5 February 2025
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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Eleventh album and first in five years from techno / electronic duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith
7.5
Rick Smith and Karl Hyde present a satisfying ebb and flow across a variety of musical styles, with euphoric chord shifts and big techno behemoths present and correct Read Review
They know a thing or two about drama on the dance floor Read Review
The techno giants’ 11th album finds them ranging from cut-up dancefloor fillers to gentle experimentation Read Review
Intimate but inviting, aching yet so frequently unconventional, it’s clear that pain hasn’t snuffed out the playful spark that Owens has exhibited since the Girls days Read Review
The album is another successful entry in Underworld’s catalogue, one that seems to be a grower this time around. Like they mentioned, please don’t shuffle Read Review
As always with Underworld, time becomes a stream that whirls the present into the past. It’s not as precise as Beaucoup Fish and often feels like a kaleidoscope more than a cohesive statement Read Review
They’ve not exactly gone back to their roots, but they can at least turn and face themselves in a way that would have been unthinkable in the mid-1990s Read Review
The Weather Station Humanhood
Written in the wake of personal crisis—and in the midst of global upheaval—Tamara Lindeman’s latest album, a lush and stirring tangle of acoustic and electronic textures, searches for meaning in chaos Pitchfork
Inhaler Open Wide
Their third album only sporadically flickers with promise and occasional glimpses of what might be musicOMH
Squid Cowards
The grandiose finale of this album is the groundbreaking track Well Met ( Fingers Through The Fence), which is more textured and chaotically nuanced than you could ever imagine Northern Transmissions
A testament to artistic ambition, the five-piece’s experimental third effort reveals more of itself with each enchanting listen musicOMH
Cowards is all killer, both musically and thematically. Print edition only Mojo
An album that is as imaginative as it is innovative. Print edition only Uncut
On Cowards, Squid reveal themselves as possibly the most forward-thinking and artistic band of the new post-punk explosion. It's not an easy ride, but few of the best things are. The tentacles are calling; be brave, open your eyes, and dive into the inky darkness Exclaim
Squid graduate the post-punk revival with an exceptional record, proving them more than worthy of recognition as Britain's new rock innovators The Skinny
MIKE Showbiz!
At just under 50 minutes, Showbiz! packs in 24 tracks, some of which feel more like interludes or sketches rather than fully fleshed-out songs Northern Transmissions
The album portrays the entertainment industry as a relentless, soul-crushing machine Slant Magazine
The New York rapper-producer lays down hard truths over a dense tapestry of soul, funk and 60s girl group sounds The Quietus
These fleeting fragments of the rapper-producer’s itinerant life, delivered in a lackadaisical yet focused style, prove he deserves all the acclaim he gets The Guardian
The prolific Brooklyn rapper reflects on dislocation and homecoming with his most refined, spiritual-sounding album to date Pitchfork
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy The Purple Bird
The depth of the production helps deliver this feeling, elevating the sound of The Purple Bird to a place where all of its carefully placed details and rusty joy can be clearly heard, and even more markedly felt Albumism
His humor, his pathos, his very real concern for the hungry, whether it’s for love or for justice, make any Bonnie “Prince” Billy album a necessary edition to the American songbook Northern Transmissions
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