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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    • 56 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Bionic
    Outside of her exceptional vocal abilities, Aguileraâ??s main talent thus far has been absorbing and regurgitating trends with such commitment that she essentially disappears behind a calculated varnish.
    • 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.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Beta Love
    It tries so hard to please that it becomes perversely repellant.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Hell in a Handbasket
    Too much of Hell In A Handbasket is just generic songwriter-mill fodder, over-cranked and over-sung.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    What The...
    Demons used to be what drove Black Flag toward hitherto extremes of punk-rock brinksmanship, and there are glimpses of that savagery on What The.... Mostly, though, it’s a footnote to a legacy that never needed one.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
    Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark seems uniquely constructed to frustrate the expectations of U2 fans, musical-theater lovers, and even train-wreck enthusiasts, who will be disappointed to find that the show isn't as bad as some have suggested--at least when experienced solely as an album.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Sorry for Party Rocking
    Sorry For Party Rocking is a dumb party record that knows it's a dumb party record.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    VII: Sturm und Drang
    A generic album.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    The Bedlam In Goliath
    The band's frenzied rate of output seems to have trampled any inner editor, and the result is a splat of concepts and virtuosity that never coheres.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Pacific Daydream
    The Weezer frontman continues to tap that increasingly dry well, his dusty lovelorn longings for perfect summer nights now sounding completely formulaic.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Testimonium Songs
    By the album’s end, there’s no definable takeaway aside from the fact that Testimonium Songs would have benefited from being a true Joan Of Arc record as opposed to a small piece of a larger puzzle.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Honeymoon on Mars
    On most of Honeymoon On Mars, the band seems resigned to the apocalypse and modern society’s devolution, resulting in a shockingly limp record overflowing with empty bluster.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Flashy
    Flashy, the Detroit band's fifth full-length, still executes garage-glam with senses fully heightened, but it seems totally uninterested in doing anything new.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Carry Me Back
    Carry Me Home, the band's latest, doesn't suffer from a shortage of whimsy, but its surplus of cringe-inducing aw-shucks hokeyness is problematic.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Endlessly
    Duffy is clearly striving for growth with Endlessly, but outside her comfort zone, she comes up short.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    New Facts Emerge
    It’s not bad--it’s certainly not an Ersatz GB, or Are You Are Missing Winner (though its half-assed cover art certainly comes close). But now that I’ve written it up, off it will go into the pile, never to be played.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    California
    California is the sound of Blink-182 desperately trying to remain relevant by outsourcing its creativity.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Ocean Eyes
    The click-clackety beats and twinkling synth bleeps owe a clear debut to Jimmy Tamborello’s homemade production, though Young adds a bright sheen that owes something to J-pop as well.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Scream
    The problem with Scream isn’t that Cornell is too much of an artist to go pop, it’s that the fit is so unbecoming.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Everything Is Borrowed
    Skinner's self-actualization prattle would be more admirable if it had any real insight, but the best he can offer are cheap aphorisms tailor-made for tote bags.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    He's Got the Whole This Land Is Your Land in His Hands
    These songs would never be mistaken for any other band—by that same token, it’s often so obtuse it feels like it’s not meant for anyone but its creators.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    How To Destroy Angels
    As it is, How To Destroy Angels resembles a subdued Nine Inch Nails with female vocals.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Friendly Fire
    Friendly Fire's real problem is that Lennon keeps coming up with airy melodies that recall his father's work, only they don't really sound like John anymore, they sound like Elliott Smith.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Blues Funeral
    Lanegan's voice may be timeless, but its versatility has its limits--and Blues Funeral tests those limits just a little too much.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    I'm with You
    As the forgettable I'm With You shows, there's a difference between surviving and thriving.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Magna Carta Holy Grail
    The bulk of Magna Carta, however, really is just an obscenely rich dude gloating about his spoils. Where West continues to introduce new twists in his ever-unfolding story—with Yeezus, he’s reinvented himself as rap’s most compelling villain—Jay-Z has remained static, frozen in permanent victory.
    • 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.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Goodbye Lullaby
    Lavigne is a divorced singer-songwriter about to enter her late 20s, but on Lullaby, she would've been better off not acting her age.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    AIM
    AIM sounds like a field recording made in the middle of a bustling Sri Lankan market: colorful, flavorful, and most of all, noisy. These inescapable Eastern vibes prove to be a blessing, uniting an otherwise fragmented album.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Magpie and the Dandelion
    These songs are nice and they’re pretty, but have no bite, no substance, and no real pizzazz.
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