16 September 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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First solo album in 20 years from the legendary father of Ethio-jazz
7.3
You probably don't need to know much about Western (let alone Ethiopian) jazz in order to recognise and enjoy Astatke's genius, which is so proudly on display here Read Review
A much more coherent record than a lot of heavily improvisational modern jazz albums. It's a very easy album to access for listeners who aren't particularly schooled in either jazz or the Ethiopiques series Read Review
A name to drop with the trendy hordes of Hoxton, as is proved by this set. Print edition only
This latest solo collection is a meditational affair. Print edition only
An album of dreamy, mostly instrumental music shot through with bitter-sweet traditional flavours Read Review
An enjoyably eclectic collection in which Astatke standards like the Afro-Latin groove "I Faram Gami I Faram" and "Mulatu's Mood" rub shoulders with more recent compositions Read Review
Mulatu Astatke confidently doing what he does best: providing inventive arrangements, bringing the best out of his collaborators, offering glimpses of the unfamiliar amidst familiar materials, and capturing experience with quiet majesty Read Review
As the West continues to explore Africa, to embellish its many cultures, Mulatu Steps Ahead acts as a proponent of liberalism and travelled sophistication. More please Read Review
Anyone expecting the rawer grooves of the 1970s would at these points be forgiven for scuttling back to their Ethiopiques comps, where the smoothness is scuffed by age Read Review
It's a classy, sophisticated set that proves Astatke is still a musical force in his mid 60s. But he should have cut out the deadpan announcements during the tracks Read Review
It is the very welcome yet too infrequent African elements that provide the most areas of interest. Read Review
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Mulatu Astatke: Mulatu Steps Ahead
The Beths Straight Line Was A Lie
They’ve made their most mature, most incisive album yet. Not reinvention. Continuance. The long way round, mapped with clarity Dork
Baxter Dury Allbarone
Allbarone is the next destination for Dury as an experimental artist; he’s successfully been able to capture something new with his twist on hyperpop. The result is an intriguing effort that catapults him into the future realms of pop Beats Per Minute
Allbarone is Baxter Dury’s most hypnotic and groovy record yet, fusing his sardonic wit with club-ready beats. Distinct, contemporary, and utterly Dury, the artist’s ninth album proves he’s far from running out of ideas Northern Transmissions
Jade That's Showbiz Baby!
Clearly learning from her time in a supergroup, JADE’s debut — her first exercising of creative control — is as clear-headed and funny as you’d expect from a veteran Northern Transmissions
The chameleonic former Little Mix member, ever-captivating as she shapeshifts through park ’n bark ballads and synthy, up-tempo dance music, goes big on her solo debut Paste Magazine
Maruja Pain To Power
The Manchester quartet’s long-awaited debut album is a feral and loving atmosphere calling attention to world crises. The songs are overwhelming but never threadbare, packed with colossal brass, elastic diatribes, and tourniquet rhythms Paste Magazine
Big Thief Double Infinity
A kaleidoscopic view on 60s-inspired psychedelic, rock/country-tinged folk music Sputnik Music (staff)
Saint Etienne International
Though hardly a crippling disappointment, Saint Etienne’s reported final album is a far-cry from their superior earlier work Spectrum Culture
Ed Sheeran Play
Sheeran’s career opened the door to a deluge of cack The Arts Desk
Shame Cutthroat
The rawness of the album, which compliments their live sound exponentially, comes from the throw away lyricism and the manner of Steen’s animated vocal delivery Clash
Gruff Rhys Dim Probs
Dim Probs engages with deeply rooted truths. Print edition only Record Collector
What may be lost slightly in translation is mitigated by the musicality of the vocal tones, with Cate Le Bon and H Hawkline H adding a plaintive backing chorus on "Pan Ddaw'r Haul I Fore". Print edition only Uncut
Even with zero knowledge of what is going on lyrically, these songs are often beautifully evocative. Print edition only Mojo
While ‘Dim Probs’, on initial listens, may not appear the most substantial addition to Rhys’ work, it is nevertheless a relaxed (and relaxing) thing of warm humanity and beauty that, in the long run, may be more durable than much of his more lavish and accessible outputs Clash
Former Super Furry Animals man celebrates the Welsh language while taking in rich influences and instrumentation from countries far and wide 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
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange