26 September 2026
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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Latest collection of calypso-inflected psych-pop and electro-pop from the Auckland-based band led by Ryan McPhun
6.4
Print edition only
Fight Softly, has the airy free spirit exhibited on their two previous outings. Like a watercolour built up from layers of opaque colour stacked on top of one another to create something pastoral and beautiful, there is a lot going on Read Review
Comparisons with Animal Collective’s freewheeling vision of psychedelic pop are inevitable Read Review
It's an ambitious collection, but singer Ryan McPhun's gentle voice lends this second album by the Kiwis a beautiful tone Read Review
There is much to admire in the way The Ruby Suns have taken a different tact with this album and for its failings there are as many moments of clever, original and entrancing, quirky pop music Read Review
...a satisfyingly un-pretentious record Read Review
The endless experimentation can grate but ‘Fight Softly’ is a bold attempt to further stretch pop music Read Review
McPhun has taken an about turn away from tribal drums and tucked away mysticism into terrain that is simultaneously bigger, brighter and poppier yet somehow more inward looking Read Review
Fight Softly retains very little of the ease and abandon that, to date, had marked the Ruby Suns Read Review
There isn’t as much fun to be had here as on previous releases Read Review
Retains just enough spark and spirit to satisfy longtime fans Read Review
At this point I'm torn between wanting McPhun to settle on one style of music and enjoying the bumpy ride of each of his records Read Review
Here’s hoping that his next stop will be a little more interesting Read Review
For those who’ve experienced the thrill of Ryan McPhun in full, unbridled flow this is a crushing disappointment Read Review
A disappointing change of direction Read Review
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The Ruby Suns: Fight Softly
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides musicOMH
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
Rosalía Lux
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Hayley Williams Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways