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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    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Power
    Everywhere, analog instruments accelerate at such incredible speeds that their tones seem at once both fully physical and fully digital; they’re undeniably both of these things and yet it’s impossible to hear them as anything but a unified whole.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Lamp Lit Prose
    Dirty Projectors felt like an ending, but Lamp Lit Prose suggests several new beginnings and an army of collaborators looking to help Longstreth find inspiration and passion among the ashes
    • 85 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
    Almost every song here seems to operate in a constant state of crescendo. But only the most stubborn traditionalist could deny how close Deafheaven often gets to the higher plane of its name.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Voids
    Any cohesive emotion is good news for Martyn, whose more recent albums, like 2014’s The Air Between Words, have been marked by typically tasteful production, but little else. Voids has that, but there’s also a welcome, brooding focus.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Byen
    Some of Byen’s best moments are when he lets some of that permanent midnight in on his aural sunshine, like the horror-film chorus that suddenly joins in on the clavinet-funk of “Gata,” or the baroque piano of ominous closer “Natta.”
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    I'll Tell You What!
    I’ll Tell You What! reflects his confidence in making every sound count, but its outlook is melancholy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Endless Scroll
    Debut album Endless Scroll is an enjoyable but occasionally generic combination of carnival-barker speak-sing and new-wave post-punk influences.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Scorpion
    It’s a drag, but a compulsively listenable one, with velvety production and Drake’s typically elegant taste in guest voices.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Pray for the Wicked
    The poignant album-ending ballad “Dying In LA” makes you wish there had been more tracks showcasing Urie’s pop-transcending emotive vocals.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Uniform Distortion
    It doesn’t offer any particularly novel insights into the crushing, nearly unavoidable hellscape of the digital age, but instead fights valiantly against its grasp with Godzilla-size hooks, solos both vicious and dreamy, and lush production that encourages turning on, tuning in, and dropping out.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    K.T.S.E.
    K.T.S.E. should’ve been a breakout moment for her, but it was rushed to release to hit West’s schedule, and as such feels undercooked and unfocused. Make no mistake: There’s great “polo Kanye” stuff here, from the make-up-and-make-out ride of “Gonna Love Me” to the fierce autobiography of “Rose In Harlem.” The atomic ballroom “WTP” feels beamed in from another dimension.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Now Now
    Overall, The Now Now would work better if it fully embraced its melancholy.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    High As Hope
    Musically, High As Hope isn’t too far off from the operatic orchestration of her earlier work, which is the most frustrating thing about it. It does give the music a little more space to breathe, however, and adds a percussive through-line of handclaps, foot stomps, and prominent double bass that builds on the melodramatic vibe fans love.
    • 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.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    No Sounds Are Out of Bounds
    Overall it’s a baggy mixed bag of dub grooves and warmed-over house beats, dominated by an exhausting tower of babbling dialogue samples that, like No Sounds itself, rarely have much to say.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Kazuashita
    Kazuashita is impeccably made, but it could stand a little more chaos.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Bad Witch
    The instrumentals, like all NIN, reward immersive listening, but fans may find themselves wishing for a little more to grab onto.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Heaven & Earth
    Earth is loaded with mentally and emotionally draining songs. ... Heaven, [is] a set of smoother, more cosmic songs that showcase Washington’s ability to pen compositions of awe-inspiring majesty. Even more impressive is the way those two modes occasionally bleed into each other from across the album’s border.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Everything is Love
    Everything may lack the emotional depth of Beyoncé’s last two solo records, but it more than makes up for it in holy-shit-Beyoncé moments. ... Only Jay’s own work with Kanye (and Drake and Future’s collaborative 2015 takeover of rap radio) even approach what the Carters have done here, at least as far as fusing their disparate personae into an appealing whole.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Sleepless
    Some, like the preset pings and warbles in “MS19” and “Io,” will also test just how much kitsch you take in your kosmische. Still, there are frequent spacey pleasures to latch onto, and an evident, infectious joy in its creation.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Head Over Heels
    Chromeo specializes in upbeat, retro-embracing synth-funk—but, unlike others in a similar vein, the Canadian duo exists in an area somewhere between a come-hither wink and a seduction parody. On Head Over Heels, the group strikes a perfect balance between these extremes. Credit for this goes to the roster of impressive special guests.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Hope Downs
    Hope Downs more than delivers on the promise of the Melbourne quintet’s two early EPs, doubling down on the melancholy pop it forged on 2015’s Talk Tight and last year’s The French Press while also polishing its sound.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Bon Voyage
    Lyrically, Bon Voyage searches for healing and “some kind of light to come,” and the chemistry Prochet found with Swahn and Fiske seems to deliver it; this album is as freeing to listen to as it must’ve been to create.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Kids See Ghosts
    Kids See Ghosts marks his true return only a year and a half after he checked himself into rehab to fight depression and suicidal ideation, and taking the time out to work on himself seems to have done him wonders. Cudi is, without qualification, the spiritual and artistic backbone of Kids See Ghosts, the source of its truest artistic risks and the instrument of its greatest triumphs.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Remain In Light
    Kidjo’s Remain In Light, now arriving in studio form, is a stunning transformation that sheds the nervous, alien nature of these well-worn songs, turning them into something more human, danceable, and, in some cases, more meaningful.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    so sad so sexy
    Lykke Li’s fourth album, So Sad So Sexy, is more introverted and meditative than her previous efforts.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    No Shame
    This is a prettier, more heartfelt record than Sheezus, but only a slightly better one.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lush
    The crushing sameness of the existence described in Snail Mail’s music means that not every song on Lush is essential, but when Jordan hits, she hits a bullseye.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Ye
    It’s a prismatic album, reflecting its creator’s entire body of work--and also whatever you think about him going in.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Testing
    Though the finished project is as loose and incohesive as its title might suggest, there’s a lot to like about Testing.
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