There Is Know Wrong proves, but the fact that they know when to keep themselves there suggests they’ve learned lessons from With a Little Help from My Fwends. An intriguing diversion.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Apple Drop
    Liars' tenth album is a spotty affair with showy highs (Sekwar, The Start), pulpy mediocrity (From What the Never Was, My Pulse to Ponder) and enigmatic experiments (Acid Crop, Leisure War).
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cracker Island
    It’s all here, and though it may not reach the dizzying, if somewhat bloated, heights of 2017’s Humanz, it still slaps.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Strangers
    Nadler's work is ultimately less storied than Del Rey's and too under-dramatised to really connect, to really hurt.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Damned Devotion
    Damned Devotion is not an album you can play once and get a grip on. She remains sultry, she remains a late night proposition; this is music geared for the come down, but for all that there is reinvigoration here.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ulfilas' Alphabet
    Experimentations galore, Sundara Karma’s second album is one that works well, as tracks blend into each other despite jarring soundscapes. But there is no track that appears a clear standout, and therein lies the failing within an otherwise bold record, as no one track roots you in your place wanting more.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Precipice
    It was just a few years ago where her calling card was that distinctive wailing falsetto, one that could crash into a ragged growl in a moment's notice. It's noticeably absent on a record being held from anonymity by a single safeguard.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Silence Is Loud
    Unfortunately, it seems like the record's runtime was set before material was allotted to the space, unleashing a high-octane sugar rush in a space fit to dilute it into the unbearableness of being palatable. There are worse things.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Water
    Her voice is at times limited, with melodies in the second half of the record becoming indistinct. But when it works, Lotic is at the height of her powers.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Flux
    Ultimately, Flux is an elegant yet frustrating album: meticulously shaped, impeccably polished yet feeling distinctly like the product of conceptual indifference at best.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Aftering
    While Aftering doesn’t have the consistency of Changer, it is urgent and incisive when it wants to be and serves as further proof of Thomas’ talents.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Diagrams
    Syrian Plains will get heads banging, while John is more likely to lead the dancing--and is the most joyful track on this generally bleak, occasionally repetitive album.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Versions
    While tracks like Woman are meant to be sombre (and ANOHNI is the perfect artist to deliver this), several of the featured artists have attempted to transpose Cherry’s tongue-in-cheek asides into sincere parts of the melody and in doing so have undercut the fun of the songs.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    LOTTO
    The record is at its best when it retains the sense of adventure that has defined their earlier work.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Unpeeled [Live]
    Unpeeled’s problem is that it is too long at 21 tracks, and the band’s new sound only really works on some of their material. Their older work simply doesn’t benefit in the same way.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    in|FLUX
    Staying on theme for 40 uninterrupted minutes leaves you craving some lyrics, even a scrap, that make contact with the wider world.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Revelations
    While it may be far slimmer than Ratchet musically, Revelations fills that gap with earnest, heartfelt emotion.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Superbloom
    Altogether, it has the faintly dispiriting sheen of something commissioned by its own success. Ware is deft enough that the album still plays best when it coalesces her 2010s crooner poise with the 2020s reassertion of her pop bona fides.
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