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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    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Tween
    Despite the all-over-the-map vibe, Tween doesn’t sound like a bunch of leftovers or music pushed to the side. Every song is fully formed, and is imbued with a sense of purpose.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    And the Anonymous Nobody
    An eclectic genre mashup with an enviable roster of guests, And The Anonymous Nobody… bristles with creative rebirth and more than a touch of hard-earned, “we’re back” braggadocio.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Real
    By not shying away from writing about messy relationships, hard truths, and personal failings, she’s created an album with incredible emotional and lyrical resonance.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    My Woman
    My Woman is one of the realest albums of the year.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Schmilco
    Schmilco is Wilco’s most musically simple and emotionally resonant record in a decade, gorgeously naked and efficient.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Pretty Years
    Pretty Years is joyous, revelatory, and the moment where the varied sounds of those past three records all come together.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Stage Four
    Stage Four reverberates because it’s a concept album, the tracks linear and part of the greater whole.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Fires Within Fires
    Fires Within Fires is yet another invaluable contribution from this legendary band.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Before the Dawn [Live]
    Because the main suites were written with a blind listen in mind and because it is so well-executed, the audio makes for an epic, vivid two-and-a-half-hour event that will enchant anyone new to Bush’s music.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    "Awaken, My Love!"
    He is Donald Glover, a man who can perform and write comedy, act in drama, and drop a truly wonderful album on short notice with all the influences and instructions spelled out.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Telefone [Mixtape]
    Telefone is a unique project that points to even greater things for Noname in the future.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I See You
    The result is the most eclectic, multidimensional, and ambitious album of The xx’s young career.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Near to the Wild Heart of Life
    Japandroids have always sought love and adventure in equal measure, and they get both on Near To The Wild Heart Of Life.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Prisoner
    Mostly though, Adams seems possessed by the same spirit that gets into his pal Taylor Swift when she’s hurt. He sounds like he’s savoring how full of life his music is, no matter what it took to make it so. He hasn’t just turned misery into art; he’s turned it into joy.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Process
    It’s the best R&B debut since FKA Twigs’ LP1.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    50 Song Memoir
    Though it lacks its predecessor’s immediate accessibility, it benefits from an aesthetic texture that’s grander, darker, and more satisfying, if only for the sense that memoirs don’t have to be confessional; they can tell a life’s story through tone and structure in addition to words. A good gimmick, it goes to show, has the power to transcend itself.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A Crow Looked at Me
    Pain is the crux of Elverum’s career, and without resorting to any of his brutally stark instrumentation, he offers his most sobering full-length to date, and likely of all time.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Far Field
    The raw passion of Future Island’s past work still dominates, but with more complexity in the arrangements, and more push and pull in the ongoing dialogue between the voice and the instruments behind it.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Arca
    If the skittering fluctuation of Ghersi’s past releases gained him a cult following, then the open-hearted ballads sprinkled throughout Arca should earn him his well-deserved breakthrough.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Pleasure
    Pleasure isn’t all novelty. It’s a demanding record expressing demanding emotions.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Compassion
    Compassion may feel especially timely, but music this passionately realized will always be worth revisiting.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Pageant
    No amount of perma-teenage angst can dim PWR BTTM’s light, and by owning the hard work it takes to love yourself and others, particularly as a queer person, they celebrate the beauty and value of our lives.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    CHUCK
    Chuck’s a wonderful piece of American music, and ultimately as enigmatic and elusive as the man who filed it on his way out the door.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    CTRL
    Ctrl is as tough as Damn is tender, and it knocks as hard as The Sun’s Tirade swoons.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Abysmal Thoughts
    The new sounds heighten the bittersweet flavor, as Pierce opens up about feeling lonely, stupid, betrayed, empty, and at times, hopeful. If his life hasn’t exactly gotten easier, his music has never been better.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Together At Last
    Another side-project song, Golden Smog’s “Lost Love,” gets sweetly chilled, and the Summerteeth deep cut “In A Future Age” loses some of its flair from the album version but gains intimacy. That’s true of this whole exercise, really, but the trade-off works fantastically well on those particular songs.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Big Fish Theory
    Big Fish Theory veers off the course set by its predecessor, bucking the sophomore slump by ditching the vast majority of his old collaborators and peers in favor of the sort of whole-cloth artistic reinvention generally associated with canonical greats like Kanye or Bowie. What’s even crazier is that he sticks the landing. It’s his second classic LP in a row.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    4:44
    4:44 is captivating because it both upholds that version of himself and buckles beneath its weight.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Soft Sounds From Another Planet
    While everything on Japanese Breakfast’s proper sophomore effort isn’t entirely fresh, and its structure is somewhat loose, there’s a confidence and crispness to Soft Sounds that shows just how fully realized Zauner’s formerly homemade experiments have become.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Flower Boy
    Flower Boy is the first time he’s been equally as forthcoming in his actual music. His flow has tightened up, and for a man whose voice basically destined him for rap stardom, he’s become even better at stretching his booming baritone into novel shapes, employing a plethora of flows.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Dark Matter
    Dark Matter is dense, complicated stuff, though it’s also an engrossing display of pop theater.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A Deeper Understanding
    With much higher expectations weighing on the band, it’s produced a successor that shines up and builds on that breakthrough in every way.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Painted Ruins
    In all, Painted Ruins represents the band’s strongest compositions since Yellow House--and still, there’s something weirdly revolutionary about this kind of formalism in 2017.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Cage Tropical
    Cage Tropical possesses darker dimensions and inspirations, driven by twinges of velocity and an unsettled vibe. This combination suits Rose well: Her music may have emerged from a period of great turmoil, but, in the process, she’s found a new path forward.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    American Dream
    It’s a beautifully produced, masterfully realized album, but it’s also a bit of a downer and an unusually slow burn.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Okovi
    Zola’s latest, Okovi, is more homecoming than course correction.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Three Futures
    There aren’t many hooks to be found here, which means a lot of Three Futures sort of blurs together. But it’s all hazily fascinating, flowing naturally through its various peaks and valleys, and it succeeds in Scott’s goal of being truly immersive listening--something that reveals itself to you in strange new ways each time you return.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Cry Cry Cry
    Cry Cry Cry is Wolf Parade’s most vibrant, energetic record to date.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Going Grey
    The Front Bottoms are more confident, and secure enough to confess to all they don’t yet know. It’s a privilege to listen in as they work it out.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Mirror Reaper
    Attention spans will certainly be tested, but surrender to the despair and Bell Witch’s slow-motion eulogy--delivered through a lonely ring of guitar, gently crashing cymbals, and stray funeral-home organ--hits like a blast beat to the heart.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Plunge
    Beyond its aggressive peaks, there is also true beauty here, and even nuggets of stark synth-pop that call back to her past work.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Phases
    With its plaintive lyrics, Phases further shows that Olsen, like those venerable musicians, is a persistent truth teller, an authentic voice no matter what style she’s working in.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    From a Room, Vol. 2
    Stapleton’s gravelly vocals sell his own openly emotive songs like no one else could, the poetic imagery in tracks like “Scarecrow In The Garden” transcending typical beer-and-babes fodder.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    POST-
    While that sounds incredibly daunting--and like a really tiring listen--the album’s most impressive trait is that it makes all that vital work feel joyous and communal.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    All Melody
    A vibrant, exploratory album born from Frahm’s newly constructed Berlin studio and the freedom to experiment it allowed.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Blood
    It’s more minimal than The xx, more romantic than the most heartsick R&B, with drums pulled straight from ’70s studio sessions. In other words, it’s a lot of things, while still sounding like nothing else out there.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    By the Way I Forgive You
    As the title implies, Brandi Carlile’s sixth studio album is about deriving strength from forgiveness and gratitude. But the lovely, languid folk songs on By The Way, I Forgive You also offer nuanced looks at life’s everyday complications.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    All at Once
    Although not every song is essential in its own right, as a whole, All At Once congeals beautifully; in the era of the single, this is a real album, touching on themes of autonomy and control both in a personal and a wider political context.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Jericho Sirens
    It all works. Whenever Hot Snakes decide to get together, they will always be welcome.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Now Only
    Elverum may spend the rest of his career grappling with his grief. It’s a tough, beautiful privilege to be invited along on that journey.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Knock Knock
    There hasn’t been a more purely enjoyable record released in 2018.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    7
    With 7, Legrand and Scally have gotten freer themselves. This is the sound of a band that knows itself extremely well and yet, in seeking outside perspectives and embracing imperfection, has discovered a whole new level to explore. If this album feels like an alternate-reality Beach House, it’s because Legrand and Scally have altered their reality.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Dirty Pictures, Pt. 2
    Dirty Pictures (Part 2) is an album for all occasions: whiskey-fueled dance parties in dark bars, heartbroken late-night sobfests, and introspective moments pondering life’s vicissitudes.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    DAYTONA
    For the first time since going solo, it all feels of a piece. ... The sonic setting he [Kanye West] places this performance from Pusha in is an absolute masterpiece of minimalism.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Age Of
    The result is a remarkably accessible, yet still resolutely avant-garde work, with Lopatin taking various musical forms--cough-syrupy R&B jams, country ballads, baroque chamber pop--and wresting unexpected nuances out of them, the same way he does that harpsichord.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lush
    The crushing sameness of the existence described in Snail Mail’s music means that not every song on Lush is essential, but when Jordan hits, she hits a bullseye.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Hope Downs
    Hope Downs more than delivers on the promise of the Melbourne quintet’s two early EPs, doubling down on the melancholy pop it forged on 2015’s Talk Tight and last year’s The French Press while also polishing its sound.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Heaven & Earth
    Earth is loaded with mentally and emotionally draining songs. ... Heaven, [is] a set of smoother, more cosmic songs that showcase Washington’s ability to pen compositions of awe-inspiring majesty. Even more impressive is the way those two modes occasionally bleed into each other from across the album’s border.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Power
    Everywhere, analog instruments accelerate at such incredible speeds that their tones seem at once both fully physical and fully digital; they’re undeniably both of these things and yet it’s impossible to hear them as anything but a unified whole.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Nearer My God
    It’s as impressive as it is expansive, a perfect showcase for modern emo’s elasticity.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Be the Cowboy
    Although Be The Cowboy sees Mitski fully transformed from her lo-fi beginnings in terms of production, her post-Pixies guitar-rock tendencies still come through strong, albeit now more lush and kaleidoscopic than buzzing and raucous.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Hunter
    More than just grafting on its politics and themes of liberation, Hunter embodies them by capturing a freer, more complex--and queerer--view of its creator. Anna Calvi is on the loose.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Indigo
    Emotionally rich and full of depth, Indigo is easily Wild Nothing’s best album to date.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    And Nothing Hurt
    Nothing Hurt is the band distilled into its most affecting essence.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    New Hymn to Freedom
    New Hymn To Freedom, the English trio’s second album, is a remarkably lucid 45 minutes of spontaneous composition, a civilization of sound and emotion conjured from nothing more than the in-the-moment interplay between keyboardist Luke Abbott, saxophonist Jack Wylie, and drummer Lawrence Pike.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Chris
    Chris more than anything revels in fluid identities--whether gender, personality, mood, or otherwise--and the way they free people from expectations and limits. By extension, this frees up Christine And The Queens from musical conventions, and propels the group to the precipice of greatness.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    MITH
    The musical spaciness only enhances his already-considerable dignity and the gravitas of his songwriting, making Mith a powerful, prophetic collection.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Electric Messiah
    The band’s eighth studio album towers alongside its best work, offering both peerless, full-speed-ahead blitzkriegs (like the title track, dedicated to late Motörhead frontman Lemmy, a kindred spirit in grizzled delivery and powerhouse shredding) and slower, heavier epics like the 10-plus-minute “Sanctioned Annihilation.”
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Mandy [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
    It marks a turning point in his musical style, an embrace of the lush and layered as well as the heavy and metallic. Realizing that, and thinking about what could have come next, makes his death all the more tragic.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    thank u, next
    A leap forward in the way it reshapes her R&B-inflected pop into something sleeker and more adventurous. ... Thank U, Next skillfully toys with the tension between universal sentiments and deeply personal confessions.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    My Finest Work Yet
    he 10 tracks that make up My Finest Work Yet feel even more present, more in the moment, while never sacrificing any musicianship. Paul Butler’s production makes a gorgeous chorus out of the potential cacophony of a roomful of instruments and voices. The arrangements are as precise as ever, the track order gradually revealing a narrative that includes wrongdoings, incitement, and action.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Titanic Rising
    Rado’s opulent production gives the experience of listening to Titanic Rising—particularly on headphones—the feeling of being enveloped in sound, insulated from the outside world like an astronaut looking down at the earth through layers of atmosphere. The lyrics on Titanic Rising certainly contribute to the album’s daydream quality.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Father of the Bride
    Father Of The Bride isn’t the shocking rebirth that might have been expected, given all of the information that trickled out about it over the past six years. Instead, it’s just far enough from expectations to surprise, but close enough to remain true. It’s a little messy and a little weird (and, again, a little long), but exactly the right record for Vampire Weekend right now.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lover
    As always, Lover is an album Swift made for her fans. But it also feels like a record she made for herself, unburdened by external expectations and her own past.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Petals for Armor
    Though it contains mere hints of the scrappy rocker we’ve watched for 15 years, Petals Of Armor is the bold signature of someone who is more than ready to show off different sides of herself—yet has nothing left to prove to anyone.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Punisher
    Whether she intended to do so or not, Phoebe Bridgers has created a musical monument to our dissociative age with Punisher. It’s an album about sleepless nights and sinking feelings in the pit of your stomach, wrapped in a musical package that’s both feather-light and lush enough to run your fingers through.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    Unlike the singer’s rootsy solo work, Down In The Weeds is rich in what brought many of us to Bright Eyes in the first place: the drama. ... There’s the mature reflection he intertwines with his urgency. There’s his hard-fought optimism. And there’s the embrace of community, the sense that Oberst doesn’t want to stare down these songs alone.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    evermore
    evermore is even better than folklore, thanks to greater sonic cohesion (Antonoff only has one production credit, on the superlative “Gold Rush,” leaving the bulk of the music produced or co-produced by Aaron Dessner) and stronger songwriting.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sour
    Her debut record, SOUR, will be a contender for best pop album of the year. There are no filler tracks on SOUR. Each song represents a different side to Rodrigo’s artistry, embracing every influence that’s shaped her music, while still creating something fresh.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sling
    Cottrill delivers her most innately beautiful and well-orchestrated album yet.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Welcome 2 America
    This record is evidence that Prince’s one-of-a-kind genius never really dimmed, even if he sometimes lost sight of how to focus it, 0r—perhaps more importantly to the quick-take internet area that Prince detested so much—how to package it.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Aisles [EP]
    These don’t feel like your average indie-goes-’80s covers; they’re a reminder that even when Olsen’s having fun, she can turn something simple into a gut-punch, consuming your thoughts and evoking reflection of the emotional connection tied to her words.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Any Shape You Take
    The record has achieved a rare quality: It sounds as though it was made just for you.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
    Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is as ambitious and intimate as anything the North-London MC has ever done, and an easy contender for the best rap album of the year, let alone the week.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    New Adventures in Hi-Fi [25th Anniversary Edition]
    For die-hards, having these extra tracks in one place, rather than scattered across CD singles or long-lost downloaded MP3s, is a plus; for the unfamiliar, these extras help flesh out the main album’s contours. ... A fascinating chronicle, New Adventures is finally—and rightfully—taking its place as one of R.E.M.’s best, most consistent works.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Red (Taylor's Version)
    Red (Taylor’s Version) has a happy, free, lonely, and, yes, confused vibe; quoting “22” feels appropriate in this case—it doesn’t get old, it just gets an incredible upgrade.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    30
    The richest and most musically adventurous album of her career.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Bloodmoon: I
    A group that has long found new, thrilling ways to go hard and fast is softening and slowing its assault, locating (thanks to some choice guest contributors) new dimensions of the Converge sound: songs that slither rather than gallop and whisper instead of roar.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Covers
    Stellar. ... The album boasts Marshall’s usual selection of interesting and unexpected covers. This time around, she’s curated an intriguing and moody mix of modern pop, vintage country, and classic rock, highlighted by recognizable songs.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lucifer on the Sofa
    Lucifer On The Sofa is one of the band’s most focused songwriting efforts yet: Every note feels deliberately placed and well-constructed, with crisp arrangements (the piano-sprinkled ballad “My Babe”), piercing hooks (the elastic “The Devil & Mr. Jones”) and sweeping dynamics (the melodramatic, glammy art-rock waltz “Satellite”).
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    PAINLESS
    Yanya’s voice, both grounded and airy, slides across PAINLESS’ 12 expertly crafted and unusually somber love songs.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    (Watch My Moves)
    It’s a sprawling, sublime collection which rivals B’lieve in the context of Vile’s largely unimpeachable discography.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Big Time
    Big Time is a monumental work on loss and how quickly things can change. We see Olsen come into a new power as a songwriter, resulting in an album filled to the brim with radiance and conviction.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    ()
    It actually transcends its predecessor in its unsettling, under-the-skin beauty.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Cookie: The Anthropological Mix Tape
    Cookie is so frequently brilliant that its periodic missteps feel like integral parts of a grand design.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
    At once infectious and challenging, complex and direct, The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone represents the new standard for those seeking to carry the torch lit by the Beatles and Beach Boys.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Don't Give Up On Me
    With the spotlight firmly planted on singer and song, Henry keeps the production lean, reminding the world how powerful the combination of the right man, the right band, and the right studio can sound.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Yours, Mine & Ours
    Yours, Mine & Ours strikes the same gorgeous, sad tone as its two predecessors.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Canto
    As great as Los Super Seven's self-titled debut still sounds, the new Canto, produced with even more flair by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, widens the group's scope to include the entire Latin-American hemisphere, acting as an even broader tribute to Latino culture.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Mass Romantic
    More than the sum of its influences--even if it occasionally feels like a stack of Cars, Cheap Trick, and early XTC albums melted together--Mass Romantic throttles from strength to strength.
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