18 May 2012
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 publications. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Tracks the critics are loving: hear them now
" Metamorphoses commence in unison on the mighty creepiness of the album’s near-seven-minute centerpiece, Simmer. And does it ever" Pop Matters
Listen on SpotifyListen on grooveshark
" Simply put, it’s one of the singles of the year" music OMH
" Highlights include DJ Ease My Mind which is sure to become a club anthem" The Line Of Best Fit
" When they hit full, throat-ripping, riff-driven throttle, such as on Gebbie Street, they sound superbly riotous" The Fly
" The finest jangle pop this side of the Rockies" The Digital Fix
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The ADM rating is a weighted average from our survey of more than 50 sources , taking into account the number of reviews
8.4
Some exceptional claims being made about the 2nd release from the Sacramento experimental hip hop trio
Added: 19/04/2012
8.1
The sludge metal album of the year? Many critics think it could be
Added: 08/04/2012
8.0
Synthpop maestro Johnny Jewel has won over the reviewers with what many see as another melancholy masterwork
Added: 09/04/2012
The majority of reviewers see this as a new lease of life for the blues rock evangelist
Added: 17/04/2012
Third album of experimental folk/pop from the Mercury Music Prize-nominated London-based quartet
Added: 11/04/2012
7.9
Third album of experimental dubstep from London-based producer and DJ Darren Cunningham
Added: 25/04/2012
7.8
Debut album from Minneapolis indie rock / electronica quartet formed by Gayngs collaborators Ryan Olsen and Channy Leaneagh
Added: 14/04/2012
7.7
Second album of psychedelic freak folk from this Baltimore outfit
Added: 26/04/2012
Debut album of psychedelic noise rock from this Australian duo, who specialise in house parties
Added: 11/05/2012
The Sheffield singer-songwriter and guitarist takes a turns towards space rock and psychedelia on his 6th studio album
7.6
Eighth studio album from the Baltimore-born singer-songwriter, guitarist and drummer J. Tilman who recently left Fleet Foxes
Added: 30/04/2012
7.5
This Canadian noise rock duo follow up their well received 2010 debut, Meet Me At The Muster Station
Added: 08/05/2012
A collaboration between like minded garage rock upstarts
Added: 20/04/2012
This pair of labelmates join forces to make an album of soul, latin jazz and more
Added: 12/04/2012
Follow up to the highly-rated Teen Dream album from the Baltimore dream pop duo
An album of vintage synth soundscapes from the Portishead mainman in collaboration with film score composer Salisbury
Added: 01/05/2012
Guitarist Nick Zammuto, formerly of avant-garde sound collage duo The Books, with a new band and a similarly experimental debut
Second full-length release from the UK indie pop quartet
The first album proper from the troupe of veteran hardcore punks, led by former Circle Jerks and Black Flag frontman, Keith Morris
Added: 03/05/2012
7.4
Latest outing from the prodigious Spencer Krug, this time a collaboration with Finnish post-rock band Siinai
Added: 16/04/2012
The Grammy award winning folk and blues stalwart returns with his latest collection of songs
Added: 13/04/2012
Eighth album from this London outfit, who for 20 years have blended house, synthpop, indie and more into their sound
Added: 14/05/2012
Entering their 35th year of existence, Jaz Coleman and his band produce another album of their distinctive industrial sound
Third album from the Brooklyn-based lo-fi indie psych rock / folk band led by Luke Temple
Added: 04/05/2012
Psychedelic pop and synth pop on the debut from the Oxford band
Added: 15/05/2012
7.3
Third studio album of epic post-rock from the Leeds four-piece
Debut album from the much-tipped Swedish electro-pop duo, who featured in the BBC Sound of 2012 list
Added: 10/05/2012
Third studio album from the Miami sludge / stoner metal quartet led by singer-guitarist Steve Brooks
Added: 24/04/2012
The Canadian singer-songwriter brings producer Mark Ronson on board for his 7th album and focuses on 70s pop and soul
Debut album from this psychedelic pop group who, despite the Japanese-referencing name, hail from Denmark
Squarepusher Ufabulum
In the form of his life. Print edition only Uncut
The Magnetic North Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North
Majestic yet frustratingly aloof. Print edition only Uncut
The windswept islands captured in music. Print edition only Mojo
No, Squarepusher doesn’t seem to give a damn, but he does want to smoosh eardrums with whacky stuff. More power to him The Arts Desk
Some of the tracks are over-arranged which gives the album, overall, a bit of an identity crisis Bowlegs
An evocative, indelible, and utterly majestic ode to Orkney AU Magazine
Ultimately Ufabulum’s jarring stylistic schism may make the album tough to digest for many people, but the quality of Jenkinson’s craftsmanship remains constant throughout The Skinny
These are timeless songs which rather than being of any genre - not even the hard-to-define 'folk' - seem to spring from the bare open horizons, low-lying islands and sea of Orkney, creating a unique bleak and windswept aesthetic The Quietus
Funky as he wants to be — EPCOT-rocking splatterjazz, rainbow-tasting ravewave, Inspector Gadget ringtone funk Spin
Each track is rich with strings and woodwind, but all with an unavoidable folky edge. It’s a formula that works, and works to the extent that sets it aside in terms of originality music OMH
A truly beguiling record Drowned In Sound
A bit cold, clinical and repetitive NME
Hugely impressive, technically, but too cold and forbidding for many tastes BBC
Public Image Ltd This Is PiL
It may not be of the calibre of Metal Box, but it finds its maker firmly in 2012, not 1979, and with plenty still to grouse about Uncut
Saint Etienne Words And Music By Saint Etienne
These songs are their sharpest in over a decade. Print edition only NME
What's finding favour with bloggers & other review sites
The Mars Volta Noctourniquet
Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball
Andrew Bird Break It Yourself
Following up the highly-acclaimed Teen Dream album was never going to be an easy feat but Beach House appear to have succeeded with Bloom. It has 10s from two sources and a 9.1 from Pitchfork, while FasterLouder see it as a "transportive journey"
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past three and a half years or so
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Tom Waits Bad As Me
Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid
Joanna Newsom Have One On Me
Gillian Welch The Harrow & The Harvest
Burial Kindred