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
    • 83 Critic Score
    From A Birds Eye View
    From A Bird’s Eye View is a fitting sequel to Lost Boy both sonically and lyrically. That lost boy is gone and in his place a self-assured artist plotting his next moves in the industry.
    • 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.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    kiCK iiiii
    Ghersi’s most minimalistic release. It rarely boasts more than a slow piano line or a near-nonexistent synth bed. ... Perhaps these songs would jell more strongly if they belonged to albums released separately, and many months apart, instead of crammed into one unit.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    kick iiii
    If her work has previously resembled a maze of metallic doors and broken mirrors, kick iiii is more akin to the day after a snowstorm: There’s some beauty to it, but the unsightly ice piles curdling near the sidewalks stand out the most.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    KicK iii
    KicK iii, however, largely succeeds because it further explores the aggressive moods at which “Prada” only pokes.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Kick ii
    The onslaught of music masks how well KICK ii refines KiCk i’s chaotic, free-flying spirit into something smoother and more muted—and how KicK iii exaggerates these jagged edges.
    • 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
    • 67 Critic Score
    Things Take Time, Take Time
    While it may not be the most sonically exciting record crafted under lockdown, it’s at its best when encapsulating the emotional regression felt during that time—especially when people were so starved for connection, they sometimes forgot how to communicate clearly with others.
    • 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.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Queens of the Summer Hotel
    It may fall on the more mellow and restrained side of her catalogue, but this is a record to be savored—mining beauty (and yes, some humor) from pain is an Aimee Mann specialty, and this record serves as further testament to that fact.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Valentine
    Throughout Valentine, Jordan reaches a new height of expression that practically demands to be heard and felt. ... Over Valentine, Jordan takes turmoil and heartache and creates something beautiful from the mess.
    • 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.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Blue Banisters
    While Chemtrails was cause for concern that Del Rey had perhaps lost her magic touch, Banisters is a reminder that when the singer-songwriter is in charge of her vision and fully taps into her emotions, she’s still capable of crafting breathtaking beauty.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Montero
    Everything’s he’s done has led to this engaging debut record, a work that allows his inner self to shine.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    God Is Partying
    With God Is Partying, W.K. isn’t closing the chapter on the persona that attracted so many fans in the first place. He’s merely showing that there’s a different side to the poster child for partying—and it’s not always going to be uplifting.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Hey What
    More successfully than on Double Negative, Low has fused the thesis and antithesis of its musical identity, creating a transcendent synthesis of its fragile, beautiful ego and raging experimental id. Lucky 13, indeed.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Certified Lover Boy
    The resulting record is largely another missed opportunity for experimentation from the man many consider the current best rapper in the game. Yes, the theatrics, and introspection, and even a few moments of musical deftness, are there. But overall, it’s nothing to depart from 2018’s Scorpion or 2016’s Views. There’s nothing groundbreaking here.
    • 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.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Star-Crossed
    While she leaves her full Western get-up at the door, Musgraves continues to bring her Southern sensibilities with her, with a work that reaches to the soul of the country genre, if not the most obvious musical trappings.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Donda
    More than half of this album is complete filler. No one’s missing “Okok,” “24,” or “Remote Control.” A soulful choir is not enough to save “Never Again.” On this record, there is none of the production genius we’ve come to expect from West. ... And that’s the thing that’s missing most from this record, with all its myriad problems: No one edits West anymore, not even himself. And that’s a damn shame.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Screen Violence
    It may not be their best, but it’s their best right now—and it crackles with the energy of a group that’s figured out how to block out the noise and deliver superbly crafted pop music, the kind some idealistic kids would’ve wanted to hear in a Scottish basement over a decade ago.
    • 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.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Solar Power
    Solar Power’s a little messy and rough around the edges, and features a Lorde now moving on from her youth and wanting to keep some things to herself. In short: It’s just like being 24.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Into the Blue
    It’s an undeniable return to early form, albeit with the clear sensibility of a band struggling to again find the magic in the formula.
    • 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.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Infinite Granite
    Infinite Granite is easy on the ears, a lush and transporting listen, but it also runs together in a way previous albums from this band—with their hills of jagged intensity and valleys of, yes, heavenly beauty—really didn’t. Here, we get only the beauty: a long, indistinguishable blur of pleasure.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Pressure Machine
    Some of the most openly emotional music The Killers have ever created. The unflinching nostalgia of Pressure Machine is strong enough to inspire our own thoughts back to wherever we think of as “home,” and how it remains a part of us even if it’s not the place we would have chosen ourselves.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Happier than Ever
    Billie Eilish’s second album expands upon everything that worked the last time and pushes it in new directions, a creative muse restless and bold in its ambition. It may not always land, but this is a terrific release that proves Eilish’s staying power, demonstrating she’s more than up to the task of delivering on the promise of her debut.
    • 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.
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