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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    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In The Clear
    Simultaneously exciting and relaxing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
    An 800-pound gorilla of winning, eclectic rock 'n' roll.... Thirteen Tales may be the most joyous, instantly likable rock record you'll hear this year.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Dialogue
    On the whole, Black Dialogue emerges as a triumph, an impassioned 12-track hip-hop manifesto even a mother could love, assuming of course, she hasn't affixed a Bush/Cheney sticker on the bumper of the family station wagon.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silence Is Sexy
    Silence Is Sexy is yet another collection of pointed and intriguing meditations (in German and English) on love, life, poetry, and metaphysics, with part-time Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld's creaky grumble drifting in and out of Goth territory.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Wolf
    Fans of I Get Wet may find fewer instant pleasures than expected here, but those are replaced by something grander, nobler, truer in intent, and just as satisfying.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Where Shall You Take Me
    His most rewarding and assured work yet.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
    It makes good on Belle And Sebastian's urge for diversity while sticking to the transcendent pop that made its name.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Great Destroyer
    In making like a post-rock Crazy Horse, Low has found new ways to eke dynamic moments out of lingering notes.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Happy Songs For Happy People
    Happy Songs finds middle ground between brevity and meandering.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blacklisted
    The songs are spectral, yearning, and a bit opaque, the kind of music appropriate for a bar in which everyone has had a few and feels no better for it.
    • 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.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Invisible Invasion
    Restores songcraft without losing much ambition.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tournament Of Hearts
    Like the work of Spoon and some of the Constantines' Canada brethren, the music on Tournament Of Hearts reassembles familiar shards of indie-rock, classic rock, and new wave into original soundscapes that are both dangerous and alluring.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Ecleftic 2 Sides II a Book
    Even when Jean missteps, as on the heavy-handed "Diallo," he missteps in the most interesting way possible, pushing his music into weird and exciting directions that work more often than not.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Send
    The band has rarely sounded so alive.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trial Of The Century
    As for its place in the larger new rock movement, The Trial Of The Century's forward motion is on a par with The Walkmen's leap from the gray clang of its debut to the committed window-rattling of this year's Bows + Arrows.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kissin' Time
    Faithfull holds her own from the first track.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Tipping Point
    The Tipping Point may not boost The Roots' Soundscan numbers to a point commensurate with the acclaim and respect it commands, but the set marks another triumph from a group that seems incapable of producing anything less.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Secret Wars
    Secret Wars clamors like past Oneida albums dating back to 1997, but it also shows a band mellowing out without losing its charge.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Rush Of Blood To The Head
    Dressed up in subtle strings and pianos, and given time to slowly breathe and develop beyond simple pop, A Rush Of Blood's 11 graceful tracks sparkle and swirl, occasionally escalating into a booming crescendo before dissolving back into delicacy.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Rising Tide
    Another remarkable, evolutionary chapter in the stormy history of one of rock's best young bands.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Ugly Organ
    A potent piece of rock art.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Source Tags & Codes
    The group plays imaginative alt-rock with intense passion, and Source Tags & Codes lets the pressure build exquisitely.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sneak Attack
    As unmistakably old-school as a fat gold chain and a pair of unlaced Adidas sneakers.... He delivers a raw, grimy set of anthems as noncommercial as anything he's done.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Take Fountain
    The band's return to the name might initially smack of a desperate reunion, but it's more than just symbolic: With Take Fountain, The Wedding Present reclaims its place as a thoroughly convincing vessel for pop heartache and joy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mr. Hollywood, Jr. 1947
    There's nothing as immediately or enduringly memorable as "No Myth," but it's a solid piece of work throughout.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rain On Lens
    Rain On Lens remains essential listening for devotees of the rock 'n' roll underground, supporters of assured self-expression, and those captivated by the monochromatic.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
    TV On The Radio's ace is Adebimpe, whose urgent vocal performance sounds slyly bluesy and in sync with his and Sitek's dense urban soundscapes.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deliverance
    Mixes hip-hop and country with ease and grace.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    i
    Tracks as smart as the dreamy, melancholy character sketch "Irma" and the lyrical album-closer "It's Only Time" suggest how Merritt can top 69 Love Songs: one song at a time.
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