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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    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Title TK
    Title TK comes off as unglued in an almost perversely restrained, even uneventful way.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In Space
    Pleasant in parts, embarrassing in others, In Space sounds more like an okay album from any of a dozen Big Star-inspired bands than like Big Star itself.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fake Songs
    The spoofs are pretty much just lazy, fooling-around-in-the-studio exercises, which also holds true for most of the non-fake songs on Fake Songs.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    You're the One
    Though not exactly a bad album, when contrasted to the remarkable Graceland and Rhythm Of The Saints, it sounds as arbitrary as a collection of B-sides.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Destiny Fulfilled
    Destiny Fulfilled sounds distant and detached, and its pronounced ballad-fancy only occasionally raises a flag for the group dynamic it serves to restore.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Devil's Workshop
    Devil's Workshop is the shorter of the two discs, and the better by virtue of brevity and energy.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Cocky
    Cocky plays it safe, tinkering slightly with Devil's formula but generally delivering virtual carbon copies of its monster hits.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Folktronic
    It's all so clever and thought-provoking that it's almost possible to overlook that, in most other respects, it's not especially good.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Hyacinths and Thistles
    [Merritt] leaves vocal duties entirely to his guests here, an impressive group that includes new-wave forebear Gary Numan and '70s warbler Melanie alongside an all-star collection of indie-rock fixtures. Unfortunately, he's given them some of his weakest material to date, delicate but forgettable songs that often sound like discarded leftovers from 69 Love Songs.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Strange Little Girls
    The disc looks, on paper, like an intriguing exercise. Unfortunately, it sounds, in reality, like little more than an intriguing exercise: With few exceptions, it's tedious and predictable, wearing its calculated concept far too boldly on its sleeve.
    • The A.V. Club
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Process Of Belief
    Plunges right back into oppressively rigid formula.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Eat at Whitey's
    Everlast's pretensions and ambition still outstrip his talent, however, and the distance between the two makes Eat At Whitey's both intriguing and frustrating.... like a defensive tackle trying his hand at ballet, he's far too clumsy and limited a singer and songwriter for the delicate material he attempts.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Under Rug Swept
    Her personal revelations too often ring false and crass, and nothing undermines a confession like calculation.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Palookaville
    Palookaville's highlights promise the sweat and smiles that have become Fatboy Slim's stock in trade, but its surprisingly dull lulls offer nothing more promising than a blank expression.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Bleed Like Me
    Garbage's latest approaches a kind of shimmering technical perfection, but remains strangely, stubbornly uninvolving.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    A Day Without Rain
    Self-seriousness and artistic water-treading aside, there's nothing wrong with A Day Without Rain. It's just that few households need more than an hour or so of Enya music, and Shepherd Moons and Watermark serve that purpose far more effectively.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Beekeeper
    Floats by without stirring much interest.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fatherfucker
    Nearly all of Fatherfucker falls back into ostensibly bracing anthems that sound plain stupid in such abundance.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pelo
    Guests from Chicago's music scene, including Mekons singer Sally Timms and members of Tortoise, bolster the already-solid playing of the Navins' regular contingent, and while the songs aren't particularly sharp, the music (produced by the Navins, John Herndon, and John McEntire) most definitely is.... Can something be so smooth that it just slips away? For all its pleasantness, Pelo comes awfully close to this invisible ideal, an achievement in its own right but not an especially engaging one.
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