The Skinny's Scores

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For 1,575 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: 1,068 out of 1575
  2. Mixed: 502 out of 1575
  3. Negative: 5 out of 1575
1575 music reviews
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    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wilderness
    Unlikely as it is to bust them out of the indie ghettoes, Coldharbourstores’ unexpected return is a very lovely thing indeed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    In Between
    Between its moderate tempos and spartan production, In Between seems designed to turn as few heads as possible and at first even comes across a tad glum. ... With a little patience though, its sunnier side shines through. All the hallmarks of The Feelies' sound are present, but in a pleasantly subdued state.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Burning the Threshold
    A memorable addition to Chasny’s admirable body of work.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crystal Fairy
    It’s the Le Butcherettes vocalist’s sheer power that makes Crystal Fairy feel less like a Melvins offshoot and more like its own entity.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Drogas Light
    In what should have been a return to form for Lupe Fiasco, Drogas Light falls short, instead feeling too rushed and confused to make for any kind of anticipation for the rest of the trilogy that is still to come.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cruel Optimism
    It’s invigorating and profound, mapping a sonic current which traverses moments of gently unfolding beauty (The Quietest Shore) and even brassy grandiosity (particularly on the widescreen projections of Exquisite Human Microphone).
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Memories Are Now
    Memories Are Now is a gorgeously delivered elegy to heartbreak and loss; powerful, perfectly executed songs to bring comfort and strength to the weary, broken and scorned.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Big Balloon
    The result is less a stylistic refresh than a confident reaffirmation of their combined output up until now.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Life Will See You Now
    Luckily, the finished product is articulate and bubbling with energy and positivity--much like Lekman himself.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Human
    Sure, Graham’s voice is powerful; not Levi Stubbs powerful, perhaps, but muscular and versatile nonetheless. It’s a shame, though, that even its most melismatic hints of adventure feel carefully rehearsed; slickly produced beyond any sense of risk or catharsis.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    New Spirit
    Woozy synth chords imbue the scene with a perverse mundanity that feels all too familar. At its best, New Spirit wallows in this kind of everyday helplessness.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Why Love Now
    Happily, this follow-up finds them operating at a similarly scintillating capacity, grinding down on the ugliness buried in the mundanity of modern life and crushing it into the wreckage of metal and post-punk.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sick Scenes
    Sick Scenes sees LC! offering up a liberating set of songs about odious city hipsters, youthful nostalgia and future anxiety, wrapped up in the seven-piece’s usual glorious flurry of chipper riffs and witty lyricisms.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Occult Architecture, Vol. 1
    What is surprising is how this darker direction unearths a hitherto unearthed pop sensibility in Moon Duo with songs like White Rose and Will of the Devil recalling the gothic melodies of Siouxsie and the Banshees or The Cure at their gloomy best while Creepin’ skips along like something off The Strokes’ first album.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Process
    Process is an exercise in catharsis, a deep breath in that lays Sampha’s soul bare through gorgeous vignettes of his life. He worries, he regrets, he aches. He’s human.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Garden of Ashes
    By the time you hit Coldblooded The Return, you can't help but feel you've been on a journey in the company of someone a little more well-travelled. You've had a time. And the best thing about it is that you can take that journey again any damn time you feel like it.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tourist in This Town
    Allison’s debut Tourist in This Town shows she certainly has the potential to go it alone too, provided it’s on her own terms.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Strike a Match
    Dependent on its rich texture and brought to life by the depth of the duo’s musicianship, this is an intriguing and deeply satisfying debut.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Ty Segall (2017)
    Not only are Ty Segall fans likely to be pressing this on people for the next few months, it also might be just about the best album he’s put his own name to.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pas Pire Pop, I Love You So Much
    In short, they make experimental rock sound so easy when the reality is anything but.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hey Mr Ferryman
    On Hey Mr Ferryman, Eitzel no longer exudes such a colossal sense of searing introspection; perhaps he has finally reconciled with himself and, in Butler, has found the perfect foil to achieve this harmony.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lemon Memory
    Menace Beach gain a lot from the distinctive nasal vocal style of former Komakino frontman Ryan Needham, and when he becomes largely absent the record suffers as a result. ... But when they strike gold, they hit it hard.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Modern Ruin
    The album is chock full of thundering tunes and monster riffage. It might be that is all you need. Unfortunately, though, Carter has a tendency to call on his inner Billy Idol when he should be channelling Ian MacKaye (see Wild Flowers).
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Migration
    Migration is the acid test for electronic music in 2017, and sets a standard that will be undeniably difficult to beat, let alone match.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    I See You
    The xx are moving forward, but they don’t know quite where they’re headed.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Life Without Sound
    While bracing throwbacks, they serve to obscure his new insights. Baldi’s certainly matured; all he needs now is for his music to catch up.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Closure
    It’s Johnson’s voice that takes centre stage, however (clear, plaintive and inviting, as though the ghost of Grant McLennan had dropped by to give some pointers), and as he explores the concept of closure through relationship breakdowns--painting the very notion as mythical, unattainable--you ponder why the time is apparently right for Piano Magic to call it quits.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Iris [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
    The resulting album feels like an exercise in understatement, and contextually it’s difficult to know whether it’s a case of self-restraint or a situation in which the shackles are being enforced.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Future Politics
    On Future Politics we find Austra revolving on the spot, caught in a flattering beam of light but still hovering on the brink of taking those first, brave steps towards a radical utopia.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oczy Mlody
    Ok, some of their sillier excesses may jar ever so slightly (unicorns, faeries, witches, wizards and frogs with demon eyes can all be found here, so some strapping yourself in may be required) and fans may well feel the absence of a true pop banger à la Race For The Prize or She Don’t Use Jelly. In every other aspect, however, this is The Flaming Lips on top of their game: refracting the weirdness of the world through a youthful sense of awe and wonder.
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