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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    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light
    Light is two harsh, ugly sounds that sound harsh and ugly together, but the hint of a pop sensibility throbs underneath: a heartbeat faintly audible over the screams of hell.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Rest
    The influence of Gainsbourg’s famous musical parents, both Serge and mother Jane Birkin, has been a constant in her music, but on Rest, she seems less daunted by her lineage, and she begins to bend it to her own ambitions.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Soul of a Woman
    After the James Brown frenzy of its opening tracks and the less memorable Motown-inspired middle ground, the album changes course. This reprise of Jones’ established work ends and listeners get a peek at what would have come next: an odyssey of densely symphonic funk and soul.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Memory of a Cut Off Head
    Although Memory Of A Cut Off Head might benefit from some more garage-rock grit and aggression here and there, its manicured tranquility leaves a lasting impression.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    If All I Was Was Black
    If All I Was Was Black is suffused with contemporary political resonance, married to Staples’ timelessly transcendent gospel-meets-bluesy-folk. That push-pull between sorrowful analysis of the current state of the country and hope for the future is its defining quality, and it works--mostly.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Low in High School
    Instead of your lonely, romantic proxy, he’s your surly, sometimes cool uncle who’s set in his ways but still capable of surprises. Low In High School has a few of those, most effectively on the mid-album epic “I Bury The Living.”
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    reputation
    The sparkling, writerly synth-pop of 1989 has been jettisoned almost entirely, replaced by thudding trap beats, Vegas EDM, melancholy Drive-wave synthesizers, and splashes of Miami bass. More often than not, it works.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Stranger
    His flow is less ostentatiously stilted than on earlier efforts, as if, now that this territory is being explored successfully by others, he no longer needs to exaggerate his outsider status. He floats into the vapor, drugged out and miserable, like the album itself.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Interiors
    A mostly mid-tempo record with a few solid standouts, including album-opener “Illuminant” and the vibey, spacey “Cosmonauts.” It’s still the third-best Quicksand album, but the distance between it and second place isn’t nearly as far as it might’ve been.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Phases
    With its plaintive lyrics, Phases further shows that Olsen, like those venerable musicians, is a persistent truth teller, an authentic voice no matter what style she’s working in.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Dusk in Us
    The Dusk In Us can’t match the apocalyptic power of a classic like 2001’s Jane Doe, but when Converge takes a victory lap, it still does it at a mad sprint.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    4eva Is a Mighty Long Time
    The tough, chest-beating first disc gives way to a second disc that’s just a little too fond of syrupy interludes. But as with his other releases, K.R.I.T.’s signature sincerity reigns supreme.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Thrill of It All
    To date, the only real distinction of Smith’s music is his voice--and though he’s a talented singer, even that’s dulled by songs this predictably vanilla.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Revelations
    Revelations thrives in that dissonance between its lo-fi production and Shamir’s striking falsetto, with tracks like “Her Story” impressively melding Motown and grunge influences.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Plunge
    Beyond its aggressive peaks, there is also true beauty here, and even nuggets of stark synth-pop that call back to her past work.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Beach House III
    While 2015’s Free TC felt designed to impress, a little too encyclopedic and earnest for its own good, Beach House 3 takes its concept literally, soundtracking a hypothetical bender in a paradise where the comedown never arrives.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Screen Memories
    Chances are you’ll once again walk away with some of its lyrics rattling around your brain. On the other hand, those lyrics have never seemed more like open dares to take them way, way too seriously.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Turn Out the Lights
    Turn Out The Lights is beautifully crafted throughout, full of the kinds of songs that linger long after they’ve ended. Baker doesn’t make it easy, but fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
    • 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.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    III
    There are moments on III where the band stumbles--“Witness” ebbs just a hair too close to The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”--but by and large, Makthaverskan has never been sharper than it is in the present moment.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Mirror Reaper
    Attention spans will certainly be tested, but surrender to the despair and Bell Witch’s slow-motion eulogy--delivered through a lonely ring of guitar, gently crashing cymbals, and stray funeral-home organ--hits like a blast beat to the heart.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    It's Alright Between Us as It Is
    It’s Alright Between Us As It Is feeds the body and soul.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    All American Made
    It’s the title track--a soft and heart-wrenching protest song that captures the struggle of living in the U.S.--that cements Price’s songwriting bona fides as a fiercely important voice in modern country.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Losing
    Even at that short running time, Losing’s 12 songs start to blur together toward the end, but the album’s many charms keep that from becoming a liability.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Ken
    This record is a grower whose off-putting quirks--like the swampy electronic muck that surrounds Bejar on “Saw You At The Hospital” or the discordant droning foundation of “A Light Travels Down The Catwalk”--give way and blend with all the gloss underneath them into yet another strange, frequently gorgeous album.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Glasshouse
    While all of this could feel a bit scattershot in lesser hands, there’s a writerly clarity to her compositions that ties them all together into a cohesive statement of marital and maternal devotion.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Saga Continues
    It’s low-stakes stuff, but if you’re enough of a Wu fan to read this far, you’ll be happy the saga continues--at least for now.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Going Grey
    The Front Bottoms are more confident, and secure enough to confess to all they don’t yet know. It’s a privilege to listen in as they work it out.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Lotta Sea Lice
    It’s a lovefest in the best way, and a worthy addition to both of their catalogs.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Ooz
    All that aimlessness is certainly on brand for the hazy expanses Marshall so clearly wants to create, but like the seeping unctuousness for which the album is named, it threatens to engulf his more potent songs.
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