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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    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    What For?
    Even at its most thrilling, What For? manages to sound somehow too daring and not daring enough.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Bosnian Rainbows
    Bosnian Rainbows combines a lot of elements together, but it sometimes feels that they’re not sure which way they want to go. There are laidback, layered slow jams that make up the bulk of the record, but the LP’s best moments come when it adds more guitar-driven material.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    New Seasons
    As time passes, it sounds samey, though rich nevertheless.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Cloak and Cipher
    Cloak flows more like an assortment of four-track experiments than a cohesive album, if only because each song uses a different jumble of elements.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Too Old To Die Young
    In spite of its blatant Sonic Youth biting--which is actually kind of refreshing--there are a lot of gorgeous and even heart-stopping moments on Too Old To Die Young. It's just a shame so few of its strengths can figure out how to work together.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Travellers In Space And Time
    The Apples In Stereo have always had a tendency toward excessive cuteness, but Travellers In Space And Time sounds like it should come packed in a cartoon-festooned plastic lunchbox. Good thing for Schneider that his actual music is frequently irresistible.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Special Moves/Burning
    As a live album, it isn't especially compelling, but it makes a great point of entry into the band's high-contrast sound.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Operator
    MSTRKRFT is certainly far more inventive than most, so the songs aren’t boring, just unmoored. However, it does make Operator a frustratingly uneven listen.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Youth Authority
    Youth Authority does an admirable job updating Good Charlotte’s sound in ways that should please both long-term and new fans.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sir
    Sir updates Fischerspooner’s old cocaine throb to surprisingly modern, still sleazily enjoyable, then inevitably exhausting results. It’s enough to think it might stick around this time.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Everything in Between
    rything In Between can't help but live up to its title: a solid diversion until the next truly satisfying No Age release.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Remember [Live]
    It's apparent that the album is to be understood as an exercise in collective memory, but it's unclear whether such an exercise is meant to include the band's fans, or if it's solely limited to the band itself.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Crush
    In spite of the impeccable songcraft and sinewy playing, though, Crush hits a few too many icebergs.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Begone Dull Care
    The atmospheric Begone Dull Care feels more appropriate for a slick urban lounge than the dance floor, meaning it sounds fine without feeling like it has to be listened to.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Ha, Ha, He.
    The record adds drops of depth and drama to the recipe, but the band hasn’t quite cooked up its signature dish yet.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Electric Endicott
    The older Wilson sings more smoothly and uses his avant-garde transitional tracks for swanky melody ("Kathy Kissed Me Last Night") as well as skronk-collage ("I Cry For Linda"), but he's bringing that new confidence to the sounds and girls of his nervous, self-torturing fantasies.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Part II: The New December
    Fol Chen's commitment to writing music from a depersonalized angle is commendable as an artistic experiment-and more often than not, it surprises with unexpectedly beguiling hooks-but it's beginning to feel like its self-imposed mystery is a cover for its identity crisis.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mr. Impossible
    Mr. Impossible accomplishes the improbable: being more accessible and more alienating at the same time.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    God Forgives, I Don't
    Though it's solid enough to maintain Ross' reputation as one of commercial rap's most reliable album artists, God Forgives rarely feels like an event, and by the standards of a rapper who once threw a press conference in his own honor, that makes it a minor disappointment.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Basses Loaded
    The Melvins are prolific without taking heed of their stature or prominence, and Basses Loaded is a testament to their nonchalant and fiercely inventive place in the world of loud and angry music.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Stage Whisper
    As the best and worst parts of Stage Whisper show, Gainsbourg is at her best when she's not overdoing it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Snow
    It’s unmistakably a New Year album, and a decent one at that, but it doesn’t do much to distinguish itself.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Double Vanity
    Double Vanity is a major sonic leap that comes at the expense of energy and songwriting.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Birth of Violence
    With melodies that are stretched thin and simplistic lyrics that feel even more so next to the sophisticated arrangements, Birth Of Violence’s dark beauty is like standing outside watching the stars in winter: stark, beautiful, and a little numbing.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    In the Lonely Hour
    As singles, the LP works. But as a whole product, listeners could start wondering if they hit “repeat” by accident.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Kick ii
    The onslaught of music masks how well KICK ii refines KiCk i’s chaotic, free-flying spirit into something smoother and more muted—and how KicK iii exaggerates these jagged edges.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Natural
    [The band] is at its most subdued and simmering here, with relatively little of the anthemic moxie it's normally so good at. Unfortunately, this means a lot of the songs blur together, even up close.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Let The Dominoes Fall
    This is a record meant to sound good and feel good, though it’s unlikely to stir many passionate feelings, for or against it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    English Graffiti
    All this jumping around on English Graffiti doesn’t make it disjointed. Rather, it stops the album from becoming monotonous with a new, unexpected experience on each track.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Only Place
    It's a more sophisticated effort, but it doesn't disown the rudimentary pleasures of Crazy For You.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Noise
    It’s worth the ride, even if the bland, six-minute intro feels like so much pseudo-epic throat-clearing.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Dissent of Man
    It's understandable that Bad Religion would want to celebrate three decades as one of punk's driving forces; that doesn't mean they had to make an album that sounds like the party's already winding down.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Say Yes to Love
    While it’s respectable to see such a young band attempt to defy the expectations of its audience, Say Yes To Love ultimately sees Perfect Pussy getting out ahead of itself, suggesting the band would be better served securing an identity before attempting to redefine it.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Based on a T.R.U. Story
    Based On A T.R.U. Story finds 2 Chainz mining the same territory he's been exploring for the past couple of years throughout his Codeine Cowboy and T.R.U. Realigion mixtapes, but fleshed out by the hollowness that comes as a side effect of spending too much time with Kanye West.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
    While Roman Reloaded is certainly more confident than the too-safe Pink Friday, Minaj might need to mature a couple more albums' worth before she's capable of wrangling the many Nickis into coherence.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Ritual Union
    Ritual Union is almost there, content to split the difference between genre pieces and potential pop hits.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Midnight Memories
    As a whole, Midnight Memories isn’t a genre game-changer. But in terms of the One Direction catalog, this record is exactly the right move: There’s enough personality, charm, and dramatic solos to satisfy fans, and enough incremental moves toward artistic credibility to at least give the band a chance at an enduring career.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Asleep At Heaven's Gate
    The quartet has continued down the big, dreamy path, but this time, it's made things longer and denser, and as a result, Asleep At Heaven's Gate ends up feeling more sluggish than it should.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sucker
    There’s maturity and depth to the songwriting and production on that track that suggest a way forward for Charli XCX, and coupled with the other hits on the record, make Sucker an accomplished, if fitful listen.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Street Horrrsing
    The album backs up its momentous tone, but builds too few moments.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Abyss
    The downside of all this bombast is that the album, taken as a whole, can feel ponderous.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    I'm Gay (I'm Happy)
    Listeners who buy into B's unique worldview on I'm Gay (I'm Happy) will quickly discover that while he's far from a political trailblazer, at least he's completely sincere.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Station
    For fans of Russian Circles' heavier predilections, Station might be a little boring; the band has grown stingier with the bombast, which in turn means less excitement--Russian Circles are most impressive when they rock out.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Gimme Some
    Gimme Some is retreat to light-hearted pop after the coolly received electro experiments of 2009's Living Thing. The style suits them, even when the substance is lacking.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Perch Patchwork
    For a debut, Perch Patchwork feels oddly transitory, but suggests good things when the band decides what to transition to.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Memphis
    For all its sonic worldliness, Memphis is more on the level of early, good-time Beach Boys records like Surfin' USA and Little Deuce Coupe.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    In A Cave
    Cave feels like a group that's comfortably going in circles, not finding a fresh way to do what it's already done.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Moody, Standard and Poor
    Obits' second album, Moody, Standard, And Poor, could use a little less logic and a lot more shock.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Around The Well
    Any singer-guitarist who can reduce Stereolab, The Postal Service, New Order, and The Flaming Lips into an indistinguishable acoustic muddle is a musician who may have carried aesthetic purity too far. Beam succeeds best on songs like his own 'Sinning Hands.'
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Urban Turban: The Singhles Club
    All of this is creative and fun, but also a little half-baked, and ultimately impersonal.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sonik Kicks
    With Sonik Kicks, Weller's silk-and-smoke voice sounds as good as ever, and his status as a soulful, folky, yet forceful songsmith remains ironclad. Next time around, though, an extra round of editing might not hurt.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Christmas In The Heart
    He fares less well on ballads--here’s hoping 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing' and 'O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)' don’t become live staples. But he eases into 'The Christmas Blues' adroitly, and rips up a cover of Brave Combo’s polka classic 'Must Be Santa' with lightning vocal delivery.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Things Take Time, Take Time
    While it may not be the most sonically exciting record crafted under lockdown, it’s at its best when encapsulating the emotional regression felt during that time—especially when people were so starved for connection, they sometimes forgot how to communicate clearly with others.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Alchemy Index Vols. I and II: Fire and Water
    Fire showcases the still-maturing, melodic, sometimes very heavy post-hardcore that Thrice is forging a career out of, minus any of the emo inclinations from the band's earlier records (no whining, some screaming). By contrast, disc two, Water, focuses on Thrice's reenactment of Radiohead circa Kid A, with 27 minutes of internalizing, electro-glitch pop steered around by up-front, friendly vocals.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    These Days...
    These Days… is a dense, complicated animal--even the blandest tracks have enough tricks to reward multiple listens, and may reveal themselves with time. But for someone so comfortable wearing his poetic heart on his sleeve, the black-lipped pastor has made an oddly distant album.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Get Hurt
    The Gaslight Anthem deserve credit for stretching so far on Get Hurt; it’s just too bad the band spreads out in so many directions without committing to any of them.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Weezer [Black Album]
    The cynical read of this would be that Cuomo is both hugely calculating and deeply inept at performing those calculations, but the experiments and strange asides on The Black Album don’t come across as trend-chasing so much as genuinely eclectic. ... Maybe it’s more important that Weezer’s idiosyncrasies feel honest again.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Busting Visions
    While the performances, production, and arrangements on Busting Visions are uniformly excellent, the songwriting is not.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil, Pt. 3
    Even when things pick up on volume three, which includes choice collaborations with California stalwarts like Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, Kendrick Lamar, and Hieroglyphics, Block Brochure feels like too much of a good thing-way, way too much.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
    With a running time of nearly 70 minutes for just 12 songs, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here can be overwhelming; the arrangements of several songs are amorphous, and tunes such as “Phantom Limb” and “Hung On A Hook” could benefit from an editor. Despite these small quibbles, the album is solid.
    • 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.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Beyond
    There isn't a bad song on Beyond—though both of Barlow's contributions slow things down a bit—but it never reaches the transcendent, wailing energy of Mascis' best.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Semicircle
    It’s a rousing party record, but when the music stops and the lights come on, it all blurs together into a fun but forgettable time.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    I Am...Sasha Fierce
    The two halves wouldn't necessarily sound better shuffled together--both are pretty uneven.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Forever
    While Forever has moments from the artist as good as anything he’s done, it also has a lot of posthumous eulogizing and after-the-fact assembly, all riven through with a heavy dose of sentimentality.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Where You Go I Go Too
    For all the promise held out by the idea of Lindstrom staring down long tracks with thematic aims, the range on display is surprisingly narrow. None of the narrowness is exactly bad, but the widescreen potential was so high.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Gone Now
    While Gone Now features a few cuts that are much more piercing than you might expect, it doesn’t quite go all the way.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Talk That Talk
    It seems erratic, but it somehow works, at least musically.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    KicK iii
    KicK iii, however, largely succeeds because it further explores the aggressive moods at which “Prada” only pokes.
    • 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.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mumps, Etc.
    Metaphors are short-lived and abstract, and Wolf spends lots of time philosophizing or generalizing.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Queens of the Stone Age [Reissue]
    All the elements are here, though they're on the darker end of the coal/diamond spectrum, and the mostly unremarkable bonus tracks don't do the set any favors. But when it's good, it's damn good, and through the murk, there's the sound of a band that would one day be truly great.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Fall Forever
    The contrast of Weiss’ effortlessly sophisticated, crystalline vocals with the icier tone of the band’s newly electronic slant certainly gives Fall Forever special character. Fear Of Men hasn’t survived the sophomore turn without losing a few traces of what made the band so appealing initially, but then again, Weiss says it herself in “Erase (Aubade)”: “I erase these things / I don’t need what I left behind.”
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Waiting on a Song
    Still, competent and charming as it is, Waiting On A Song never quite has the spark to rise above homage and carve out something distinct.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Don't Blame the Stars
    While The Black Swans' sound is well suited for regretful laments about antidepressants and anxiety, the band is at its best when it lightens up a bit. Given the background of Don't Blame The Stars, perhaps that's too tall an order.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Lousy with Sylvianbriar
    Overall, Lousy With Sylvianbriar is a satisfying link in bringing Barnes’ musical progression full-circle, but at times he seems to forget what made him so good at this stuff the first time around.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Dark Night Of The Soul
    Dark Night is a vocal showcase: Lynch, James Mercer of The Shins and Broken Bells, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Iggy Pop, and several more stamp the tracks with appropriately brooding vocals. Only a few really stick, and not always in a good way.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Home Before Dark
    It's sure to please its predecessor's fans, but the filler-to-killer ratio here is skewed a little too far in the wrong direction.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Saga Continues
    It’s low-stakes stuff, but if you’re enough of a Wu fan to read this far, you’ll be happy the saga continues--at least for now.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sings Favorites
    As relaxing as it is to hear Mark Kozelek sing favorites, the consistent pleasantries result in the album feeling minor and a little safe when compared to something like Benji. Sometimes, it takes a little ugliness and danger to elevate an album from good to great.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sam's Town
    Those who don't enter Sam's Town with inflated expectations will find it's a pretty fun place to spend some time.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Calling the World
    Tossing aside the overbearing Weezer influence from Rooney's debut, singer-songwriter-Hollywood kid Robert Schwartzman -brother of Jason, cousin of Nicolas Cage - adopts the "poor me" lyrical stance perfected by the likes of The Eagles and Toto on Calling The World.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Player Piano
    There's a great follow-up to that album swirling somewhere inside Player Piano's grab-bag of ideas; it's just difficult to make out.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    World Beyond
    World Beyond works better as an homage than an inspired reimagining of the politically charged album, which is flattering for Bell and Clarke, but ultimately keeps this release from feeling like a vital contribution.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Drifter
    Despite what some might think, punk and metal are not enemies; hopefully after Drifter, Heartsounds will learn you don't have to starve one to feed the other.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Donker Mag
    Despite the occasional dud, [Donker Mag] is filled with provocative, compelling, out-there productions and boasts a real confidence in its creative vision.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    kick iiii
    If her work has previously resembled a maze of metallic doors and broken mirrors, kick iiii is more akin to the day after a snowstorm: There’s some beauty to it, but the unsightly ice piles curdling near the sidewalks stand out the most.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    We Are The Night
    We Are The Night is the most listless album they've made—and maybe not coincidentally, it's also one of the lightest.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    If You're Reading This It's Too Late [Mixtape]
    Drake may not have an hour’s worth of great songs here, but he does have an hour’s worth of thoughts he needs to get off his chest.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Honor Found In Decay
    Despite flashes of greatness, the uneven, unfocused Honor Found In Decay feels more like a placeholder.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Spanish Moss & Total Loss
    While much of Spanish Moss And Total Loss is unexpected, it sacrifices too much in the name of surprise.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Red Yellow & Blue
    A spare intro, with guitar chords once per measure, refuses to develop into the expected jangle. Instead, as with the rest of the disc, it's consciously underproduced.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Man of the Woods
    Unfortunately, Man Of The Woods’ thematic depth hasn’t quite caught up to the rest of his ambition. It’s not a fatal flaw, but it does make for a record that’s not quite as transcendent as it was built up to be.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Saint Dymphna
    Saint Dymphna is no easier to categorize than any other GGD record, but it is easier to groove to
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    In Spades
    He [Greg Dulli] can still hit that sweet spot of come-hither crooning, but the production hides much of his more agitated wails in the mix. The vocals are therefore no longer the dominant element of the music.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Boys & Girls
    Exciting as it can be, Boys & Girls could use just a little more shakin' going on.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    kiCK iiiii
    Ghersi’s most minimalistic release. It rarely boasts more than a slow piano line or a near-nonexistent synth bed. ... Perhaps these songs would jell more strongly if they belonged to albums released separately, and many months apart, instead of crammed into one unit.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Crazy Clown Time
    Crazy Clown Time never succumbs to the weight of its own novelty, and fits in nicely with Lynch's untidy and constantly evolving body of work.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    For The Recently Found Innocent
    While the effort breaks new ground for White Fence on the fidelity front, and adds an additional smidgen of needed consistency to Presley’s fuzz-jam fragments, it passes on the opportunity to do anything truly new.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Timeless
    At its best, Timeless has an airy, effervescent quality, a beguiling smoothness. At its worst, it sounds like a lackluster Will.I.Am solo album that just happens to have Sergio Mendes sitting in on keys.
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