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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    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Bankrupt!
    Bankrupt! takes a slight turn instead of trying to replicate the sound of [Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix's] success. Unfortunately, that turn isn’t sharp enough.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mockingbird Time
    The best songs on Mockingbird Time wind through changes.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Lucky Shiner
    The album feels like a nil-nil tie in soccer: lots of interesting parts, but ultimately lacking payoff.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Scorpion
    It’s a drag, but a compulsively listenable one, with velvety production and Drake’s typically elegant taste in guest voices.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Render Another Ugly Method
    All told, Render Another Ugly Method is a transitory step for Mothers, one that’s equally messy and compelling, showing that Leschper’s voice as a songwriter and singer remains her own, no matter how many effects she puts on top of it.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    All Mirrors
    The music is gorgeous but feels labored over, like pottery lacquered with one too many layers of shellac. Hopefully Olsen will also still release her stripped-back take on All Mirrors, as it’s the dressing—not the songs themselves—that stumbles.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Working On A Dream
    Working On A Dream is arguably the best-sounding album Springsteen has made since "Born To Run." Just don't look too hard at the lyric sheet. As the album's prosaic title suggests, Working On A Dream is weighed down by lines.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Most Messed Up
    The songwriting is solid, and for those who enjoy a good rehab tune like “Intervention” or the lure of the forthcoming party and catastrophe that “Wheels Off” promises, this record won’t disappoint.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Uno!
    Granted, filler abounds, and it doesn't land with quite as much delirious abandon as it once did, but Armstrong's power-pop impulse can still pack a face-splitting punch.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Only By The Night
    It's clear they're ditching the indie legitimacy for the stadium-packing, lighter-waving crowd. Thankfully, it's a fully earnest aesthetic, and the record showcases a variety of songs without being crippled by the indulgent filler of albums past.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    In the Rainbow Rain
    The songs here are among Okkervil’s lushest productions, adorned with choruses and horns and washes of sunny guitar, paired well with whatever subject Sheff happens to be tackling. Even when he gets too sappy, there’s always those stellar arrangements to serve as a saving grace.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mastermind
    His star may be dimming, but he’s still got some spirited music left in him.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    I Told You I Was Freaky
    It’s antithetical to quibble over issues of originality and cohesion when dealing with song parody, anyway; even when resting on their laurels, the Conchords have a singular ability to pen a damn funny song.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
    He hasn't lost the sardonic smarts, but there's a sense of lightness--the playful, country-ish rock is more playful and country-ish--that by its nature removes some of the gravity and graveness of his songs.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Blurry Blue Mountain
    Blurry Blue Mountain is a cozy, enjoyable listen-though perhaps a little too long-and Gelb comes off like a cool uncle, happy to nod sagely while we sit around and listen to his stories.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Real Estate
    Real Estate is thin: light on dynamics, drowning in reverb, casually recorded, and mostly unadorned. These songs are blueprints for bigger, more complete ones.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Live from the Underground
    [A] competent, if rarely distinguished, major-label debut.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    We Started Nothing
    the album's inconsistency suggests that this heavily buzzing band--Nothing debuted at No. 1 in the UK--could've used a little extra time to finesse its spazzy sound into a more coherent pop treat.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Decent Work For Decent Pay
    the title of this collection gets it a little too right: It's decent, but seldom more.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    A New Tide
    Recorded in Chicago and Charlottesville, Virginia, A New Tide cobbles together elements of those scenes, but it ultimately lacks identity; it strives for diversity at the cost of imagination and quality songwriting.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Indicud
    Indicud is still a Kid Cudi record, and like its predecessors, it’s a long, unhurried listen, paced like drifting fog.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Lemonheads
    The sound's a harder-edged variation on Ray, but only a few songs stick.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Desire Lines
    The album also has a few sleepy spots (“New Year’s Resolution,” “I Missed Your Party”), which causes it to drag on occasion. Still, Desire Lines is the rare record that sounds comfortable and familiar, but yet isn’t derivative.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sex with an X
    The Vaselines have upset a bit of the precarious balance between innocence and titillation that made their songs so striking the first time around.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Pretty.Odd.
    But the album's majority--all baroque orchestration (the horn- and string-rich 'The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know') and multilayered, Sgt. Pepper-esque psychedelia (the lovely 'She's A Handsome Woman')--demands far more than a casual listen. The question is, are the masses who initially embraced Panic At The Disco committed enough to give it one?
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Covering Ground
    Though the record fumbles at parts with being almost too simplistic, Ragan never lingers on any one song long enough for it to matter.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Costello Music
    Fans might be better off putting "Flathead" on a homemade mix-tape than following the rest of Costello Music.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Electric Arguments
    This plays like a B-side to that album ["Memory Almost Full"], adding polish to casually conceived melodies until they start to take on a studio life of their own.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Cole World: The Sideline Story
    The album is a true extension of Cole's mix-tapes, the product of an adroit lyricist still unsure how to fully capitalize on his talents.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Jigsaw
    It all combines into a sophomore effort that distinguishes itself on occasion, but doesn’t portend Sov’s second coming.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Cannibal Courtship
    Cannibal Courtship once again proves that Dengue Fever is far more than tacky exotica, even when it can't shake a few irritating personality tics.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Mojo
    Petty is a talented enough fellow to make even the most routine roots-music exercise sound lively and deeply felt—especially with Mike Campbell pumping out clean-burning guitar solos beside him—but while Mojo is amiable enough, it rarely sounds vital.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Less You Know, The Better
    The Less You Know also feels inconsequential, sounding like the work of a man who has run out of ideas and is coasting along on craft. Which might be fine, except that so little of it actually sticks.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Chase This Light
    Nothing on Chase This Light is bad, relatively speaking; Jimmy Eat World has always sprinkled cheese on its albums, just never this generously.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Push the Sky Away
    Push They Sky Away’s oppressively hollow minimalism is both its biggest drawback and its greatest strength.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Loud
    With Rated R, she waded further into the co-writing pool, and the album's resulting darkness could be attributed to her public personal struggles. She goes the exact opposite route on Loud, eschewing any co-writing credits, acting as a conduit for club and radio jams about sex, parties, and sexy parties.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Olympia
    Not all of Olympia’s added complexity works to its benefit, but the album succeeds as a necessary stepping-stone on Stelmanis’ path of artistic discovery.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Drums Between the Bells
    Holland's muse guides the album, and his ultra-serious counterculturalisms can be a drag after a while.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Dark Bird Is Home
    Dark Bird Is Home is melodically rich and emotionally resonant, even when some moments argue that bigger isn’t necessarily better.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Broken Bells
    No doubt this will be a popular record, and Mercer and Burton's musical moods are hypnotizing regardless of what else is going on. But it's a mild disappointment that Broken Bells couldn't take better advantage of Mercer's songwriting skills.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Dancing Backward in High Heels
    The result might have been sharper if someone other than Louis XIV's Jason Hill produced it; his washed-out murk and puddles of reverb render the whole thing a mess. Luckily, there's just no stopping Johansen and Sylvain.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Forever So
    Although Forever So has some exceptional moments, they merely serve as a bitter reminder of Husky's potential to create something more than just a collection of pleasant sounds.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    More Than Just a Dream
    More Than Just A Dream is a leap for the band sonically, one that would deserve more credit if Fitz and company weren’t still taking so much from the past. Yet this Dream still manages to be entertaining.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Goodnight Unknown
    Barlow fans should be happy with the way Goodnight Unknown sounds, but they should also recognize that its songs aren’t as memorable as Barlow’s best.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Several Shades of Why
    A mellow Mascis is like a sports car stuck in a school zone: The chassis still looks good, but we don't get to see what it can really do.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    American Gong
    Quasi's chunky Rocksichord days may be long gone, but that doesn't mean the sense of fun that makes its songs such sugar-sweet treats has to be.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Unsound
    Unsound continues that cranky streak with little variation, but where the previous comeback albums have roared, Unsound feels dull, uneven, and a little bored.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Rome
    Burton and Luppi don't entirely lose their identities in the desert vistas of Rome--the record has all the crisp conciseness of a Danger Mouse production--but they might have created a better story than a record.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Love's Miracle
    Yow's creepy vocals still sound unlike anything on earth, though Love's Miracle is dominated by abstract dynamics and experimentation more than the calculus-riffing and rhythm lock of The Jesus Lizard.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Nursing Home
    Nursing Home is notable for its lyrical successes, but doesn't have enough memorable songs to highlight them.
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