Critics give The Catastrophist a B-Side Breakdown of 70 (C-), from 9 reviews at outlets we track. Scores run 50 to 85.
By the numbers: Tortoise's best-reviewed album here since Beacons of Ancestorship (2009).
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The A.V. Club via Wikipediaby Noel Murray | B | 85 | 2022 | “The A.V. Club digs deep into film, TV, music, games, books and more.” |
| Consequence via Wikipediaby Adam Kivel | B- | 81 | 2016 | “A worthy and worthwhile addition to the innovative band's discography.” |
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Heather Phares | 4/5 | 80 | ||
| Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby Will Hermes | 3.5/5 | 70 | 2016 | “Check out our album review of Artist's The Catastrophist on Rolling Stone.com.” |
| PopMatters via Wikipediaby Colin Fitzgerald | 7/10 | 70 | 2016 | “After the rather expeditious pace with which the band released music in their mid-’90s heydey up into the early 2000s, it has taken Tortoise an unprecedented” |
| Exclaim! via Wikipediaby Tom Beedham | 7/10 | 70 | 2016 | |
| Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Cameron Cook | 6.8/10 | 68 | 2016 | “The Catastrophist, the post-rock quintet Tortoise's first album in nearly seven years, shows a point of departure for the venerated band—for one thing, it is the group's first-ever work with…” |
| Slant via Wikipediaby Benjamin Aspray | 3/5 | 60 | 2016 | “The Catastrophist finds Thrill Jockey’s flagship band where we left them on 2009’s Beacons of Ancestorship, playing fusion for a post-IDM world.” |
| Tiny Mix Tapes via Wikipediaby Max L Feldman | 2.5/5 | 50 | “Tortoise’s sophomore album, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, may have introduced the world to “post-rock” and its attending discourses. As if we ever needed to be reminded, forms of…” |
Every Sunday: the week's new albums, scored by the critics. Plus our own reviews when we post them. Free, and one click to leave.
More from Tortoise
More Indie & Alternative from around 2016
Would you spin it again?
Be the first to answer. Results show once 3 listeners weigh in.
How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.
A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.
Leave a Reply