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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    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Contra
    The 10 songs here don't collectively match the near-perfection displayed on the band's debut, but Contra is varied and vivacious enough to make each spin as revelatory as the first time you realized what the band was getting away with and how well it pulled off the feat.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Get Behind Me Satan
    Another remarkable White Stripes album.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Weightlifting
    Weightlifting settles into an alternately joyful and reflective string of smart, gentle pop songs that should have fans of The Smiths and/or Crowded House waxing weepily nostalgic.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mouse And The Mask
    The addition of Adult Swim characters into damn near every track isn't always seamless or clever, and the album could do without "Bada Bing" or Meatwad's intentionally painful bonus-track cover of Doom's "Beef Rapp," but otherwise, this stellar collaboration threatens to give underground synergy a good name.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Cross
    An engaging study in contrasts and a killer party record.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Avi Buffalo
    "What's in it for me?" Zahner-Isenberg sings with a piercing squeak in the chorus of the album's gooiest pop song. He honestly doesn't know, and that's what makes Avi Buffalo such an affecting listen.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Marnie Stern
    Soaring hooks wax and wane in an intentional emotional flow, and even at her most energetic, she remains poignant and personal. She still occasionally shows off, and there's plenty of epic bombast, but a cleaner production showcases the music's most interesting complexities without letting them get swallowed in the chaos.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Eric Bachmann
    Eric Bachmann is the most lyric-centered record of Bachmann’s career; it’s not as immediate as Archers Of Loaf or Crooked Fingers, but it isn’t built to be. The lasting impression is a deeply personal one.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Visions of a Life
    In lesser hands, this kind of sonic disparity could be chaotic and confusing--but with Rowsell’s voice as the guiding light, Visions is a captivating, enjoyable ride.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    By the Way I Forgive You
    As the title implies, Brandi Carlile’s sixth studio album is about deriving strength from forgiveness and gratitude. But the lovely, languid folk songs on By The Way, I Forgive You also offer nuanced looks at life’s everyday complications.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Morning Phase
    It’s not as good as Sea Change, but that it’s anywhere close--and it is--means it’s doing something right.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Researching the Blues
    What makes Researching so great, though, is its tight focus.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Capacity
    Capacity may not be breaking any new boundaries. But with a songwriter as undeniable as Lenker, it doesn’t need to.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Life is Good
    Life Is Good leaves Nas in his comfort zone, where the vital music of his youth proves a rousing platform for commenting on matters of middle age.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Picaresque
    Sounds brighter and deeper than anything The Decemberists previously attempted.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Psychic Chasms
    Psychic Chasms is an excellent album of balmy psychedelia and breezy infectiousness.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    They Want My Soul
    The playing on They Want My Soul still possesses a marked degree of control, but it’s treated with additional textures made possible by Fridmann and Fischel.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    AZD
    AZD marks a triumphant return for Actress.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Holiday Destination
    On her third LP, Shah displays the patience to let an idea stew. And she’s not moving on until she’s sufficiently chewed it over, swished it around her mouth, and dragged her tongue across her front teeth.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016
    An album like this should reveal something about the artist, if only to highlight how an unplugged Jack White has differed over the years from his garage-rock side. Acoustic Recordings doesn’t really do that. It’s more like fragments out of context, squarely framed.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Northern Passages
    On Northern Passages, their 10th studio album, The Sadies cut 11 fresh paths through well-trodden territory. Because band-leading brothers Dallas and Travis Good have made adaptability their defining characteristic, they’re best served when bigger personalities take the helm.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    Unlike the singer’s rootsy solo work, Down In The Weeds is rich in what brought many of us to Bright Eyes in the first place: the drama. ... There’s the mature reflection he intertwines with his urgency. There’s his hard-fought optimism. And there’s the embrace of community, the sense that Oberst doesn’t want to stare down these songs alone.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Civilian
    The added dynamism in Wye Oak's music makes the prettiest passages of Civilian that much more arresting, and the demons lurking beneath them all the more real.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Scale
    Some of his recent work has prioritized conceptual aims at the expense of his formidable musical talent, but Scale strikes a balance with songs as melodic and inviting as any he's ever composed.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Burst Apart
    It isn't as conceptual as its predecessor, but Burst Apart is just as much of an event, one that comes with some cautious optimism in the end.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Blue Smoke
    On Blue Smoke, she handily harnesses those charms--coupled with that stellar musicality, of course--to produce an absolutely lovely LP.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Your Future Our Clutter
    The band is in one of its ever-cyclical upswings, bolstered by what Smith has referred to as "the best lineup I've ever had"-and while a characteristically ungrateful slight against all the great Fall permutations he's sacked, it's also a fair appraisal of this season's squad.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Goon
    While the narrative is compelling, this is a sound-first record, with each lyric fostering the fundamental ideals Jesso has for his music.
    • 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.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lese Majesty
    A brontide is an explosive sound believed to come from earth tremors. Fittingly, Lese Majesty resounds just as seismic.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Fur & Gold
    Closing with a bonus cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" ends things on an uninspired, Tori Amos-like note, but by then, most will be too far under Khan's spell to notice.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wilderness
    Both fastidious and unassuming, Wilderness never begs for attention, but often rewards it just the same.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    New Leaves
    New Leaves--Kinsella’s fifth full-length as Owen--was influenced by marriage and fatherhood, and even if he overindulges now and again (if his bones feel old in his early 30s, imagine how they’ll feel at 50), it proves that emo can grow up and still sound wonderfully relevant.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    I Speak Because I Can
    I Can maintains its mystery and poetic obfuscation upon repeat listens. I Can would make for sublime coffee-shop fodder, except that Marling's music and especially her exquisitely wrought words reward,
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    You're Not As _____ As You Think
    At its core, the album captures the difficulty of losing loved ones without losing faith. With You’re Not As _____ As You Think, Boucher has made a record that serves as a companion through those ups and downs of the grieving process, offering companionship and a helping hand, when such things aren’t always a given.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Moms
    By purging themselves of old ghosts in such a forceful manner, Seim and Harris have tapped into a wellspring of emotional catharsis with Moms.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Redemption
    Throughout Jay fixates on a specific sort of paranoid despair, chasing bottles of Henny with painkillers. His favorite move is to not move at all, finding a good flow and digging into it, often delivering tiny clipped phrases like a boxer practicing his jab.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Paramore
    If Paramore has a flaw, it’s that there’s so much going on and so many stylistic flourishes, the record never quite coalesces.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The BBC Sessions
    Diehards won't be getting rid of their copies of "If You're Feeling Sinister" or "The Boy With The Arab Strap" anytime soon, but often these alternate versions are tighter and zippier than the originals, which make them a good introduction for new fans as well as welcome contrasts for long-timers.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Monomania
    Monomania feels less like a collection of songs that belong together and more like simply a group of great tunes.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Private Press
    At first, The Private Press plays like a bland kiss-off to followers expecting a big-time event record. But once its blood has time to flow, the album swells from a strained capillary to a coursing vein.
    • 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.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Armchair Apocrypha
    Bird has developed a finesse for off-kilter pop that takes mortality, confusion, and unexpected realizations as its subject, shaping them all into songs that are catchier, by their own terms, than most of Top 40 radio.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Chemtrails Over the Country Club
    “Tulsa Jesus Freak” is arguably closest to the Lana Del Rey longtime fans know and love, and it’s no surprise that it was written in 2019, around the time NFR! came out. “Yosemite” is another highlight, a stunning number with Del Rey’s vocals at their best. But most songs on Chemtrails don’t stand out. They blend together in their delicateness.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Way Out
    The Way Out provides the best introduction yet to The Books' nerdy experiments, but also to the duo's grand, goofy emotional range.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Short Movie
    The best tracks showcase Marling’s ability to fuse her meandering musicality with her forceful passion.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    LUMP
    All that surrealist pop plays out over 30 minutes of interlocking songs, enough to keep you thoroughly entranced and get you hoping LUMP might soon inspire its hosts to deliver more.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    McCartney III
    Fortunately, midway through the record, McCartney III starts to soar. When he’s not pouring his heart out into silly love songs, McCartney fares best harnessing his seldom-seen inner rage, à la “Helter Skelter.”
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I Learned The Hard Way
    When the puttering “Better Things” opens with cocktail chatter and a snappy trumpet solo, I Learned The Hard Way brings back the days of working-class pop stars in three-piece suits, crafting songs so catchy that they had to be allowed into the club.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
    The disc is padded with two shorter pieces that serve as ambient interludes only.... That doesn't detract from the alternating bombast and delicacy of 'Allelujah!, but it does make the album feel more like a prelude to a comeback than a full-on renaissance.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Room Inside the World
    Though it’s hard not to miss the old energy, ultimately, the band’s newfound sense of stability turns out to be a good look for them--and one that suggests the milk of human kindness does a body good.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Figure 8
    A strong collection of lush, densely arranged power-pop and inimitably intimate ballads?
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Charlatans At the Garden Gate
    With the self-assurance of someone who began her songwriting career at just 14 while holed up in her father's home recording studio, Tristen Gaspadarek has crafted a confident, poignant folk-pop debut that never wants for hooks, and manages to undercut its sing-songiness at every turn with unflinching lyrics and mature songwriting.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Maraqopa
    Fittingly, Maraqopa finally puts Jurado in a position to shine.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    James Blake
    James Blake is dubstep's crossover moment, rolling back the hostile skronk and centering on a croon that rivals Antony Hegarty for lovelorn beauty.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Guidance
    Although Guidance may have a few minor shortcomings, the Chicago trio’s sixth LP is yet another example of its ability to examine and depict multifaceted emotions without needing to utter a word.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    I Don't Like Shit: I Don't Go Outside
    At just under a half hour, it’s even more understated than its predecessor, with fewer guests, almost no outside producers, less variety--less everything, really. That may sound like a downgrade, but it’s not, since here the anti-spectacle becomes a kind of spectacle of its own, as Earl tests how far his music can retreat into itself.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Ecstatic
    It's taken a decade, but Def has finally produced a worthy follow-up to his beloved solo debut.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    You In Reverse
    This is a real, classic rock 'n' roll record, with powerhouse production backing a set of songs that actively engage.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    World Eater
    World Eater represents a true stylistic leap. It’s a mammoth collection of songs that carve out a unique niche between apocalyptic anxiety and brief, cathartic bursts of ecstasy--a feeling that should resonate with just about everybody these days.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lie Down In The Light
    The songs are full, lush, even sparkling, and their teeming arrangements--woodwinds, electric piano, summer-afternoon copulations of banjo and violin--are the best of his career.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Shadows
    Shadows is a touch too twee at times, but more often, it impresses with its understated elegance and classically constructed melodies.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Lost Tapes
    A filler-free tour de force.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Devils & Dust
    Ultimately, Devils & Dust feels like his attempt to reestablish himself as a working performer; his new material comes without weighty expectations for grand pronouncements, or the burdens of being a living icon. In that way, it's considerably more successful than his last such attempt, the 1995 album The Ghost Of Tom Joad.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Magnificent City
    It's the product of two remarkable artists working in perfect unison, powered by an effortless chemistry that recalls similarly blessed collaborations between Madlib and MF Doom, or MF Doom and Danger Mouse.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Kannon
    This is the soundtrack to the decline of our species, once again illustrating that Sunn O))) is one of the most interesting and progressive groups in heavy music.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Boxing Mirror
    As is often the case with Escovedo, a certain necessary edge is missing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Money Store
    Even its bleakest sentiments and harshest sounds invigorate.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Set Yourself On Fire
    Like Ivy and other suave postmodern light-rockers, Stars sounds better in small bites than big gulps.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Damaged
    Like the 2002 album Is A Woman, Damaged scales back for an opaque set of heartbroken songs inspired by, in Wagner's words, "deeply personal experience."
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Obliterati
    As the price of success, The Obliterati faces significantly higher expectations. Once again, though, Burma succeeds and surprises by playing to its strengths while moving forward.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Post-War
    Post-War is easily M. Ward's most accessible album to date, charged with a bouncy spirit.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
    It's a gorgeous descent for an inimitable group that knows better than most how to deliver its highs high and its lows low.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Ruff Draft [Reissue]
    One of hip-hop's few essential EPs.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Manipulator
    His most inclusive, expansive album to date, it coaxes textures and touches territories he’s been inching toward for many a moon. And he brings it together in a crowd-pleasing package.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Back To Black
    There's something beguilingly perverse about the incongruity between Winehouse's trifling lyrical concerns and Back To Black's wall-of-sound richness.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Why Make Sense?
    Six albums in, Hot Chip doesn’t really have much to offer in the way of surprises, but with such strong songwriting and a languidly sexy mood tying it all together, it doesn’t need to.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Melody A.M.
    Even when hitting on well-worn genre exercises, the duo tweaks its formula in small ways that lead to big returns.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Noise Made By People
    Broadcast's strange mix of electric keyboards, sampled strings, soundtrack chic, and Trish Keenan's coolly regulated vocals offering hypnotic chill-out music for the new century.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Jay Stay Paid
    Posthumous projects are often ethically iffy, but the presence of Dilla’s hero Pete Rock as musical supervisor should reassure fans that Paid is about celebration rather than exploitation of Dilla’s life and legacy.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Logos
    Only when he retreats to familiar gauzy gurgles (as on the formless opener 'The Light That Failed') does Logos lose focus. Hopefully, Cox will learn to love it here, outside his shell.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast
    Graced by a new lightness of touch and simply better as programmers, the two friends behind Matmos sound loose and lively where they once sounded stiff.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future
    By the time the triumphant final expansive push to the end arrives, it’s become one of Underworld’s most powerful musical statements--and the memorable grace note to a strong return to form.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I Am What I Am
    Haggard began his career as a badass, but I Am is blessed with the humility and grace of a legend at peace with himself and the world around him.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    12 Songs
    The new album sounds great, but it has its share of filler, and Rubin's narrow vision means he lets some songs lie motionless when they might be improved by old-fashioned sweetening.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Actor
    Mostly, as Actor demonstrates, St. Vincent has found her own voice--and it’s one you wouldn’t want reading your kids any bedtime stories.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Family Afloat
    Most of the songs on The Family Afloat jump through their share of hooks and phases, few of which seem honed for maximum catchiness. Instead, they leave generous breathing room for Bobby Gallivan's free-associative, episodic lyrics.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Screen Violence
    It may not be their best, but it’s their best right now—and it crackles with the energy of a group that’s figured out how to block out the noise and deliver superbly crafted pop music, the kind some idealistic kids would’ve wanted to hear in a Scottish basement over a decade ago.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rubber Factory
    The disc makes a lot of noise, and it sounds great in the process.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    God's Son
    God's Son is a worthy follow-up to Stillmatic.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Metals
    The off-the-cuffness of her earlier work is missed a little, but there's a satisfying fullness to Metals, as Feist maintains the dramatic fragility of a moment even as the kettledrums boom.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Double Figure
    The disc ranges from Vangelis-esque dirges to beautifully chiming background music to sprightly pop melodies, and Handley and Turner rarely fail to give the impression that somebody is in the studio pressing the buttons.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's a Wonderful Life
    Ironically, the consistency of It's A Wonderful Life's dreamy, narcotic tone tends to detract from the consistency of its quality, in large part because the first few tracks set the bar so high.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Dragonslayer
    It isn’t a song so much as a journey, and as with the rest of Dragonslayer, its epic ambitions are fulfilled.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Origin: Orphan
    Origin: Orphan may be more about withholding, but at heart, The Hidden Cameras will always prefer pleasure.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    WIXIW
    WIXIW eventually opens to reveal cunning depths.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tanglewood Numbers
    Tanglewood Numbers isn't the front-to-back triumph it might've been... but it's a welcome return nonetheless for a straight face that looks unlike any other.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Put Your Back N 2 It
    Put Your Back N 2 It fails at recreating Learning's tortured confessionals, but its confidence is promising.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Bonfires On The Heath
    Bonfires On The Heath continues one of the most remarkable winning streaks in alt-pop, in which each Clientele album has sounded like a welcome refinement of what came before.
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