24 August 2019
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Third album from Ben Cook who also plays guitar for the hardcore punk band Fucked Up
6.8
GUV 1 showcases what a talent Ben Cook is and gives you a record that should keep your head bopping and feet moving throughout this summer and many more summers to come Read Review
These songs are infectious enough that they ought to catch just about anyone's ear Read Review
It's certainly the best power pop anyone is likely to hear in 2019 Read Review
Young Guv’s GUV 1 is an enjoyably aesthetic effort. If you’re willing to purposefully see your way through the haze, clarifying moments will grab your attention and provide the soundtrack to those cloudy summer days Read Review
Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook is also a pop poet, and the third album from his nostalgic indie-pop project recalls the grainy, jangly melodicism of college rock Read Review
Whereas Fucked Up is lauded for being ambitious and sprawling, Young Guv is more like a pop reaction to that band’s wild indulgences rather than an equivalent Read Review
Big Star meets '70s John Lennon meets Guided By Voices and Teenage Fanclub Read Review
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Jay Som Anak Ko
Anak Ko is more unified in tone than prior releases and benefits from its marriage of immersive sound design with consistently engaging songs All Music
Taylor Swift Lover
Swift is embracing all aspects of her personality, from the hopeful dreamer to the coolly controlled craftsman, resulting in a record that's simultaneously familiar and surprising All Music
Sheer Mag A Distant Call
The Philadelphia band return with a glorious sheen on their pro-worker, pro-barroom rock’n’roll Pitchfork
A real triumph DIY
Modern Nature How To Live
A compelling piece of work DIY
Most disarming moments occur when things quieten down The Line Of Best Fit
There’s a certain calm to the record that’s a good lesson in ‘how to live’ Loud And Quiet
Set the controls for the heart of somewhere very uneasy, but rather beautiful. Print edition only Q
Modern Nature is an explicitly English affair: unbluesy, unassuming and slightly uptight (in a good way). Print edition only Uncut
How To Live is more of a creative evolution than a total break from Cooper's previous music. Print edition only Mojo
Their music is defiantly experimental - though by no means impenetrable - and best enjoyed in its long-form splendor All Music
Tropical Fuck Storm Braindrops
These are strange, strange times and here you have a band strange enough to capture that DIY
The American singer proves once more that she is one of her generation’s definitive pop stars The FT
This a stronger offering than Reputation, with Swift returning to the place that suits her best: writing personal songs that create an entire world designed for two The Irish Times
The pop mega-force leaves behind the anger that fuelled its predecessor, 'Reputation', instead opting for open-hearted love songs NME
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past eight years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
Mount Eerie A Crow Looked at Me