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
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Silent Hour/Golden Mile [EP]
    Rossen proves he can stand on his own.
    • 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.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Flower Boy
    Flower Boy is the first time he’s been equally as forthcoming in his actual music. His flow has tightened up, and for a man whose voice basically destined him for rap stardom, he’s become even better at stretching his booming baritone into novel shapes, employing a plethora of flows.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Old Ramon
    While Kozelek consistently sustains beauty that's equal parts stately and awkward, Old Ramon's songs don't quite live up to the career highlights that dominate the warmer Ocean Beach or the more emotionally gripping Red House Painters (the one with the roller-coaster, not the bridge, on its cover). Still, after such a long involuntary hiatus, it's worth the several listens it takes to fully digest Old Ramon.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Play
    His most accessible, mature work to date.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Medulla
    Once its novelty factor fades, Medulla settles down as a stirring, nuanced album that takes a while to take hold.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars
    Given the deeply vulnerable quality of all the tracks on How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars, however, Lindeman’s instincts to allow them to breathe—recording them as simply as possible in an improvisational way—reveals a different facet of her songcraft, one that’s just as accomplished as the arguably more accessible sound of Ignorance.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Apollo Kids
    Even without that tribute to the early days of hip-hop, Apollo Kids would still boast an ingratiatingly retro feel, as Ghostface returns to the soulful formula that served him so well on The Pretty Toney Album and Fishscale. Ghost never went anywhere, yet Kids feels like a comeback all the same.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Cancer4Cure
    Cancer For Cure is a triumph of imagination and intelligence in service of a pervasive sense of personal and political unease.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Sister Faith
    It’s clear Patterson put a lot of thought into Sister Faith, but a looser hand on the reins might have allowed for a more precarious, thrillingly unstable balance between post-hardcore and the world beyond.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    This Is Happening
    His third album as LCD Soundsystem moves even further beyond ironic distance toward introspection and unguarded affection.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Donuts
    Where Champion Sound built and expanded on Dilla's signature champion sound, Donuts blasts off into the sonic stratosphere, straying far from his trademark neck-snapping drums, dirty keyboards, and backward melodies in favor of stream-of-consciousness weirdness and free-associative sonic experimentation.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Snares Like a Haircut
    Snares Like A Haircut finds Dean Spunt and Randy Randall making a warm, self-assured reunion, with each other and that scene-leading musical style.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Once Twice Melody
    With Once Twice Melody, Beach House proves there’s more to the duo than fans may think, with brash, lively arrangements that shine as much as the restrained ones.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Telefone [Mixtape]
    Telefone is a unique project that points to even greater things for Noname in the future.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Treats
    Krauss and Miller immediately reach for the jugular on nearly every track of Treats. The trick could wear thin quickly, but the tracks that previously made the Internet rounds as demos sound just as vital here as they did on first download.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silver Lake
    Silver Lake is filled with quirks and emotions which ensure that it still sounds primarily like a Chesnutt album.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D.
    Out Hud's scaled-back sonic template doesn't always necessitate its lack of vocals, but at its best, S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. whispers toward a worthy future rather than shouting down the past.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Indestructible
    It often lacks the charge of inspired discovery that accompanied its '90s predecessors.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Our Endless Numbered Days
    Beam has a lovely lilting voice, a light instrumental touch, and a casual flair for drama. [24 Mar 2004]
    • The A.V. Club
    • 84 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Kids See Ghosts
    Kids See Ghosts marks his true return only a year and a half after he checked himself into rehab to fight depression and suicidal ideation, and taking the time out to work on himself seems to have done him wonders. Cudi is, without qualification, the spiritual and artistic backbone of Kids See Ghosts, the source of its truest artistic risks and the instrument of its greatest triumphs.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Trouble Will Find Me
    Like the rest of the National catalog, Trouble Will Find Me is subtly insinuating; at first it seems almost free of hooks, then six listens later it’s difficult to get it unstuck.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Stage Four
    Stage Four reverberates because it’s a concept album, the tracks linear and part of the greater whole.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Ire Works
    Ire Works is a near-perfect pileup of craft and chaos--and it shows that Dillinger's recent injuries left some beautiful scars.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Hell On Heels
    At a lean 30 minutes, Hell On Heels is too slight to deliver completely on the trio's promise, but the sense of fun and sisterly affection that pervades the album makes it a winning opening salvo from an intriguing new group.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    No Shape
    It has moments of populist ambition (the soaring chorus of the lead single, “Slip Away,” for example) and self-consciously arty experimentation (“Choir”), and it’s a credit to Hadreas and producer Blake Mills that its 13 tracks sound as seamless and cohesive as they do.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968
    Much of the time, though, those "raps" meander--a good fifth of Sugar Mountain's 70-minute run time is devoted to them, and their replay value is limited. Which is too bad--the performances are excellent.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Veni Vidi Vicious
    The Hives' brand of neo-garage leans heavy on punk and lacks nuance, but the unification of speed, volume, and shake generates a scalding steam.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ONoffON
    Unlike the clean, jagged, self-contained post-punk being revived in New York, Mission Of Burma's art-damaged music rattles and collapses, leaving amazing debris.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    From The Forest To The Sea
    Southeast Engine makes tuneful music that means to arrest listeners by turning familiar sounds into spiritually engaged, rock ’n’ roll theater.
Page: