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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    • 66 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Music For Listening To Music To
    While the record is undoubtedly pretty, it also feels defanged.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Don't You
    The music rarely has room to breathe underneath all the echo, reverb, doubling of vocals, instruments, and synth-heavy swirls of sound. It doesn’t help matters that the lyrics often succumb to the temptation of pop-song cliché.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Terra Incognita
    Lewis convincingly mixes guttural aggression and haunting sonic effects. However, the songwriting is mostly nonexistent, and some tracks are puzzling non-fits that destroy any consistent atmosphere.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Ryan Adams
    Ryan Adams is, for better or for worse, just another Ryan Adams record--but neither Adams nor his fans seem to have a problem with that.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    My Everything
    My Everything is so well-constructed and designed to succeed, it rarely loosens up enough to let any depth of character (or real surprises) surface.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    All I Ever Wanted
    Now she’s working with pro songwriters full-time again, and the result is a likeable but ultimately hackneyed album that presents her as the über-everygirl.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Frkwys, Vol. 9: Icon Give Thank
    Ultimately, Icon Give Thank sounds more like a Sun Araw album with a few guest vocalist features rather than a mutually beneficial musical conversation.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Push and Shove
    The album sags in the midtempo-heavy middle, with Stefani's slang-laden lyrics transitioning from campy to corny without a boost from adrenalized production. But Push And Shove rallies in the end.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Back Room
    The album starts repeating itself and the returns start diminishing.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Atlas
    The Real Estate of Days was eager to take the listener off guard, to show off its ample musicianship through tunefully off-kilter songs. In contrast, the band that made Atlas seems to be hesitatingly wondering what to do next. Here’s hoping it’s something surprising.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Crush Songs
    Crush Songs is sad and pretty and likely to be playing at an American Apparel somewhere near you, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s hardly the best work Karen O can do.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    A Joyful Noise
    While Gossip prove themselves capable practitioners of disco-fraught anthems like Noise's "Move In The Right Direction" and "Get Lost"--Ditto in particular continues to inject more nuance into her bullhorn vocals with every record--the most compelling tracks on A Joyful Noise are the few that don't entirely conform to the template.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Beauty Queen Sister
    Emotional sappiness isn't a new concept for the Indigo Girls. Unfortunately, neither is the rest of Beauty Queen.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Sleep Forever
    At only eight tracks, Sleep Forever feels self-indulgent, the sketchiness of its songs covered up by its layers of exhausting excess. If Crocodiles want to be more than just a photocopy, they need to start drawing their own lines a little sharper.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Portrait Is Finished & I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty...
    Bejar wanders in and out with backing vocals and extended guitar lines, but the overall feeling is of two artists taking a little time out for themselves.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Planet Her
    While the pleasant-enough arrangements may make for an effective summer record, Planet Her lacks the originality Doja made her name on, and no amount of stunning and spacey visuals (as in the music video for “Need To Know”) can make the songs better than they are.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Uncanney Valley
    Uncanney Valley is curiously conflict-free--and for a band that always thrived on friction, that can make for a frustrating listen.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Robotique Majestique
    Robotique Majestique, the latest from Austin electro-rock weirdo outfit Ghostland Observatory, is a good EP trapped inside a mediocre album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Wolf
    After three albums of unfiltered angst, the one-time wildcard now seems like a stubbornly static figure, an impression that’s supported by his monochromatic self-production on all of Wolf’s 18 tracks, which rarely build on the synthesized strings and tranquilized pianos of his other releases.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Hotel Shampoo
    The result of Rhys' soft-focus dabbling is, surprisingly, a samey batch of songs, Muzak for the psychedelic set.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    BOOMIVERSE
    On his third solo record, Boomiverse, Big Boi chooses a path of cheerful irrelevance. The only possible thing to say about it is that you will like it if you like his other solo records and would also like a third album exactly like them.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    BAYTL
    BAYTL is an album for B-movie lovers who prefer their entertainment blaring from the blown speakers of a rust-spackled Cadillac.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Music From Another Dimension!
    Aerosmith's best album in years, still sounds like a watery echo of what the band once was.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Younger Now
    Cyrus’ voice has scarcely been more expressive, and there’s no question that she means what she sings. That said, you might long for a more inspired metaphor (or eight).
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Extreme Witchcraft
    The songs on Extreme Witchcraft that don’t work simply blend into the background. ... Moments that do work—and there are a handful—combine Everett’s peerless gift for melody and pacing. ... Ultimately, however, there isn’t much in the way of subtext here.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Skinty Fia
    More than anything, however, Skinty Fia’s plodding progression and miserabilist overtones come across like cut-rate versions of Bauhaus’ chilly gothic vibes and the aforementioned Joy Division’s claustrophobic dirge, only without the benefit of the latter group’s inimitable basslines.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Reggie
    Reggie introduces a kinder, gentler Redman, and while the lack of skits is refreshing, it'd be kind of nice to have the old one back.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Moment Bends
    The new record goes too far toward buffing out the quirks of its predecessor, mistaking studio compression and unexciting genre exercises for more focused songwriting.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Destroyed
    Destroyed is slower than 2008's bright, clubby throwback Last Night and livelier than 2009's oft-despondent Wait For Me, but it's more like the latter, if only because none of the hooks stick.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Dreams and Nightmares
    Everything is executed competently enough, but the album's stuffy backward focus hardly complements an excitable rapper whose best work comes from rapping in the here and now.
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