Reviews at Electronic Dispatch are scored on a 10-point scale, with five tiers. The score is a verdict — it's meant to mean something.
The five tiers
- Essential (9.0–10) — required listening for anyone serious about this music
- Strong (7.5–8.9) — a record you'd come back to
- Solid (6.0–7.4) — does the work, worth a listen
- Mixed (4.0–5.9) — has problems we couldn't ignore
- Avoid (0–3.9) — we wrote the review so you don't have to listen
The full tier definitions live on every Reviews index page under the score legend.
How a review gets written
- Reviewers receive the record at least 72 hours before deadline. No same-day reactions.
- Conflicts of interest are declared in-line. If the reviewer knows the artist, the relationship is disclosed in the byline.
- We listen on hi-fi monitors and on phone speakers — both end-states the record will land in.
- Negative reviews are published. The whole point of the score scale is that the lower half exists.
Submissions
Artists and labels can submit a release for review consideration. The fee is $10, the response window is 14 days, and roughly 2% of submissions are accepted for review — which is most of why we can afford to publish honest verdicts. Details on the Submit page.
We do not accept payment in exchange for positive coverage, advance access to tour rosters, or any other arrangement that would compromise the verdict. See Ethics & Funding for the full policy.