The Independent (UK)'s Scores
- Music
For 2,161 reviews, this publication has graded:
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47% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.1 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: | The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We | |
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Lowest review score: | Donda |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,155 out of 2161
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Mixed: 977 out of 2161
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Negative: 29 out of 2161
2161
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
This revamp does at least serve as a reminder of the album’s untouchable greatness.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Oct 27, 2023
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- Critic Score
The album could have been shorter and catchier but fans will feel their cockles warmed and their pulses raised.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Oct 20, 2023
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- Critic Score
Although she’s got the makings of a great songwriter, she needs to push the sounds into sharper corners to give her narratives more distinctive definition. Because this album delivers many shades of grey but never the promised punch of black.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Oct 13, 2023
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A late-career Exile on Main Street? Their best since the Seventies? Arguably, but such hyperbole undeniably rests on the broad shoulders of the seven-minute “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”, the album’s spectacular spiritual crescendo.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2023
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It doesn’t pack quite the same melancholy, melodic punch as Carrie and Lowell. But it’s lovely to feel all the heavy stuff just breeze past you.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Oct 6, 2023
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On tracks such as “Daylight” and “Fear of Heights”, he strains to fit over the futuristic “rage” sound popularised by Playboi Carti. For better or worse, the album is at its best when Drake’s not there.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Oct 6, 2023
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There’s no standout tune on here to match Elgar’s “Nimrod”, of course, but there’s enough soupy seasonal sentimentality to fill the Royal Albert Hall.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 28, 2023
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- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 22, 2023
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- Critic Score
At various points across the album, Doja Cat channels her predecessors. There’s a gorgeous D’Angelo croon to “Often” and on the punchy “Demons”, she emulates Kendrick Lamar’s silky, dangerous tones. Notably, though, there are zero features on this record. Scarlet holds up all on its own.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 22, 2023
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It’s true that listening to The National often makes me feel I’m hearing ghosts of their previous songs. Old chords and thoughts stalk the halls of different songs. But it’s hard to resist their shimmering, shapeshifting companionship. And on Laugh Track the ghosts are floppier and friendlier than they’ve been in a while.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 19, 2023
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The subtle melodies on The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We can take their time to gleam through the murk. So give it time and space at night, when you’re alone, to allow its wild darkness to shine.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 15, 2023
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Blake clearly revels in the invention and freedom of the exploit. “Fall Back” comes across as a very organic, found-sound kind of ambient concoction, as if someone has worked out how to recycle DJ software out of firewood and hemp.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 7, 2023
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GUTS sees Rodrigo smash her way out of the confines of small screen life and arrive kicking and screaming into her real life. No more red lights or stop signs in her way.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 7, 2023
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She can do all sorts with those pipes and Hit Parade finds Murphy celebrating her many textures.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Sep 5, 2023
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Warmth rises consistently from I Told Them, with its easygoing mix of Afro pop, rap and R&B. You inhale it – soft, nourishing and moreish as if it’s steaming off freshly baked bread. There are moments of nutty chewiness, but mostly it’s stretches of pleasant, if airily bland, doughiness.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Aug 25, 2023
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On their third album Mommy, their blistering garage punk is finessed, their songwriting, sharp and sardonic.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Aug 25, 2023
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- Critic Score
There’s so much deliciously analogue texture to cherish here – all bakelite, mahogany, coconut shells and bougainvillea, with woodwind you could drink and percussion you could tuck behind your ear. It’s 2023’s hippest release. Get up, get down, kick back to it.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Aug 11, 2023
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- Critic Score
He goes straight for the pop-rock formulae. This would have worked better over a shorter span, but yawning as it does on the same mid-tempo pacing means that tracks blur to filler and some good lines get lost in the sludge. The lack of guest vocalists doesn’t help either.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Aug 3, 2023
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A soundtrack that is always fun, if undeniably erratic – Ronson can’t decide on a consistent tone or approach, instead ping-ponging between satire and celebration, sincerity and spoof.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jul 21, 2023
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If such bittersweet reflections came packaged on a solo Albarn release, they’d probably be set to sorrowful, detached, acousto-electronic sounds. But his old friends have alchemised those sentiments into songs that elevate his suburban tristesse into moments of sheer ecstasy.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jul 20, 2023
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You’re bound to find yourself dancing to it at some point over the summer. It’s safe. Still polished. Nothing special.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jul 17, 2023
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The past typically isn’t the most comfortable place to inhabit, but Swift embodies her younger self fully, imbuing these tracks with the same immediacy and emotional heft as she did all those years ago. Country twang or not.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jul 7, 2023
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I suspect that those who’ve always found Harvey a chore will find much to mock. But her fans will be all in for this mucky pagan whirl.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jul 6, 2023
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It’s an album that cools and shimmers its way through a delicious range of nuanced moods and subtly layered musical ideas. Delightful.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 30, 2023
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Some tracks on The Good Witch serve as incantations to manifest a better lover; others spit curses on past ones. All of them, though, convincingly set Peters up as the next musician to confidently march us into another sad girl summer.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 23, 2023
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- Critic Score
Admittedly, with 15 full-length tracks, the record does run a little long. That said, there’s something alluring about such an unapologetic and candid album.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 23, 2023
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There’s some filler. But melody-lite tracks such as “Sicily” and “Negative Space” bob by on their bass line grooves.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 16, 2023
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This new collection finds Horan moving towards the lusher production sound of his former bandmate Harry Styles. Laurel Canyon references mingle easily with Eighties synth-pop and Noughties guitar rock. It’s beautifully cohesive.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 8, 2023
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Paranoia, Angels, True Love is too long and rambling to bring Christine and the Queens any new fans, or much action on the singles chart. Its self-indulgence may even tire some existing fans. But if you give it time to grow its wings, it can really lift you up.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 8, 2023
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Clocking in at a scant 31 minutes, you could call The Age of Pleasure a quickie – but one that more than manages to scratch that itch.- The Independent (UK)
- Posted Jun 8, 2023
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