Some of them, when applicable to the genre:
1 - Lyrics: concept + theme + message + meaning + complexity/simplicity of rhymes and its effectiveness (I like to see multisyllabic rhymes and figures of speech) + congruence
2 - Creativity: originality + delivery + deepness + footprint
3 - Instrumental: variety + drum patterns + broadness of scope + execution + quality/richness of sampling + atmospheric density + feeling or adrenaline + rhythm.
4 - Credibility: Sincerity + ability to evolve + passionate artistic purity (although subjective, I do think that the vast majority of heavily commercial music sounds tendentiously mediocre, artificial and lack in passion)
Those are some of the main characteristics I evaluate when I listen to music.
Last edited by GenkiSudo; May 8, 2010 at 04:38 PM.