The Wire's Scores
- Music
For 2,880 reviews, this publication has graded:
-
51% higher than the average critic
-
7% same as the average critic
-
42% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.8 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
| Highest review score: | SMiLE | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest review score: | Amazing Grace |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 2,405 out of 2880
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Mixed: 455 out of 2880
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Negative: 20 out of 2880
2880
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
There is some extremely sophisticated signal processing going on here, resulting in complex subliminal sound patterns in the spaces between beat and the 303s’ scrolling and glooping. However each track is about relentless repetitions of one monolithic kick and one acid riff above all else. While the processing can occasionally resemble some of Tin Man and Cassegrain’s recent dismantlings of acid, which float in motionless seas of reverb, the primacy of the kick ’n’ riff lends the forward momentum of these tracks a glorious singlemindedness. [Sep 2018, p.52]- The Wire
Posted Aug 7, 2018 -
- Critic Score
A range of compositional strategies are succinctly worked through, pivots in structural dynamics executed with an often startling sharpness. [Aug 2015, p.52]- The Wire
Posted Aug 5, 2015 -
- Critic Score
Book is likewise packed with songs that take a few listens to click. Flansburgh remains an acute observer of humanity’s pettiest manipulations as well as a shit hot guitarist; Linnell still has one of the most weirdly soulful voices in rock and a feel for poignant absurdity. [Jan 2022, p.72]- The Wire
Posted Dec 22, 2021 -
- Critic Score
Dragged out doom riffs and saw-edged unison vocals capture their fury and helplessness. [Sep 2016, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Oct 21, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Broken Knowz sounds cleaner, more restrained and organic than his previous material. [Dec 2016, p.56]- The Wire
Posted Dec 21, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Moments illuminate the nimble beats and perky dayglo synthetic patches and above all the fierce resolution of purist independent grime anthems such as “Dem Man Are Dead” and “Badman Walking Through”. [Feb 2020, p.48]- The Wire
Posted Feb 5, 2020 -
- Critic Score
The fit between Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet--whose list of previous collaborators includes Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass--is so natural it’s almost a wonder they haven’t worked together previously. [Mar 2018, p.53]- The Wire
Posted Feb 23, 2018 -
- Critic Score
Do Not Disturb, VDGG’s 13th album and their third since regrouping in 2005, bears little evidence of engagement with music’s outside world, but it’s creative and sprightly on its own terms. [Oct 2016, p.61]- The Wire
Posted Nov 8, 2016 -
- Critic Score
It’s a gorgeous sounding album, with a fat, woody drum sound and well-defined bass frequencies that are headphone umami. [Dec 2016, p.57]- The Wire
Posted Dec 21, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Marc’s production skills are impressive; he layers beautifully recorded organic instruments with synths and sampled vinyl crackle, adding just enough reverb and bass boom to bring it all to vivid life. [May 2022, p.50]- The Wire
Posted Apr 26, 2022 -
- Critic Score
OOIOO retain and reconfigure the most appealing elements of rock music while reimagining the familiar band-as-gang dynamic to suit their own personalities. Charismatic and cool like few contemporary rock bands are, their sense of fun always feels inclusive of the listener. [Feb 2020, p.52]- The Wire
Posted Feb 5, 2020 -
- Critic Score
Long Island may be their heaviest album--some songs introduce enough distortion to qualify as Stoner Metal in the vein of Fu Manchu or Nebula, But for the most part, they do exactly what their name says, grinding along like 1975 will never come. [Feb 2013, p.50]- The Wire
Posted Feb 28, 2013 -
- Critic Score
It feels a little overstuffed, though the effect on the listener isn’t boredom – more enjoyment at an impressive speaker taking up a little more time than expected. [Jun 2025, p.61]- The Wire
Posted May 7, 2025 -
- Critic Score
The threat of salvation has never sounded more eerie. Wake In Fright is about the horror of being too much alive, the horror of all the things people do to escape life while forgetting that any attempt at running away from existence only results in a tightening of its shackles. [Apr 2017, p.- The Wire
Posted Jun 2, 2017 -
- Critic Score
The album embraces bittersweet moods and moulds them into gorgeously transportive but deceptive cuts. [Oct 2020, p.62]- The Wire
Posted Nov 6, 2020 -
- Critic Score
Everything that 30 years ago made Dinosaur Jr a lightning bolt of enervated languor is present here. [Sep 2016, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Oct 21, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Hellfire confidently establishes Black Midi as a distinct musical personality. [Jul 2022, p.44]- The Wire
Posted Jul 7, 2022 -
- Critic Score
Everything about the record--the pacing, the choice of sounds--reveals a mature, careful hand. [Dec 2012, p.77]- The Wire
Posted Jan 8, 2013 -
- Critic Score
Moore runs the risk of seeming absorbed in some kind of midlife episode, but he gets away with it by deploying punk spunk as just one of an arsenal of countercultural referents rather than as a means to regain or revisit his youth. [Mar 2013, p.50]- The Wire
Posted Feb 28, 2013 -
- Critic Score
Wire’s newest material sounds like a figment of where Roxy Music might have gone if Eno had stuck around. This is most evident on the menacing, glamorous swagger of “Forever And A Day”. But the sound, if grounded in the past, is focused on the present. Wire still make distinctly modern, distinctly European music. [Apr 2017, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Jun 2, 2017 -
- The Wire
Posted Nov 8, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Undertow makes great use of Baljo’s guitar and Olson’s saxophone; looping them into churning, oozing grooves that recall the metallic swamp of Gnod’s Infinity Machines LP. Within this sickly ambience, bursts of electronic noise erupt and sputter but never dominate. [Apr 2017, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Jun 2, 2017 -
- Critic Score
Intoxicating oddness permeates some of these slow, shimmying jams. [Aug 2020, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Jul 14, 2020 -
- The Wire
Posted Nov 6, 2020 -
- Critic Score
Lightning Dreamers may be over the top and all over the place, but that’s what it takes to project a complete picture of Mazurek’s vision. [Apr 2023, p.57]- The Wire
Posted Apr 14, 2023 -
- The Wire
Posted Oct 21, 2016 -
- The Wire
Posted Dec 9, 2019 -
- Critic Score
While Lattimore is willing to put her instrument through some effects, she never subdues its essential character. Its inherent lightness gives records that bear her name a yielding quality that contrasts with the stark clarity of Baird’s solo work, let alone the body blows delivered by her combo Heron Oblivion. [Dec 2018, p.44]- The Wire
Posted Nov 15, 2018 -
- Critic Score
As inspired as it is, The Return Of Dr Octagon is no sequel. [#269, p.44]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
Throughout, what’s so revelatory and gratifying is hearing Zedek pushed by others and pushing others in turn. [Dec 2016, p.58]- The Wire
Posted Dec 21, 2016