The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 4,544 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 0 Graffiti
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,663 out of 4544
  2. Mixed: 771 out of 4544
  3. Negative: 110 out of 4544
4544 music reviews
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    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    More Than Just a Dream
    More Than Just A Dream is a leap for the band sonically, one that would deserve more credit if Fitz and company weren’t still taking so much from the past. Yet this Dream still manages to be entertaining.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Slow Summits
    On Slow Summits, The Pastels sound not like a long-overlooked cult band making one last grasp at fame, but like a respectable contemporary in an indie-rock genre they once pioneered.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
    With a running time of nearly 70 minutes for just 12 songs, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here can be overwhelming; the arrangements of several songs are amorphous, and tunes such as “Phantom Limb” and “Hung On A Hook” could benefit from an editor. Despite these small quibbles, the album is solid.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Desire Lines
    The album also has a few sleepy spots (“New Year’s Resolution,” “I Missed Your Party”), which causes it to drag on occasion. Still, Desire Lines is the rare record that sounds comfortable and familiar, but yet isn’t derivative.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Olympia
    Not all of Olympia’s added complexity works to its benefit, but the album succeeds as a necessary stepping-stone on Stelmanis’ path of artistic discovery.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Bosnian Rainbows
    Bosnian Rainbows combines a lot of elements together, but it sometimes feels that they’re not sure which way they want to go. There are laidback, layered slow jams that make up the bulk of the record, but the LP’s best moments come when it adds more guitar-driven material.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Big Dream
    Over the course of the record’s 12 tracks, Lynch settles into an electro-blues groove as comfortable and consistent as he’s likely to get as a musician.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Where Does This Door Go
    For all of his apparent devotion to the genre, Hawthorne comes off somewhat soulless on Where Does This Door Go.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Ruby Red
    Like a complex machine, the record has an impressive number of moving parts, but it lacks soul.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Nextwave Sessions [EP]
    Bloc Party is once again on hiatus after an uneven tease of strength, a few dance-ready tracks, and a bit of dreamier material made for summer nighttime driving with the windows down.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    An Object
    An Object is never too jarring, nor too abrasive, nor too sedate, nor too conventional. But No Age’s best work is rapid-fire indulgence in all of these excesses, riveting in its erratic unpredictability and sense of urgency.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Hall of Fame
    The mood is so consistently upbeat and agreeable that nearly everything works, especially the tracks that pair Sean with a strong singer.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mechanical Bull
    It was cool for them to sound effortless while channeling the dark-side-of-fame turmoil--and the Followills are still skilled crowd-pleasers--but on this record, they sound weary even when they aren’t trying.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Lousy with Sylvianbriar
    Overall, Lousy With Sylvianbriar is a satisfying link in bringing Barnes’ musical progression full-circle, but at times he seems to forget what made him so good at this stuff the first time around.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    New
    New isn’t McCartney’s best record ever, but that’s a given. He made The White Album, for crying out loud. And Rubber Soul. And Ram. And McCartney. New isn’t bad, though; it’s actually pretty good.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Free Your Mind
    Penultimate track “Walking In The Sky” would have been a satisfying closer, but the hazy “Mantra” makes the record land with a thud instead of a bang. Nixing these tracks would have made Free Your Mind a taut, focused effort instead of the distracted, occasionally brilliant record that it is.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Midnight Memories
    As a whole, Midnight Memories isn’t a genre game-changer. But in terms of the One Direction catalog, this record is exactly the right move: There’s enough personality, charm, and dramatic solos to satisfy fans, and enough incremental moves toward artistic credibility to at least give the band a chance at an enduring career.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Black Panties
    Regardless of the reason, it’s safe to say that Kelly is fighting all sorts of social norms on Black Panties, from sex talk to issues of race and economics. The way he’s going about the issues might be a little bit clunky, to say the least, but it’s admirable that he’s even tackling them.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Because the Internet
    Because The Internet finally shows that Donald Glover is serious about his music, and he’s willing to take some chances to make sure that Childish Gambino can grow as an artist.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mastermind
    His star may be dimming, but he’s still got some spirited music left in him.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Say Yes to Love
    While it’s respectable to see such a young band attempt to defy the expectations of its audience, Say Yes To Love ultimately sees Perfect Pussy getting out ahead of itself, suggesting the band would be better served securing an identity before attempting to redefine it.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Wasted Years
    With the solid--and solidly predictable--Wasted Years, Morris has once again proven that he’s no punk-rock casualty. Sadly, Off! has the potential to do so much more than just scrape by on the scraps of his past.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Gravitas
    he uneven, occasionally locked-in Gravitas finds Talib Kweli energetically exercising his artistry free of any agenda but his own, and hopefully positioning him for a true return to form next time around.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Most Messed Up
    The songwriting is solid, and for those who enjoy a good rehab tune like “Intervention” or the lure of the forthcoming party and catastrophe that “Wheels Off” promises, this record won’t disappoint.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Ghost Stories
    Though a couple of songs feel undercooked—specifically “Another’s Arms” and album closer “O”--Ghost Stories mostly works.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin
    With their 11th effort, The Roots have managed yet another album individualistic like little else in hip-hop, but unlike their best work this one’s more interested in scholastic provocation than genuine pathos.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    In the Lonely Hour
    As singles, the LP works. But as a whole product, listeners could start wondering if they hit “repeat” by accident.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Donker Mag
    Despite the occasional dud, [Donker Mag] is filled with provocative, compelling, out-there productions and boasts a real confidence in its creative vision.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Noise
    It’s worth the ride, even if the bland, six-minute intro feels like so much pseudo-epic throat-clearing.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    For The Recently Found Innocent
    While the effort breaks new ground for White Fence on the fidelity front, and adds an additional smidgen of needed consistency to Presley’s fuzz-jam fragments, it passes on the opportunity to do anything truly new.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Hypnotic Eye
    Hypnotic Eye ends up a dynamic mini-album--but doesn’t quite sustain its momentum for an entire full-length.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    These Days...
    These Days… is a dense, complicated animal--even the blandest tracks have enough tricks to reward multiple listens, and may reveal themselves with time. But for someone so comfortable wearing his poetic heart on his sleeve, the black-lipped pastor has made an oddly distant album.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Get Hurt
    The Gaslight Anthem deserve credit for stretching so far on Get Hurt; it’s just too bad the band spreads out in so many directions without committing to any of them.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Seen It All: The Autobiography
    His voice remains a powerful, if inexpressive, instrument--like a gong, or something--but it feels out of place in the fraught electric guitars of “1-4 Block,” or the Mike Will Made It psychedelia of “4 Zones.”
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    X
    Running 21 tracks and 75 minutes in its deluxe edition, X sometimes threatens to be too much. But there’s enough appealing material to support that runtime.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
    Flashes of brilliance aside, the result sounds an awful lot like something Yorke dashed off to pass the time before delving into the new Radiohead album.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sonic Highways
    Grohl’s quest is representative of an enthusiasm—rounded out by some overwrought lyrics--nearly swallowing itself alive, sure, but with Foo Fighters, hating the game seems more right than hating the player.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Four
    The record is yet another perfect encapsulation of modern pop music. Yet, in the process, the band has shed the scrappiness and spunk that made its early music so endearing.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Monuments to an Elegy
    While Monuments To An Elegy is certainly a solid release, in the end, it’s most enjoyable when approached with managed expectations.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sucker
    There’s maturity and depth to the songwriting and production on that track that suggest a way forward for Charli XCX, and coupled with the other hits on the record, make Sucker an accomplished, if fitful listen.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
    Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper doesn’t push boundaries so much as it delineates the contours of Lennox’s comfort zone.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    If You're Reading This It's Too Late [Mixtape]
    Drake may not have an hour’s worth of great songs here, but he does have an hour’s worth of thoughts he needs to get off his chest.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Chasing Yesterday
    Chasing Yesterday is airless and compressed, more like an idea of a great rock album than an actual one.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Rebel Heart
    Rebel Heart has its fair share of those head-scratchers.... [But] Rebel Heart is a step back in the right direction.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Aureate Gloom
    Loud, fickle, and impolite, Aureate Gloom is yet another entry into the evolution of one man’s soul made manifest through music.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Another Eternity
    Another Eternity seems more focused on entertaining large masses of people than creating meaningful art. That’s all fine and good, but that sort of cash and popularity grab might prove that all that past skepticism was well-placed.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Magic Whip
    It’s a testament to the band’s intangible chemistry that The Magic Whip doesn’t feel like an Albarn (or a Coxon) solo effort; the album sounds like a Blur record. And despite its flaws, this new music is insidiously catchy, with plenty of unorthodox hooks that linger after the record ends.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    What For?
    Even at its most thrilling, What For? manages to sound somehow too daring and not daring enough.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sound & Color
    Sound & Color drops some of that urgency in favor of a hefty dose of experimentation, and while the results are intriguing, the record can’t help but meander a bit.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Fly International Luxurious Art
    For all its unintended sonic drawbacks, Fly International Luxurious Art goes a long way to remind everyone of why Raekwon is one of the greatest to ever wield a microphone.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Anxiety's Kiss
    Beneath all of the album’s foreign effects, there’s still Coliseum banging away on drums and pushing riffs with amplifiers: If only all those studio tricks hadn’t made the album feel so disjointed.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Dark Bird Is Home
    Dark Bird Is Home is melodically rich and emotionally resonant, even when some moments argue that bigger isn’t necessarily better.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    English Graffiti
    All this jumping around on English Graffiti doesn’t make it disjointed. Rather, it stops the album from becoming monotonous with a new, unexpected experience on each track.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Déjà-Vu
    That contemporary approach to Déjà Vu’s sound keeps the album from being as fun as it should be.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    How Does It Feel
    Although How Does It Feel is far more subdued and inconsistent than Secondhand Rapture, MS MR still has no peer in its ability to twist retro and modern influences in fresh ways.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Momentary Masters
    Healthy living and hearty curiosity have inspired some lively rock songs, but being Albert Hammond Jr. still sounds pretty stressful.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Abyss
    The downside of all this bombast is that the album, taken as a whole, can feel ponderous.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Stuff Like That There
    The new tracks (“Awhileaway,” “Rickety”) are pretty if slight, and reveal little of the dynamic range that made Fade such a latter-period highlight. Better are the new-old YLT tunes, even if the selections are occasionally baffling.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sounds Good Feels Good
    Overall, 5 Seconds Of Summer puts a contemporary spin on early-’00s mainstream pop-punk by avoiding the kind of self-pity, hopelessness, and subtle misogyny that sometimes dogged that nascent scene. More importantly, Sounds Good Feels Good never condescends to the band’s core audience of young female fans.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Right On!
    It’s a haunted house whose furnishings, though familiar, come artfully arranged.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    We Disappear
    The production, courtesy of former Death Cab For Cutie member Chris Walla, makes these songs, basked in an ambient wash, still feel wholly accessible.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Bang, Zoom, Crazy... Hello
    If you’re a fan of guitar rock, loving Cheap Trick is very important, and though today the band occasionally sounds a little too calculated and studio-glamorous, as opposed to high-voltage and live--and though there’s currently no Bun E., an important note--its staunch resolve about living the rock-and-roll life (album, tour, album, tour, repeat) and parlaying a mega sound into a decades-spanning career should provide reason enough to bow down.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Welcome the Worms
    For the most part, Bleached’s style of rock and roll is best suited to short, vicious tracks that get in, chug a beer, high-five the host, then get out. Welcome The Worms loses some its punch strictly because of its runtime. It’s not long for an album, but it’s long for this kind of album.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    VIEWS
    Taken on its own, it’s another sumptuously produced, artfully crafted statement from one of the few rap stars with a truly individualistic aesthetic. It’s also too long and stubbornly low energy, nowhere near the knockout Drake’s been building it up to be since practically before he began recording it.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Thank You
    Self-empowerment can shade into self-aggrandizement when it isn’t delivered in a convincing way, and Thank You only periodically rises to the challenge.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sings Favorites
    As relaxing as it is to hear Mark Kozelek sing favorites, the consistent pleasantries result in the album feeling minor and a little safe when compared to something like Benji. Sometimes, it takes a little ugliness and danger to elevate an album from good to great.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Ha, Ha, He.
    The record adds drops of depth and drama to the recipe, but the band hasn’t quite cooked up its signature dish yet.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Basses Loaded
    The Melvins are prolific without taking heed of their stature or prominence, and Basses Loaded is a testament to their nonchalant and fiercely inventive place in the world of loud and angry music.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Fall Forever
    The contrast of Weiss’ effortlessly sophisticated, crystalline vocals with the icier tone of the band’s newly electronic slant certainly gives Fall Forever special character. Fear Of Men hasn’t survived the sophomore turn without losing a few traces of what made the band so appealing initially, but then again, Weiss says it herself in “Erase (Aubade)”: “I erase these things / I don’t need what I left behind.”
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Double Vanity
    Double Vanity is a major sonic leap that comes at the expense of energy and songwriting.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Autodrama
    While the now-self-assumed production remains complex and meticulously nuanced, it also doesn’t help that the melodies just don’t stick to the ears as much. Autodrama is by no means a failure, and warm, lush tones still captivate in parts; given Puro Instinct’s proven talents, hopefully those aren’t just the embers of a flash in the pan.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Youth Authority
    Youth Authority does an admirable job updating Good Charlotte’s sound in ways that should please both long-term and new fans.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Operator
    MSTRKRFT is certainly far more inventive than most, so the songs aren’t boring, just unmoored. However, it does make Operator a frustratingly uneven listen.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Afraid of Heights
    The more interesting moments on Afraid Of Heights come when the band begins to face their own mortality.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    First Ditch Effort
    Musically, the band is still in frenetic first gear, proudly sticking to its well-tested formula of power chords, metal-infused riffs, and biting humor. That sameness dulls some of First Ditch Effort’s luster, but it’s still a spirited late-career entry for the veteran punks.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Devil Music
    Devil Music sounds like The Men took that talent, gave into their most primal, terrifying desires, and built a raucous, bruising--and never harmless--noise out of it.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide
    To Hodgy’s credit, several of the tracks on Fireplace do manage to break free of vague personal change into songs that are resonant for their tension.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Not the Actual Events [EP]
    Even with its moments of flawed excess, Not The Actual Events is so full of new ideas compared to the relatively “this again?” nature of Hesitation Marks or The Slip that it deserves its place in the NIN catalog.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Millport
    Millport might in large part be an homage or a genre project, but at least it’s a sharp and sophisticated one.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Season High
    Like every Little Dragon album, Season High contains several new entries into the band’s essential catalog, but as a whole, it fails to fulfill its potential.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    In Spades
    He [Greg Dulli] can still hit that sweet spot of come-hither crooning, but the production hides much of his more agitated wails in the mix. The vocals are therefore no longer the dominant element of the music.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Snow
    It’s unmistakably a New Year album, and a decent one at that, but it doesn’t do much to distinguish itself.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    This Old Dog
    None of these songs rank among DeMarco’s best melodies, but like the winning Salad Days bedroom-pop exercise “Let My Baby Stay,” they meld vocal style, lyric, and arrangement into something that feels authentic.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Powerplant
    The rest of Powerplant’s brief 29-minute running time can’t quite live up to “123,” though it has plenty of powerful moments.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Waiting on a Song
    Still, competent and charming as it is, Waiting On A Song never quite has the spark to rise above homage and carve out something distinct.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Gone Now
    While Gone Now features a few cuts that are much more piercing than you might expect, it doesn’t quite go all the way.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Dear
    There are stray blasts of righteous melody, like the anthemic crescendos that erupt from the placid surface of “Beyond.” But most of Dear’s sonic earthquakes seem designed to rattle the bones, not catch the ears.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Add Violence [EP]
    Nothing on last year’s Not The Actual Events approached the grabbiness of “Less Than,” but that EP distributed its charms more evenly than Add Violence, which never tops its leadoff track.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Call It Love
    This is a record that plays it safe musically, even as it probes uncomfortable emotional states and difficult experiences.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    How Do You Spell Heaven
    How Do You Spell Heaven suffers from having a tad too much of Pollard’s lone influence, and as a result, it’s overloaded with the kind of mid-tempo filler that takes a few listens to really stand out. Even still, it’s a uniformly enjoyable listen, one that’s mostly upbeat.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Offering
    Offering’s second half becomes a stoned and fuzzy blur, its overall high settling into a pleasurable yet indistinct haze.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Ooz
    All that aimlessness is certainly on brand for the hazy expanses Marshall so clearly wants to create, but like the seeping unctuousness for which the album is named, it threatens to engulf his more potent songs.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Saga Continues
    It’s low-stakes stuff, but if you’re enough of a Wu fan to read this far, you’ll be happy the saga continues--at least for now.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Screen Memories
    Chances are you’ll once again walk away with some of its lyrics rattling around your brain. On the other hand, those lyrics have never seemed more like open dares to take them way, way too seriously.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Interiors
    A mostly mid-tempo record with a few solid standouts, including album-opener “Illuminant” and the vibey, spacey “Cosmonauts.” It’s still the third-best Quicksand album, but the distance between it and second place isn’t nearly as far as it might’ve been.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Stranger
    His flow is less ostentatiously stilted than on earlier efforts, as if, now that this territory is being explored successfully by others, he no longer needs to exaggerate his outsider status. He floats into the vapor, drugged out and miserable, like the album itself.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Semicircle
    It’s a rousing party record, but when the music stops and the lights come on, it all blurs together into a fun but forgettable time.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Man of the Woods
    Unfortunately, Man Of The Woods’ thematic depth hasn’t quite caught up to the rest of his ambition. It’s not a fatal flaw, but it does make for a record that’s not quite as transcendent as it was built up to be.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Always Ascending
    Always Ascending has its moments, even if it’s not the musical rebirth Franz Ferdinand sought.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sir
    Sir updates Fischerspooner’s old cocaine throb to surprisingly modern, still sleazily enjoyable, then inevitably exhausting results. It’s enough to think it might stick around this time.
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