i recently had the realization that, while i have been using this website to incessantly scream into the void about my suspect music choices, i haven’t really explained what the hell these “final verdicts” actually mean. if you’ve read the site intro (if you haven’t, what the hell? smh.) you’d know this site is meant to eventually be a digital record crate. a library of albums for you to dig through at your leisure to find whatever gems catch your eye. and the reviews are all a part of that. think of each review as a sort of inside cover slip, it’s not meant to be some in depth play-by-play, where you can just read the review and lift your opinion off of mine. i feel like reviews in that sense would take away from the purpose of the site. to lead people to new music, not jam my message down your throats. the goal for these reviews is to encourage you readers to check out these albums for yourself. my words are simply meant to be an intro to this exciting underground landscape.

that’s why i refuse to score my reviews, well that and a few other reasons.

for one, scoring is inherently biased. nobody lives the same life or has the same experiences on the daily, not even close. and those differences, those turns and forks we individually navigate through in our personal path of life, contribute to our own biases based on the worldview that the path gives us. these biases can affect the objectivity of any evaluation we give, especially art and specifically music, where our choices are so heavily influenced by our personal experiences.

you can find other biases in the evaluation of review scores as well. there’s the persistent idea that a 5/10 is never really a 5/10. if you think about it, 5/10 should be a perfectly average score. right in the middle of the scale. but our perceptions say otherwise. if i say an album is a 5/10 most people think im trashing it, not that it’s average. this reaction comes from what i theorize is an effect of the system that raised us where a 70/100 was considered a passing or average grade, this scoring bias has carried over to pretty much every numerical review scale. and that’s the issue, our biases prevent the numbers from translating our thoughts and feelings about a subject matter accurately.

plus, trying to quantify a subjective opinion is a fool's errand anyways. our opinions are based on our personal experiences, tastes, and various preferences, which are impossible to truly quantify objectively, because by nature they are not objective! thus, scoring an opinion makes no real sense. it totally distracts from the whole purpose of a review. take it from a proud numbers guy, sometimes that shit needs to get tossed out the window. sometimes it’s important to detach from the objective world and immerse yourself in someone else’s. that is the whole purpose of art. and reviews are an art in and of themselves.

and let’s not forget how our big ass monkey brains love to sit around and compare numbers all day. comparing album quality based off of a pitchfork review score might be some of the most devolved thinking i can think of. yet i still do it, you do it, we all do that mindless shit sometimes, because it’s easy and it scratches that itch people have to spout asinine hot takes for attention. but we’re supposed to be moving forward people! we gotta make a better effort with our discussions. who cares if Joe Schmoe from whereverthefuck.com gave your favorite album 2 points less than everyone else? it’s YOUR favorite, or YOUR most hated, or whatever you want it to be. the point isn’t to rank shit or say who’s objectively better than who, or what top whatever is…you get the point. we’re here to hear what others have to say and compare thoughts and perspectives, not just a number. so no, it doesn’t really matter what i say at all (still screaming into the void here!!). make your own opinions. that’s what the site is here for.

with all that said, here are the review “scores” that will be used going forward. these in no way represent any numerical values or scale. it’s just like, my opinion, man.

shelved - these albums, for whatever reason, are just not worth the listening effort. it could be bad, basic, boring, or anything in between. but if you see this, just know it’s listen at your own risk.

one for the collection - this is for those albums that have a few hot songs, a few stinkers, and a bunch of whatever it might be. these albums have some ups, some downs, and some memorable sounds, but overall, you probably won’t lose sleep if you could never listen again. but you can, so maybe one day you will

in the rotation - if these albums could win an award it would be Most Consistent, they may not be your favorites, but they keep popping up in your favorite playlists. that counts for something, right? most albums covered on the site will likely fall under this umbrella.

dig this - these are the albums you pick up and love right away, you’ll probably run that shit back as soon as it finishes. these are the earworms, the tapes that aren’t just in your rotation, they never leave the rotation. and the rotation is much better for it

instant classic - need i explain more? reserved for the best of the best. you’ll know it when you hear it.