16 September 2024
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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Seventh studio album from the Bluegrass singer-songwriter and her partner Dave Rawlings
7.7
Named after their Nashville studio – hit by a tornado in 2020 – the duo’s first album together in 13 years picks its impeccable, old-time way through personal and social upheaval Read Review
The singer-songwriter duo’s latest album is illuminated by memories of old while still finely attuned to present reality, with recollections of long road trips, old dreams and familiar faces adding warmth from within Read Review
Impressionistic songs underscored by despair, anxiety and a will to overcome Read Review
The long-running Nashville duo offers new sonic moods and narrative modes on a fantastic LP Read Review
The intuitive bond between the two musicians remains at the forefront of their terrific new album, full of quiet adventures and clear empathy Read Review
The new ‘duo’ album from two of Americana’s leading lights offers wistful melodies, bittersweet emotions and sly humour Read Review
There’s something faintly Seventies’ California easy listening about the song Read Review
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Tindersticks Soft Tissue
They are a band with a catalog worth getting lost in, and Soft Tissue stands as one of their finest moments All Music
Nilüfer Yanya My Method Actor
A soft-spoken, probing outing for Yanya, one whose dreamy web of acoustic instruments and electronic accents persistently allures while scrutinizing All Music
The Jesus Lizard Rack
The Nirvana peers’ first album in 26 years is a masterclass in tightly controlled chaos The Observer
The Londoner sings with murmured vocals about opaque scenarios in a thoughtful, interestingly cryptic new record The FT
Floating Points Cascade
Build-ups, peaks and drops are used with unerring skill on the producer’s latest record A man with round brown glasses stares The FT
An understated meditation on performance and emotional excavation, somehow manifest like the grandiose approach of cinema Northern Transmissions
In Cascade, Floating Points reclaims the dancefloor while elevating the genre beyond its traditional boundaries Northern Transmissions
Porches Shirt
A departure from the easy listening that fans love, and challenges listeners in a more confrontational urgency and intensity Northern Transmissions
There’s a grand achievement in assembling a record so abstract but universal Far Out
Plunges him back to the old soundworld of heavily Auto-Tuned ballads (of the 12 tracks here, only Bread Believer is pacey) and a voice that sounds like it’s on the verge of tears, even if the lyrics sound more disorientated than tragic. .... But Maine’s nagging melodies hold up, and Shirt still feels convincingly real. Print edition only Mojo
As Shirt progresses, grungey riffs begin to cut through on “Itch” and the White Stripes-y chorus of “Rag”. Elsewhere, his slacker songcraft commands evermore empathy as “Voices In My Head” employs a neat acoustic motif and “Music” offers a piano-led lullaby to close a short, deceptively sweet affair. Print edition only Uncut
For those willing to dive into its depths, Shirt offers a homespun experience that further cements Aaron Maine’s place as one of the more singular voices in contemporary indie music The Line Of Best Fit
Sadistic and reckless as biking home past curfew with blood in your mouth and a smirk on your face, Maine's portrait of suburban America wants to take us all down with it… and who are we to resist? Exclaim
Album highlight "Rag" is at least as incendiary as well as catchy, with drops, shouty starts, and stops making it even more unstable. That song is like a microcosm of the album All Music
While the album succeeds in creating a cohesive sound and an undeniable atmosphere of melancholy, one that’s difficult to find fault with, it falls flat in places by not pushing beyond those initial ideas. It’s a rainy day rather than a storm Far Out
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past twelve years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Dave We’re All Alone In This Together