The A.V. Club's Scores

Select another publication »
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
view
per page
    • 69 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    VIEWS
    Taken on its own, it’s another sumptuously produced, artfully crafted statement from one of the few rap stars with a truly individualistic aesthetic. It’s also too long and stubbornly low energy, nowhere near the knockout Drake’s been building it up to be since practically before he began recording it.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser
    This trio of songs [“Well, Everybody’s Fucking In A U.F.O.,” “Medication For The Melancholy” and “The Hideous Exhibitions Of A Dedicated Gore Whore”] emphasizes Zombie’s strengths as a showman and also possesses laser-like focus--the two qualities that make Electric Warlock such an engaging listen.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Ship
    The Ship is a thrilling album, emotionally draining in parts, but more than worth the struggle. Forty-one years after Another Green World, Eno is still foraging for new musical ground, and what he’s able to come up with is nothing short of miraculous.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Always Strive and Prosper
    Without succumbing to false sentimentality or restricting himself with the overly linear narrative structure of many of rap’s recent prestige albums, Ferg has crafted a tender tribute to the people he loves most. It’s not often that albums that bang this hard are this moving.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lemonade
    All over Lemonade, Beyoncé is describing her own personal reality, on her terms and informed by her worldview. That the album simultaneously pushes mainstream music into smarter, deeper places is simply a reminder of why she remains pop’s queen.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Nocturnal Koreans
    Fifteen albums into its career, the band has never sounded more ready to rip up its playbook and forge ahead into new territory.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Please Be Honest
    While Please Be Honest can’t quite rank with the best of Guided By Voice’s output, it’s a solid, rewarding record that more than lives up to the band’s namesake.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    You're Doomed. Be Nice.
    This is an album that wants to be heard. It’s also an album that wants to be listened to.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    PersonA
    Skeptics who have already written the band off may dismiss the new methods as artificial, which isn’t that hard to do, given how much of the group’s history feels contrived. But, to an impartial ear, the record doesn’t sound like a collective of falsely enthusiastic neo-hippies; rather, it sounds like a collective of talented, unhampered musicians, and it deserves recognition as such.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Love Letter for Fire
    The result is Beam’s best release since In The Reins, with a far more dynamic batch of songs, and a wider introduction to Hoop’s compelling and naturally chameleonic songwriting style.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Hope Six Demolition Project
    It’s not a “return to rock” (a phrase that probably interests Harvey about as much as “dirt-filled sandwich”), but The Hope Six Demolition Project does contain some of the songwriter’s most guitar-heavy material since the Uh Huh Her days.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Human Performance
    Human Performance as a whole feels less rigid (and abrasive) and more personal in how it deals with restlessness and dread.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Painting of a Panic Attack
    A lonely and haunted record, Painting Of A Panic Attack doesn’t soar like much of Frightened Rabbit’s catalog, instead taking its time to explore the mind’s darker inner rooms.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Love Streams
    Virgins is dark and brilliant and haunting as it raises the hairs on the back of your neck, while Love Streams washes over you--or sometimes floats by off in the horizon--due to its subtlety and complex, deliberate construction.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Junk
    It’s easily M83’s most challenging, best album to date.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Are You Serious
    Unfortunately, the highlights here are exceptions rather than the rule.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Lost Time
    The songs are simple and instantly catchy, fuller in sound than their previous work and fueled by prominent percussion that’s been moved to the forefront.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Atomic
    It’s Atomic that helps listeners make sense of this evolution in Mogwai’s interest in synthesizers. Synths do play a major role on Atomic, but the record is still unmistakably Mogwai, filled with moments of triumph, beauty, and horror.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Bang, Zoom, Crazy... Hello
    If you’re a fan of guitar rock, loving Cheap Trick is very important, and though today the band occasionally sounds a little too calculated and studio-glamorous, as opposed to high-voltage and live--and though there’s currently no Bun E., an important note--its staunch resolve about living the rock-and-roll life (album, tour, album, tour, repeat) and parlaying a mega sound into a decades-spanning career should provide reason enough to bow down.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Wilderness
    Explosions In The Sky have crafted an updated version of themselves that’s ready for 2016 ears without sacrificing the band’s identity. The record might divide some longtime fans, but it’s a necessary risk to take to ensure the band’s continued relevance.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Welcome the Worms
    For the most part, Bleached’s style of rock and roll is best suited to short, vicious tracks that get in, chug a beer, high-five the host, then get out. Welcome The Worms loses some its punch strictly because of its runtime. It’s not long for an album, but it’s long for this kind of album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Amen & Goodbye
    What they share--and what almost the whole album offers--is a beautifully crafted, fearless balance of sweet and dark.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Weezer (White Album)
    Despite the occasional misstep, this is an enjoyable album, one that you can expect to hear blasting from car radios from now to September.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache
    While other groups that release so much material typically lapse into mediocrity at some point, both of these bands are seemingly inexhaustible wells of brilliance. One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache is a perfect example.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Eric Bachmann
    Eric Bachmann is the most lyric-centered record of Bachmann’s career; it’s not as immediate as Archers Of Loaf or Crooked Fingers, but it isn’t built to be. The lasting impression is a deeply personal one.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    We Disappear
    The production, courtesy of former Death Cab For Cutie member Chris Walla, makes these songs, basked in an ambient wash, still feel wholly accessible.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Hitch
    Working in a variety of moods and styles, The Joy Formidable proves with Hitch that it doesn’t need an overkill of energy to excite.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Hella Personal Film Festival
    Props go to Open Mike Eagle for finding the right delivery and attitude suitable for each new endeavor. But stronger accolades go to White for crafting such a challenging and engrossing set of beats in the first place.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Patch the Sky
    It’s fair to wonder how many more runs through the alternative-rock mill one guy will get, but if Patch The Sky is any indication, Mould’s still a long way away from being on the clock.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future
    By the time the triumphant final expansive push to the end arrives, it’s become one of Underworld’s most powerful musical statements--and the memorable grace note to a strong return to form.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Visions of Us on the Land
    Though the collab with Swift has resulted in easily Jurado’s most fascinating records as a songwriter, the wide-open road might be a little too inviting at times--because occasionally you need to consult a map for fear of driving off the end of the Earth.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Chaosmosis
    When the group toys with synth-pop and krautrock elements, such as on the metronomic “Carnival Of Fools,” it pushes Chaosmosis further into retro territory, which is not a bad place to be.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Post Pop Depression
    Most of the music reflects a kind of mid-paced and downcast feel. As the tracks bleed into each other, at times there’s too much stylistic similarity. But any feeling of monotony is cut short by songs like “Vulture” or “German Days,” which mixes playful ’70s guitar-riffs with a dark, flourishing chorus.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Painkillers
    The secret to Painkillers is that Fallon doesn’t overcomplicate things or second-guess himself, which must be liberating considering the daunting amount of pressure he’s under with Gaslight. And pairing Fallon’s vocals with piano (“Honey Magnolia”) and harmonious backing vocals (“Open All Night”) illustrates how versatile his voice is when he doesn’t need to scream over an overdriven amp.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    untitled unmastered.
    It may be a while before Lamar releases a project with such low stakes again, so take Untitled for the casual gift that it is: a bonus disc that improbably holds up as an essential album in its own right.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Of Course You Are
    Taking risks and expanding your musical palate is the only way to avoid stagnation. And while Of Course You Are may do so with only modest success, it’s a success nonetheless.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    You Know Who You Are
    Aptly titled You Know Who You Are, the group’s new collection of songs sees the band once again merging upbeat rockers (“New Bird”) with shimmering ballads (“Believe You’re Mine”) to quietly craft an album that’s a case study in how to grow older gracefully.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    We Can Do Anything
    Too often, solid tracks like “Foothills”--never mind its ridiculous and hilarious rhymes like “I’ll take lunch with my coworkers / But after work I just go berzerkers”--are lost among the album’s wackier, ambitious forays.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    United Crushers
    If United Crushers isn’t exactly optimistic, its vitality suggests that feeling friendless (“Fish On The Griddle”), cast aside (“Lose You”), or trapped on your sucky street corner (“Melting Block”) need not ruin your weekend.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Music For Listening To Music To
    While the record is undoubtedly pretty, it also feels defanged.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    More Rain
    The result is an album that rocks out a little more than its predecessors, while not giving up the factors that made Ward’s music so great to begin with.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    How to Dance
    The songs on How To Dance--while immediately ingratiating--reveal more depth with each spin, opening up entire universes within the backwoods. The lyrics allude to mythology and folktales, and as McEntire sings them, it’s easy to imagine her with her eyes closed, receiving the words from some netherworld.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
    In the hands of other bands, this slippery focus might feel like genre whiplash or a bait-and-switch. Yet the album coheres shockingly well, thanks to smart sequencing and the vocal progression of frontman Matt Healy.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    99 Cents
    It seems as though becoming a mother in the interim has improved Santigold’s outlook on the world. The only problem is, she sounds far more interesting when she’s exploring the darkness.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    This Unruly Mess I've Made
    It’s hard to think of a more apt title for this album than This Unruly Mess I’ve Made. Listeners can find everything that made Macklemore popular in the first place, mixed with everything that lead to the intense backlash against him two years ago.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Need Your Light
    It occasionally feels like a collection of lines taken from motivational posters, when it’s not being overtly silly (the vapid disco tics and Queen-style harmonic flourishes of “Bouncy Castle”), but the pleasure here lies in the saccharine joy of such frothy, bouncing pop anthems.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Side Pony
    Far more effective over the long haul are songs like the loud, bluesy “I Don’t Care About You,” the gentle mid-tempo soul ballad “How Good It Feels,” and the gospel-inspired “Close To Me.” And yet none of those immediately leap out like “Side Pony,” a song that lodges so deeply in the head that after hearing it once it’s impossible to see those two words side-by-side without singing them.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Painting With
    Animal Collective is capable of crafting self-serious, masterful records; Painting With shows that the group is perhaps even better at making something meaningful when it loosens up.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Life Of Pablo
    It feels far different from any of the tightly constructed, singular works of West’s past, and from a sonic standpoint, it sounds almost like a greatest-hits collection of nearly every sound and musical idea that he’s cultivated up to this moment. If you have a favorite Kanye West record, you can find it in here somewhere.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Psychedelic Swamp
    You can marvel at the strangely layered backdrops of these songs, get lost tracing the oddball sonic twists, and still come out with the chorus planted firmly in your head.
    • 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.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    This Is Acting
    A record that overwhelmingly delivers big beats and shout-along choruses straight to the brain’s pleasure center.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Hymns
    Themes of loss, grief, and finding meaning in one’s life are buried deep within the subtext of the record. It’s just a shame that after listening to Hymns, we’re no closer to finding any kind of revelation or spiritual bliss.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Anti
    In the end, Anti’s tracks combine to create a picture of Rihanna at her most relatable and enthralling.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Waiting Room
    Though Tindersticks is no longer angling for the pure dramatic sweep of its ambitious ’90s records, it remains a unique band, maintaining a sense of creativity (and making beautiful music) while working within limited themes.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    New View
    It’s keenly observed, totally genuine, and eminently listenable, though one can’t help but miss the choppy energy and anxious undercurrents of Personal Record. Maybe comfort-zone types work best in tight spots.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Emotional Mugger
    Segall has such control of the chaos on Emotional Mugger that once you’ve reached the halfway point you’ll realize that you were never doubting him--because as he’s developed as a songwriter, he’s grown more adventurous and even more dependable. The bigger the catalog, the better.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Dystopia
    The music is ferocious, catchy, and arguably the band’s best since the early ’90s; but many of Dystopia’s lyrics have nauseating connotations.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Catastrophist
    About a quarter of the record is fairly neglible. But the rest shows an energy and purpose that’s refreshing to hear, especially for anyone who’s been following Tortoise from the start.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Jet Plane And Oxbow
    The album doesn’t always fulfill its ambitions, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially with results as muscular as this one.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Adore Life
    It’s a shame that so much of the Savages album feels like a songwriting rut, because the record’s lone moment of transcendence, “Adore,” also stamps out a repeating coda at its end.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Not to Disappear
    In Daughter’s world, the distinction between ecstasy and agony isn’t always obvious; in fact, the two are often one and the same. It’s why Not To Disappear demands full attention, and what makes the album such a compelling listen.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Death of a Bachelor
    Panic! At The Disco’s audience may perpetually renew itself with fresh teenagers, but Urie is maturing as an artist. He takes a lot of risks on Death Of A Bachelor, all of which pay off.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Blackstar
    For all its jazz accents and solos, Blackstar ends up becoming a stage for the things that first made Bowie a pop star: his incessantly catchy melodies and elastic voice.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Tell Me I'm Pretty
    These songs are effective as standalones and the album does gel into a cohesive statement, but for a group whose identity was finally coming into focus on Melophobia, Cage The Elephant’s signature sound here is obscured.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude
    If Darkest Before Dawn really is a prelude to the record King Push to come, you have to wonder where Pusha T will choose to take his music next. Making it deeper, angrier, darker, and more foreboding doesn’t seem possible.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Purple
    Through it all the rejuvenated Baroness is totally inspired, not only to be making new music but also to have the ability to make new music. And you can hear it.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Right On!
    It’s a haunted house whose furnishings, though familiar, come artfully arranged.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Kannon
    This is the soundtrack to the decline of our species, once again illustrating that Sunn O))) is one of the most interesting and progressive groups in heavy music.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    25
    Her music feels authentic because, as a listener, you believe that these songs about love, pain, fear, and loss come from somewhere real and personal. On 25, she once again has something to say, with a voice that demands to be heard.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Aquaria
    It’s an album full of musical precision and technical achievements that ultimately reveals Boots to be exactly who he is: Jordan Asher, a prodigy producer eager to find his own voice.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Purpose
    The album also takes itself so seriously that too often it inadvertently suppresses exactly what made Bieber so appealing in the first place.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Montage Of Heck: The Home Recordings
    Nearly everything here feels unfinished, and, for those seeking undiscovered gems from one of the greats, that might be a deal-breaker. The Home Recordings is not an easy listen. To appreciate The Home Recordings is to give yourself over to Cobain’s process, because it’s his freewheeling desire for discovery that propels these tracks.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Art Angels
    It’s slick and gritty, fun and funny, and horrifying and grotesque all at once. It will also make you shake your ass like nothing else.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Teens of Style
    Those familiar with Toledo’s back catalog will marvel at the reworking of their favorite tracks, while the uninitiated will likely discover a bright young talent and wonder how the hell they’ve been missing out.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
    It’s across 10 immaculately tidy tracks, and if Snyder’s goal is to get the band’s points across and accomplish that feeling of catharsis all the same, then this record sure feels like a success.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Return to the Moon
    It’s the flip side of the same gorgeous, engaging coin, and it’s more than just a placeholder while the next National album marinates--it stands shoulder to miserable, brilliant shoulder.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sounds Good Feels Good
    Overall, 5 Seconds Of Summer puts a contemporary spin on early-’00s mainstream pop-punk by avoiding the kind of self-pity, hopelessness, and subtle misogyny that sometimes dogged that nascent scene. More importantly, Sounds Good Feels Good never condescends to the band’s core audience of young female fans.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Divers
    The sheer array of sounds on this record is amazing--not just in the variety of instruments employed, but also in the ways they are utilized.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Magnetic Bodies/Maps of Bones
    The rest of Magnetic Bodies doesn’t quite live up to its early potential, but it comes impressively close.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Thank Your Lucky Stars
    It would have been a shame for Thank Your Lucky Stars to have been misspent or glossed over; as is, the full sonic and emotional weight is tremendous.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    VEGA INTL. Night School
    A vibrant, glitchy, hook-laden celebration of nightlife.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Fading Frontier
    There’s a confidently dreamy quality running through most of the songs on Fading Frontier that gives off the impression of a group at peace with both itself and its place in the musical world.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Confident
    Confident is an impressive album by a pop star who knows what she wants--and also knows exactly how to get there.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    If I Should Go Before You
    These are only relatively fresh spins on familiar concepts, but presented via an enjoyable framework that proves Green’s still loaded with stimulating ideas.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Agent Intellect
    The Agent Intellect is an impressive addition to the band’s small discography, and it hints that bigger, bolder work may lay ahead.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    New Bermuda
    New Bermuda doesn’t break down the walls of metal, instead it expands its confines, allowing Deafheaven to include subgenres that rarely mix while injecting more outside references. Ultimately, New Bermuda proves just how progressive of a genre metal can be, purists be damned.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    V
    From “Heavy Metal Detox” on down Williams keeps V’s tracks compact and tight (none exceed three-and-a-half minutes in length). His wiggling, breezy guitar effects and vintage-pop woo-hoos coast beneath chugging rhythms from bassist Stevie Pope and drummer Brian Hill with such nonchalance that hooks occasionally scoot right by before you even realize your tapping your foot along with them.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Unbreakable
    Unbreakable is overall Jackson’s strongest album in a decade, a mature and nuanced career progression that sounds effortless. Unsurprisingly, independence and taking full control of her own destiny and career suits Ms. Jackson quite well.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    B'lieve I'm Goin' Down
    It hews much more closely to Isaac Brock’s hallucinatory scorched-earth apocalyptic premonitions on Modest Mouse’s finest moments, and musically, it’s the purest distillation of Vile’s idiosyncratic style to date.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Dodge and Burn
    The specter of limitless possibility makes Dodge And Burn, The Dead Weather’s well-crafted third album (and first since 2010’s Sea Of Cowards) particularly enjoyable.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Caracal
    With even more glossy production than Settle, Caracal is high-quality Top 40 material.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Every Open Eye
    The record feels like the kind a band releases just before it takes off. If Every Open Eyes turns out to be Chvrches’ breakthrough album, no one should be surprised.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Music Complete
    Though it’s been said about each of their few-and-far-between albums, it’s actually safe to call Music Complete a comeback.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    1989
    What his version of 1989 does best is illustrate the strength of the source material. With the radio-ready gloss stripped away, these songs compare to the best moments in Swift’s back catalog.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Imani, Vol. 1
    Thankfully, Imani, Vol. 1 succeeds by focusing on the music and a modest message, and setting aside any desire to prove, recapture, or define anything in particular about its creators or their careers.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Ad Infinitum
    Ad Infinitum isn’t a palette cleanser or a holdover to the next conventional Telekinesis album--it’s a deeply affecting piece of work at a visceral level, suggesting that Lerner is an artist with crashing ambitions who’s willing to risk alienating his audience.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Pagans in Vegas
    Pagans In Vegas has a strong and consistent tone, more uplifting than most of the previous work, but retaining both the lyrical skepticism and dark musicality of so much of Metric’s catalog.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    All a Man Should Do
    This is a record that takes its time, relying a lot on Rick Steff’s piano and organ to color in between the music’s straight lines. That’s not to say that Nichols avoids hooks, or that the songs don’t still stick in the head.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    HitNRun: Phase One
    [Co-producer and engineer Joshua] Welton tinkers too much with too many EDM toys, and often the result is a cacophonous collision of EDM’s lamest trends. When this album does succeed—which it does on its back half—it’s because Prince and Welton have achieved a balance between dance and funk in which each genre brings out the best in the other.
Page: