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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    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    On
    By the time On reaches its finale, it's stored up enough goodwill that it's more than possible to believe that there's an art to all this artlessness.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Reign of Terror
    On Reign Of Terror, Sleigh Bells is cornered in by its own sound, unwilling to risk more adventurous metal excursions or get vulnerable enough to fully embrace its emerging lighter side.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    You Are All I See
    You Are All I See is the debut album from Active Child, the band that Los Angeles singer-songwriter Pat Grossi has steadily built around his sweeping harp, pining falsetto, and shuddering beats.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Are You Serious
    Unfortunately, the highlights here are exceptions rather than the rule.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Civilians
    So many of his songs sound damnably similar, blanded-out by his pinched rasp and seeming disinterest in melody.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Motivational Jumpsuit
    It’s difficult to find any song on Motivational Jumpsuit that GBV lifers can place among the group’s most accomplished work.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?
    Too much of The Like's personality is borrowed, but it is, nonetheless, a personality.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Wise Up Ghost and Other Songs
    At this point in his career, an album-length experiment like Wise Up Ghost seems to satisfy Costello artistically, thanks to his chameleon tendencies, but there isn’t much to add to the best of either catalog.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    They Threw Us in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top
    It's grating and electrifying in equal measure.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Silver/Lead
    On these songs [“Playing Harp For The Fishes,” “Short Elevated Period,” and “Diamonds In Cups”], Silver/Lead strikes the perfect balance of moody intrigue and saw-toothed aggression. Unfortunately, the rest of the album isn’t calibrated quite as precisely, which makes for an uneven listening experience.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    22 Dreams
    There's a sense of fun and wonder to 22 Dreams that keeps it from feeling pretentious--just not any less tedious.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
    For all the outsider posturing, Mountain is a pretty conventional indie-rock record circa 2011, drawing on celebrated warhorses like Arcade Fire's Funeral and Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, as well as somewhat less fashionable sources, like Vampire Weekend and Kings Of Leon.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Memoirs At The End Of The World
    Much of Memoirs seems familiar even on first listen; it’s all been done better before.
    • 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.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Who Built the Moon?
    It’s like an extremely amped-up version of Oasis, but the excesses sway from impressive to taxing. Often the effort to be interesting just comes off as nonsensical cacophony.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Heat
    Malin's strained whine makes his earnest lyrics sound more pretentious than they probably are.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Oversteps
    The songs are usually too singular to fit together in any immediately recognizable way. Instead, structure and emotional resonance emerge slowly from a mix of disparate sounds, providing a soundtrack capable of transforming the mundane into the alarming, then the consoling, and back again.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Planet Her
    While the pleasant-enough arrangements may make for an effective summer record, Planet Her lacks the originality Doja made her name on, and no amount of stunning and spacey visuals (as in the music video for “Need To Know”) can make the songs better than they are.
    • 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.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Choice of Weapon
    Without any standout songs to propel it, Choice Of Weapon may be a return to style, but it's not a return to form.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Northern Aggression
    Those who hoped Wynn would bring that inventive spirit and boldness back to his band for its third album will be disappointed: Northern Aggression is almost surprising in its straightforwardness.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Back Room
    The album starts repeating itself and the returns start diminishing.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Throwing Muses [2003]
    As a whole, Throwing Muses still contains too much formless slop, but at least it's energetic.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Street Songs of Love
    The rush of Escovedo's ecstasy and agony proves frustratingly one-sided on the stale, hard-to-embrace Street Songs Of Love, which reduces all the unruly feelings that go with rough-and-tumble romantic relationships down to a series of blustery, MOR power ballads.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Romantica
    Just another average album by a band that has proved it can make great ones.
    • 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.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Wolves
    Wolves is somehow even more polished, almost glossy to a fault with its compression and ladled-on sweetening of the distortion. At times, it veers dangerously close to latter-day Metallica.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Golden Era
    Del takes a trip down memory lane on Golden Era, but it's never as special or profound the second time around.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Manners
    Manners attempts to synthesize Michael Angelakos’ natural talent for dance music with more straightforward, heart-on-sleeve rock, but can’t quite commit to either.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Good, The Bad & The Queen
    It's easy to respect the album's sustained washed-out tone, but it'd be nice if the songs were memorable past their running time. Intrigue without any payoff makes for pretty dull listening.
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