I’ve recently been using Metacritic to discover and listen to new music.
Metacritic does one thing really well: they aggregate the reviews from all the biggest publications, and calculate a “Metascore” for movies, albums, video games, and TV.
They also have a sound way of removing bias from their scoring. The Metascore is a weighted average that 1) takes all available reviews and converts them to a 100-point scale, and 2) weights each review based on a quality score assigned to each reviewing publication.
For example, a reputable publication like the New York Times would have a higher weighting than a small, city-focused newspaper. They also take into account if the publication has a positivity bias and typically gives good reviews.
I’ve found their All-time Album list to be a fascinating listen.
Perhaps the thing that stands out most is how uncomfortable some of the music makes me feel.
It’s not pleasure listening. There are many songs and albums that don’t follow a traditional Western-pop diet of 4-chords and a slightly-seasoned bridge.
There are piercing sounds, jarring rhythms, and unresolved melodies.
But all the while, it’s clear the artist has something important to say.
It’s music that makes me think, “How did they achieve that sound?” “What did that lyric mean?” “Why did they write this?”
Metacritic is high signal. It’s a great tool to explore new worlds sound, films, and ideas. Have fun out there!