Album Rating: 4.0

I know what Johnny means. In my experience 4.1/4.2 avg is exceedingly rare, while 4.3+ is almost unheard of. The site used to have a bunch of albums that we deemed to be cult classics within our inner circle, but back then sputnik was comprised mostly of a metal camp and an indie camp, so it was easier to get tastes to align and have hype build. Now, tastes are far more diverse and trying to get the entire site to converge positively on a single release is not nearly as common. The last time I remember it happening to the tune of a 4.3+ (and one that actually held up over years too) was 2015 with both To Pimp a Butterfly as well as Carrie & Lowell.



Overall, I feel like sputnik's avg rating scale goes something like this:



4.5+ = all time classic reserved for probably less than 10 albums, most of them probably Pink Floyd lol

4.3-4.4 = decade definer

4.1-4.2 = maybe 3-5 albums per year earn this honor

4 = amazing album, widespread acclaim within the site

3.8-3.9 = fringe AOTY discussion

3.5-3.7 = worth your time, means more to some than others though

3.3-3.5 = good but you won't care about it for more than a few weeks

3.0-3.2 = middling album, take it or leave it

2.5-2.9 = either massively disappointing or almost any pop album lol

2-2.4 = terrible don't poison your ears with it

1-1.9 = reserved for the likes of Owl City, Train, Imagine Dragons, and other subhuman life forms

Album Rating: 2.5

^pretty much! would add a subcategory for the occasional divisive 3.3 thru 3.6 that polarises people at least a little and makes funky bar charts for a few weeks (Girl With Basket of Fruit, Folklore, Kintsugi, maybe new Antlers - and tbh, new Ben Howard should be in this category but the indie camp dropped the ball)

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

But there are way way more than 10 albums with a 4.5 rating

Album Rating: 4.0

GYBE does not really sound like other post-rock bands for the most part imo. They always had a less pretty/more gritty sound and more punk rock infused into the music. They were a lot less predictable than many of their contemporaries like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky at the time.

Album Rating: 2.5

Young Team came out the same year as F#A# and was far from generic. CODY borrowed more from early first-wave stuff than the modern ‘crescendo-core’ interpretation of the genre that was to follow. That album is essentially slowcore.



It’s unfair to lump Mogwai in with Explosions.



Also why does a band like ‘Do Make Say Think‘ not get the same credit for being unique? There’s much more variety to be found within the genre than many people admit.

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah, because Explosions in the Sky haven't released a single remotely good album

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

"Out of interest, what’s in the 5%? - if you’ve checked all of Slint, Bark Psychosis, Talk Talk, Tortoise, Sigur Ros, Yndi Halda, Silver Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think, Mono, Mogwai, 65dos + ‘that album where Slowdive do better post-rock than most post-rock bands‘ (+ whatever obvious stuff I’ve missed) and come up with 5%, then I’m at a loss."



sigur ros, yndi, mt zion, mogwai, slint and slowdive all have some great material but for the most part none of them are anywhere near godspeed and there are only like 2 or 3 tracks for each i regularly go back to, and these are the best and most celebrated bands



do make say think, mono, 65dos, bark psychosis, explosions in the sky i find incredibly boring. red sparowes never really hit me either



tortoise I haven't listened to



the evpatoria report is probably my 2nd favourite post rock band and the only other one whose albums I can easily listen to the whole way through without getting at all bored



so yh, 90-95%

Album Rating: 2.5

Fair enough. Some of these bands don’t sound anything like GY!BE despite being (somewhat, in some cases) part of the same wider genre. So maybe they’re just not your thing, I guess?



I forgot Glenn Branca initially, that’s like proto missing link shit though + there’s always other stuff that combines post-rock with modern classical.

glenn branca is my fav post-rock artist

I've noticed a bunch of albums that came out and had a 4.3+ avg at first, then the rest of the site was either indifferent or disliked it and the avg went down to like 3.7 or so and then crept back up towards 4.0 over the next few years as high ratings from casual users trickled in

Album Rating: 4.0

Mogwai were innovators along with GYBE but started to follow a formula somewhat. So did Godspeed but not in the same way. If you listen to Godspeed's albums it kind of seems like they are just exploring and jamming and not really trying to be into any one genre. Some of the groups who came after Mogwai and GYBE really did seem to want to fit into the genre.



There's still something punk about GYBE that the other bands don't have. Everything is colored through politics and a greater meaning which many of the other bands dont' have.



As far as Do Make Say Think, I don't think they are like the other bands either. Unique in the genre like Godspeed. Most of these bands started out unique then watered things down. DMST last album was great imo



I still cannot believe Yanqui has a 3.9 average. Such an amazing album.

"I've noticed a bunch of albums that came out and had a 4.3+ avg at first, then the rest of the site was either indifferent or disliked it and the avg went down to like 3.7 or so and then crept back up towards 4.0 over the next few years as high ratings from casual users trickled in"

A lot of this I'd chalk up to people simply being more critical of new music than of "classics"

Album Rating: 2.5

that's definitely true

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

"I've noticed a bunch of albums that came out and had a 4.3+ avg at first, then the rest of the site was either indifferent or disliked it and the avg went down to like 3.7 or so and then crept back up towards 4.0 over the next few years as high ratings from casual users trickled in"



agreed



"A lot of this I'd chalk up to people simply being more critical of new music than of "classics"



hard agreed. also I feel like a lot of older albums must be inflated randos who just make some ratings and leave. even in general no one remembers the shitters from bygone eras but "hell yh im rating in the hovercraft over the amazon 5/5"

Yeah I'd wager about half the ratings for Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin or whatever are from accounts with less than 50 comments who haven't been on the site since 2010

It was alright/great.

Album Rating: 4.5

idk guys this is on allelujah tier easily

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

cant believe allelujah has a higher rating than yanqui tbh

Album Rating: 4.5

@anarchistfish - I've never heard of The Evpatoria Report (somehow) and am so stoked to listen to Golevka! Thank you so much for mentioning. Space influenced post-rock, hell yeah. Also yeah, Yanqui needs more love.

Album Rating: 4.5

Yanqui is their second best LP after LYSF. Rockets Fall d r a g s but the rest of the album is stellar.