The Wire's Scores
- Music
For 2,880 reviews, this publication has graded:
-
51% higher than the average critic
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7% same as the average critic
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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
Unlike the alluring textural build-up that precedes it, this rocking culmination feels frustratingly empty, as if missing a voice. ... Eventually [on "8 Spring Street"] a groovy, almost accidental rock lick is dispersed by a radiant conclusion. ... [On "Galaxies (Sky)"] Picked and bowed strings sound pleasant like wind chimes, then painful like nails scraping across a blackboard. The guitarists’ incessant repetitions are reminiscent of Orthrelm’s OV until a lone guitar breaks the cycle by oscillating sharp chords, augmenting them to saturation. [Oct 2019, p.56]- The Wire
Posted Sep 23, 2019 -
- Critic Score
This second post-resurrection outing from the New York City noise rockers is an odd one, with two halves that could belong to different bands. The first part features new and rerecorded songs, like the siren led, lockdown inspired “In A Perfect World” – solid romps that become victims of circumstance. ... The first of the late 1980s Peel Session tracks bursts with rebellious energy, generated by a nervous interplay of guitars and rhythms and Thalia Zedek’s incendiary delivery.- The Wire
Posted Jan 6, 2021 -
- Critic Score
He might be a slightly better rapper [than his father Will], he’s certainly a more adventurous artist and the fact that he’s a product of his generation shouldn’t detract from that. [Jan 2018, p.78]- The Wire
Posted Dec 19, 2017 -
- Critic Score
While nothing on III is exactly a soundtrack to sipping caipirinhas in the sun, there's also nothing about it that suggests grimacing theatrically on a darken dancefloor. [Oct 2011, p.52]- The Wire
Posted Dec 6, 2011 -
- Critic Score
There's a feeling of disconnect between idea and result, with Construction Sounds tending towards solid but unremarkable investigation of texture. [Nov 2012, p.72]- The Wire
Posted Dec 7, 2012 -
- Critic Score
Hexadic blurs limes between melodic theory and personal spiritual working, presenting an alchemy of number as a system of creative liberation. [Feb 2015, p.52]- The Wire
Posted Feb 4, 2015 -
- Critic Score
The strangely Middle Eastern funk they cook up in between their typical lunges and surges, the totally tuneless vocals that end up sounding like some kind of flagellant hiphop and the general sense of bass-heavy groove that locates SMTB closer to Helmet than Fugazi. [May 2019, p.65]- The Wire
Posted May 7, 2019 -
- Critic Score
The four tracks on Occupied With the Unspoken, each lasting less then ten minutes, are edited in Carlson's basement studio from much longer live jams--but it's tempting to see them as single facets of the one true eternal synth jam. [Jul 2012, p.57]- The Wire
Posted Aug 2, 2012 -
- Critic Score
Check the weird Groundhogs/Faith No More grooves of “Cosmic Pessimism” and the Scorpions-like pomposity of “Garden Of Cyrus” – but gratifyingly is usually overwhelmed by typical ATG churning riffery and aggroladen lyrical carnage. [Aug 2021, p.65]- The Wire
Posted Jul 28, 2021 -
- Critic Score
The album is not so much a departure as a continuation of Pavement, satisfying and occasionally inspired. [#205, p.59]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
On The Orb's 18th album, Paterson and current sideman Michael Rendall continue wandering these new (old) avenues. [Nov 2025, p.56]- The Wire
Posted Oct 8, 2025 -
- Critic Score
Regional Surrealism has a quality familiar from Ghost Box releases and from Boards of Canada's discography. [Jul 2012, p.70]- The Wire
Posted Aug 2, 2012 -
- Critic Score
Bongo Hotheads distils the feverish street feel of Dar Es Salaam. [Jul 2012, p.71]- The Wire
Posted Aug 2, 2012 -
- Critic Score
Although there are no new dimensions here,... this still feels like musical fresh mint. [#242, p.67]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
Code warms up as it winds down, as Malone is joined by frequent collaborator Ellen Arkbro for a trio of live recordings. [Sep 2019, p.56]- The Wire
Posted Aug 29, 2019 -
- Critic Score
Theirs is a terse music, but purposeful, and it's that quality which makes this a more engaging listen than the equally abstract cybernetic fusion of To Rococo Rot or Mapstation. [#247, p.62]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
The album is a fairly effective sampler of Ambarchi's various modes. [Dec 2012, p.58- The Wire
Posted Dec 7, 2012 -
- Critic Score
The Residents walk a precarious line between American underbelly creepiness and a more mannered absurdism. [#254, p.63]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
It can feel as though one must push through multiple layers of cultural detritus – Linda Blair, David Cassidy, Kiss, The Brady Bunch, etc – to get to the music itself. In truth, these resonances add flavour and colour to Jeff and Steve McDonald’s exuberant power pop, assisted on this self-titled double album by drummer and producer Josh Klinghoffer.- The Wire
Posted Jun 26, 2024 -
- Critic Score
It's a dated sound but they stick to it with the tenacity of musicians who can't do anything else. [Mar 2013, p.50]- The Wire
Posted Apr 5, 2013 -
- Critic Score
Plaid are back with another album of music that twists geometric runs through nostalgic synth textures into minor key shifts like dimension folds gone wrong. [Jan 2023, p.77]- The Wire
Posted Dec 16, 2022 -
- Critic Score
Soundtracking stellar deeps has become one of electronica's most overworked cliches, but in the easy intimacy audible in this encounter, these Ambienaut vets make it sound like a piece of cake. [#247, p.59]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
Although The Canon is a late arrival its mood is consistent with that of its predecessors. The recording is sharper and more delineated, but Leon steers clear of modern sonics that might date it. ... Apart from the titles, there is no narrative as such to this collection, but it works as absolute music, in which Leon creates the impression of mysterious and open spaces. [May 2019, p.58]- The Wire
Posted Jun 4, 2019 -
- The Wire
Posted Apr 6, 2023 -
- Critic Score
Rather than fetishing these sound sources, Neubaten vacuum-pack the lot inside a hermetic and constricting production that is immensely disturbing. [#241, p.57]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
The results isn't always compelling; at times the trio lean on cliched sounds--ominous synth tones, for example, or whirring stock effects--that have also crept into previous release. But more often, the pieces on Rainbow Mirror avoid banality through forced patience. The extended track lengths greatly benefit Fernow’s chosen range of sounds and moods. Given the room to stretch and develop, he and his colleagues maintain a level of subtlety throughout. [Dec 2017, p.56]- The Wire
Posted Jan 5, 2018 -
- Critic Score
Clubbers might find Swanson's approach dilettantish.... In letting this set closer sprawl out, though, he happens on a spinning wormhole of spitting snares and abrasive Konono No 1-like melodies that's sulphuric in its intensity. [Mar 2013, p.60]- The Wire
Posted Apr 5, 2013 -
- Critic Score
Richard may not be the most distinctive lyricist, yet she still leaves a strong impression. Her uniquely hazy voice and the way she adds unusual trills to her stanzas means that the listener is always aware of her presence. [Jan 2023, p.70]- The Wire
Posted Dec 16, 2022 -
- Critic Score
“Hot Pink” reads clearly like “BIPP”-era SOPHIE, with its urgent metallic breakdowns and deep, heavy bass lines, while the high synth registers and spatial ambient of “It’s Not Just Me” conjecture a Generation Z folk-pop-disco hybrid. As a more mainstream addition to the avant-pop trajectory of artists like SOPHIE and felicita, however, Let’s Eat Grandma are not nearly as disruptive and original. [Sep 2018, p.49]- The Wire
Posted Aug 8, 2018 -
- Critic Score
This music's shoreline is made up of instrumental delicacy and subtle arrangements, which burble, froth and foam washing over the listener with an insistent but gentle force. [#257, p.61]- The Wire