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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    • 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.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Zombies on Broadway
    In sum, Zombies On Broadway compiles some worthwhile ruminations and life lessons, but McMahon needs to search a little harder for compelling ways to package them.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Northern Passages
    On Northern Passages, their 10th studio album, The Sadies cut 11 fresh paths through well-trodden territory. Because band-leading brothers Dallas and Travis Good have made adaptability their defining characteristic, they’re best served when bigger personalities take the helm.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Blue
    The Scandinavian city is so much more than doom and gloom. Communions remind us that there’s more, and of the optimistic quality of a great pop song. After all, they made an entire album of the stuff.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Snowdonia
    Getting these skills to jell means moving further away from the Surfer Blood that fans may be accustomed to, but Snowdonia hints at a rewarding payoff.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Process
    It’s the best R&B debut since FKA Twigs’ LP1.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    After the Party
    While The Menzingers’ best work has always been about grappling with personality flaws in the interest of becoming a better person, After The Party only offers surface-level reflections, to the detriment of the band itself.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    C U L T U R E
    On Culture the band stakes a claim as the most important rap group to come out of Atlanta since Outkast. That it even seems fathomable is proof of the album’s success.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Changer
    Fred Thomas has proven to be quite an effective and relevant artist in the present.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Life Without Sound
    Life Without Sound is the next logical step in Cloud Nothings’ upward trajectory.
    • 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.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Tourist in This Town
    It shows that Crutchfield has always been a star. Tourist In This Town is just the coming-out party.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    A Shadow in Time
    Basinski’s work, like all ambient music, provides for endless, unresolved interpretation by its design--even when it tries to force its meaning on you.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    He's Got the Whole This Land Is Your Land in His Hands
    These songs would never be mistaken for any other band—by that same token, it’s often so obtuse it feels like it’s not meant for anyone but its creators.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Hang
    On Hang, Foxygen hits its stride, a well-oiled machine confident in its surfeit of songwriting abilities and wieldy powers.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Future Politics
    Austra’s optimistic and propulsive record is a welcome accompaniment.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    AFI (The Blood Album)
    Although AFI (The Blood Album) doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it doesn’t need to: The record illustrates that the members of AFI are deeply committed to forward motion, and remain as fired up now as they were 25 years ago.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Forever
    Despite its ridiculous lyrical moments, Forever advances the trend of mashing together disparate styles in metal and hardcore.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I See You
    The result is the most eclectic, multidimensional, and ambitious album of The xx’s young career.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Echolocation
    Unfortunately, about half of the album’s 12 tracks could be described as comfortable, safe songwriting without the exploration that makes the band shine.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Run the Jewels 3
    Three albums deep, Killer Mike and El-P sound as hungry as ever, and the world is still full of Caesars with ripe throats.
    • 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.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Reflection
    His assessment is astute; whether used as sonic wallpaper or the soundtrack for a lengthy meditation, Reflection is the kind of album useful for getting ideas percolating and nourishing interior worlds.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Telefone [Mixtape]
    Telefone is a unique project that points to even greater things for Noname in the future.
    • 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.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Abendrot
    While Abendrot doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it follows in emo’s tradition of skewing toward prog, if not in sound then at least in ideology.
    • 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.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Hamburg Demonstrations
    There is the sense here that he’s trying to get away from himself, to grasp at problems that loom larger than those in his personal life. It feels necessary, if not particularly memorable.
    • 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.
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