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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    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Search Of... [Second Version]
    A strange, rewarding, unclassifiable journey into the sonic imagination of The Neptunes, and without a doubt the weirdest, funkiest disc ever released by a Britney Spears producer.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Revolution Starts Now
    For those inclined to agree with Earle's politics--at this point, does anyone else buy his albums?--The Revolution Starts Now will probably remain in constant rotation through the election.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Public Domain: Songs From the Wild Land
    Alvin's approach acknowledges the haunting quality that traipsing through history can evince; Public Domain is like a photo album of ghosts, where the images are recognizable but occupying some other plane.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Midnite Vultures
    An entertainingly excessive album, its libidinous funk mosaic finds Beck coming on like a master of ceremonies overseeing a sci-fi orgy.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hot Shit
    Much of Hot Shit! sounds like backward-leaning, forward-looking protest music.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Black Album
    It's essentially The Blueprint 3.0.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cold Roses
    For a good long stretch, Cold Roses feels fantastic--as pretty and affecting as a slow sunset.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything, Everything
    To its credit, Live: Everything, Everything does a good job displaying the group's qualities that set it apart from the strictly DJ-and-DAT set.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Last Exit
    Junior Boys makes hushed, blippy dance music with a contemporary sensibility, as though Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark had been continuously recording since 1980.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Belladonna
    Belladonna's tracks resemble soundtrack cues designed to capture a specific emotion that words could never quite do justice.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Be
    After blasting off into outer space with Electric Circus, Common returns to more solid ground with Be, but thanks to West, Poyser, and Jay Dee, the sounds are often nothing short of heavenly.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In The Mode
    In The Mode indicates the importance of Size's gift as both a bandleader and a producer: Because his music combines so many different elements (hip-hop, dub, soul, jazz, rock, ambient, techno), his uncanny ability to juggle everything makes Reprazent go down easy, considering how uniquely frenetic the stuff is.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Give Up
    If Pet Shop Boys recorded for Warp Records, the results might be close.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Give
    Dry, cavernous production by studio pro Tchad Blake lends Give some of its uniqueness, but more crucial is The Bad Plus' way of thinking through jazz compositions with a pop mind.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Almost Killed Me
    The Hold Steady's powerful yet somewhat generic rock style proves incidental to Finn's dense, wordy story-songs. As a whole, though, Almost Killed Me showcases a wise and gritty rock band still in it for life, through thick and thin.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
    He collides substances that shouldn't mix to create a sound that not only survives the impact, but thrives in the aftermath.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Beginning Stages Of...
    Though he could stand to loosen the reins and let his sidemen push the songs into more adventurous territory, DeLaughter has at least figured out how to create a dramatic effect.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Turn On The Bright Lights
    Interpol's virtue lies in the way its music unfurls from pinched openings to wide-open codas.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whatever
    As a producer, Green Velvet is a master of the kind of darkly banging jack-track house that evokes dank airplane hangars and prickly acid nightmares.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Room On Fire
    On Room On Fire, the band has the good sense to do what it does best and leave listeners wanting more.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Good News For People Who Love Bad News
    The songs still rely on Brock's echoing guitar patterns and Mobius-strip lyrics, delivered in the voice of a harried, hip-hop-inflected square-dance caller, but though the vehicle stays the same, the scenery outside the window changes considerably.
    • The A.V. Club
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wilderness
    Both fastidious and unassuming, Wilderness never begs for attention, but often rewards it just the same.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Let Go
    Virtually every song on Let Go hits its mark in one way or another, dispensing consistently remarkable moments that range from the sweet minor-key swoon of "Blizzard Of '77" and "Neither Heaven Nor Space" to the sleek, bouncy new wave of "Hi-Speed Soul."
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Free So Free
    He's singing better than ever--his attenuated Neil Young whine has developed into a deeper, mellower, less distracting instrument--and his arrangements of percussive punch and fuzzy guitar have rarely sounded so effortlessly rocking.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Chutes Too Narrow
    Without the thrill of discovery, it's no shock that the returns have diminished slightly on Chutes Too Narrow. But a minor step down from greatness still sounds damn good.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    13
    At first listen, it may be hard to figure out whether 13 is some sort of twisted masterpiece or the work of a once-great group losing the plot. Those who stick around to find out will be rewarded.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dog In The Sand
    He sounds fierce on his new album, and that's a welcome change.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    To The 5 Boroughs
    Boroughs unabashedly travels backward, but like Missy Elliott's similarly retro-minded Under Construction, it's so joyful that it makes regression feel progressive and growth overrated.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whole New You
    Whole New You peters out in its midsection, falling back on a succession of pleasant but unremarkable songs, but its opening third takes the shape of one career highlight after another. Marred only by the occasional well-worn vocal inflection--and the occasional "we try and try / we cry, baby, cry" couplet--those songs are strong enough to bring the album as a whole up to their distinguished level.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Suckfish
    [Has] tracks that find lots of deceptive variance within their rigid constructs.
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