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
The tracks succeed more where they move away from those compromises towards experiments, extremes of play, texture, tempo, density or sparseness. [Mar 2025, p.53]- The Wire
Posted Feb 4, 2025 -
- Critic Score
I'd like this to be much more depraved, or just for El-P to fully embrace his Eno role for another solo album of weirdness. [Aug 2016, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Aug 19, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Ultimately, though, it’s a portrait of the artist on permanent vacation. [Jun 2018, p.72]- The Wire
Posted Jul 12, 2018 -
- Critic Score
In its favour, the album is immaculately realised, with a chromium production sheen that Lustmord imitators can only dream of. On the minus side: the fact that the album's polish makes it sound safe and predictable. [Jul 2013, p.69]- The Wire
Posted Jul 26, 2013 -
- Critic Score
On some of the songs Langford’s slightly rough and ready approach is the grit that helps produce the pearl; on others it’s made to sound out of place by the very musicians who play his songs so well.- The Wire
Posted Dec 11, 2017 -
- Critic Score
Unfortunately, for all the insight, this willingness to play victim often overshadows the incisiveness of the MC's observations when it come to the beats he has chosen to rail over. [Sep 2008, p.66]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
There's a mismatch between sound and vision here that forestalls true wonder or joy. ... A little more concision and concentration throughout could have made Guild of the Asbestos Weaver more effective. [Sep 2019, p.62]- The Wire
Posted Aug 22, 2019 -
- Critic Score
It all slides down very easily--but there's isn't much of an aftertaste. [Aug 2010, p.66]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
Overall, as a listening experience in itself, The Master feels like a retreat. [Nov 2012, p.59]- The Wire
Posted Dec 5, 2012 -
- Critic Score
More than half of Pretty Ugly combines vocals prominently into the mix after a style that sometimes flounders in its own ambition. [Mar 2012, p.52]- The Wire
Posted Apr 18, 2012 -
- Critic Score
Over melodic, it sounds like it was made by a TV composer working to a brief for a rave episode. [Apr 2015, p.65]- The Wire
Posted May 15, 2015 -
- Critic Score
Patton’s signature style is overpowering, transforming an opportunity to create something unique into another of his side-projects.- The Wire
Posted Aug 9, 2017 -
- Critic Score
The moments of beauty caught fleetingly in the gaps between over-arranged blocks make for frustrated listening. [#218, p.64]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
It's impressive on the first few listens, it grows irritating with repeat play. [Apr 2011, p.57]- The Wire
Posted May 3, 2011 -
- Critic Score
However hit and miss, though, all of these voices and genre grabs are made to sound stylistically coherent. [#236, p.71]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
The best stuff views the world through the sunkissed psychedelic lens of Brazilian psych-troupe Os Mutantes; the lesser material just sounds like lite Brian Wilson. [#243, p.59]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
It’s definitely a mixed bag, but pays off with “The Dawn” in which Lipstate’s guitar exhales in tandem with a spoken admission of small hours frailty. [Dec 2019, p.53]- The Wire
Posted Nov 20, 2019 -
- Critic Score
Their focused, cleverly crafted pop fiffs are impressive, for a time.... But by the fifth track, things start to go wrong. [Mar 2008, p.48]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
At their worst, Ui thrash like run of the mill math-rockers, basses turned to 11 and meandering loudly.... What rescues them is a burgeoning melodic sensibility. [#233, p.71]- The Wire
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- The Wire
Posted Mar 8, 2016 -
- Critic Score
Cave and Ellis have created a brave and fittingly incongruous score. As a standalone album, however, it doesn't walk so tall. [Jun 2015, p.45]- The Wire
Posted Jun 5, 2015 -
- Critic Score
A pleasant if somewhat plain folk-rock record, less adventurous than either Wilco's or O'Rourke's own recent outings. [#227, p.68]- The Wire
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- Critic Score
Parts of Dark Crawler are thrilling. But it sounds less like a confident stride forward than a cautious toe dipped into an unpromising future, one eyeball trained wistfully on the past. [Nov 2012, p.66]- The Wire
Posted Dec 5, 2012 -
- Critic Score
This is an overgrown jungle of music; ideas bury one another, making it all the more striking when a pure, clean line manages to weave its way through the tangle and rise, like a flower turning to face the sun. [Mar 2024., p.46]- The Wire
Posted Feb 8, 2024 -
- Critic Score
Mind Bokeh feels driven by the way recording music allows its maker to home in and hear clearly hazy, unformed ideas as material for the next piece. This at least would account for its restless churn of styles. [Apr 2011, p.69]- The Wire
Posted May 3, 2011 -
- Critic Score
The pattern repeats elsewhere: the big showcase tracks like “Never Forget” and “Let Me Be Great” sag a little under the weight of their pomposity, where deep cuts “Imposter Syndrome” and “IDGAF” just get on with showcasing her untouchable cool. [Nov 2022, p.73]- The Wire
Posted Oct 5, 2022 -
- Critic Score
One can absorb the enthusiasm while feeling somewhat repulsed by the taste. On occasion, it works. [Nov 2013, p.65]- The Wire
Posted Dec 11, 2013 -
- Critic Score
He still lacks emotional commitment as a rapper, offering weakly swaggy bars like “I’m gonna make a billie like I’m Eilish” on “Talk My Shit”. Honeyed melodic shadings like “Dadvocate” and the emo rock oriented “Lithonia” are more compelling. [Sep 2024, p.60]- The Wire
Posted Aug 6, 2024 -
- The Wire
Posted Jun 5, 2015 -
- Critic Score
In spite of the album’s inconsistency, it ends on a high note with the sugary Eurotrance tropes and ear-popping lushness of “Love Me Off Earth”, where guest vocals from New York based vocalist Doss convey an otherworldly melancholic euphoria before being pitch-bent into the stratosphere. [Nov 2024, p.60]- The Wire
Posted Oct 22, 2024