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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    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    I Am Not a Human Being II
    I Am Not A Human Being II doesn’t offer any more new ideas than its title promises, but it does have the distinction of being the rapper’s most focused album.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Chronicles of Marnia
    The Chronicles Of Marnia is chock full of these reminders of Stern’s instrumental dexterity and flawlessly meticulous execution, but without the intense theatrics, flair, and helter-skelter points of tension and release, it never quite transcends into the thrilling mess that is such a good vehicle for her talents.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Sound City: Real to Reel
    Perhaps due to understandably lower expectations, Sound City has a better batting average when Grohl is collaborating with a lesser tier of legend--or with no legend at all.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Girl Talk
    Girl Talk may be the album she’s always wanted to make, but fans of her older material may be left wanting.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Messenger
    The disc’s overall pleasantness and pasteurized charm are what save it from being wholly aggravating.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Regions of Light and Sound of God
    Pleasant but at times bland or monotonous, the record touches on wholesome ’50s rock, hollow soul, skittering jazz, and pastoral folk.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Christopher
    Even if Christopher is almost always functional, it's almost never essential.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lost Sirens
    It still sounds like New Order, a band that put out some incredible records in the last 30 years, but that stopped growing and changing in half that time.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Anything In Return
    It's not just a preference for textures over melodies that makes Anything In Return fall short of its genre-bending aspirations, however. Pop music is more than just dance beats and glammy electronics; it's an attitude, and Bundick might just not have it.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Beta Love
    It tries so hard to please that it becomes perversely repellant.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Elements of Light
    Elements Of Light is missing momentum and velocity--two things needed to sustain an all-instrumental symphony. Unfortunately, this means the album ends up as pleasant background noise-and not much more.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Unorthodox Jukebox
    He's an undeniable talent, desperately searching for an identity to claim as his own.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Born to Sing: No Plan B
    The remainder of Born To Sing is salvaged by solid, serviceable, latter-day Morrison material.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    O.N.I.F.C.
    On O.N.I.F.C. Khalifa splits the difference between his druggy muse and his pop obligations, without much interest in finding a middle ground.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Tre!
    ¡Tre! succeeds most as an exercise in influence-dropping and self-recycling, with a glimmer of inspiration here and there.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Rebel Soul
    It's a whole lot of uneven songs crammed into an overlong album that tries hard to please the fickle country/rock-'n'-roll/hip-hop audience-but not too hard, because that's not Kid Rock's style.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    No Love Deep Web
    Even at a meaty 46 minutes, the album still suffers from a feeling of writer's block.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    An Awesome Wave
    An Awesome Wave washes over its beached listeners, pleasantly cooling them for a second, then making its retreat back into an ocean of sameness.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Unapologetic
    A fiery pop album that's unfortunately coated in the icky residue of unearned defiance that has marked Brown's recent output.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    18 Months
    This album is less a monument to the human experience and more a harbinger of the rise of the machines.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    (III)
    Instead of anarchist dance jams full of crunchy 8-bit noise, (III) is more like a static-filled radio station fading in and out of range.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Dos!
    Dos! is the sophomore slump of a trilogy that's shaping up to be far less fun than it was supposed to be.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lotus
    Aguilera has always been an unstoppable force when she pours her heart and soul into her music-and not as adept at dumbing down her voice or lyrics for the sake of lightweight tunes or prevailing trends. Unfortunately, by focusing on the latter route, Lotus becomes disappointingly faceless.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Department of Disappearance
    On the whole, however, the album is even-tempered where it should be adventurous, mild when there should be marvelous.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Former Lives
    While still being firmly planted in the category of mainstream indie rock, the album is all over the place both thematically and musically.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    The 2nd Law
    For a band so seemingly full of big ideas, Muse sounds on its sixth album like a hard-rocking collection of other bands, some that they've previously been compared to, and others new.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Gold Dust
    While anyone who lost touch with Amos over the years will certainly enjoy Gold Dust--and the sonic upgrades to some of her best songs are sublime--in the end, it's not essential.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lightning
    In getting back to basics, however, the record leaves out the memorable hooks that make the whole formula work.
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