27 January 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.
Browse specific styles
A cosmic collaboration between two masters of the soundscape.
6.3
Print edition only
Both Floyd aficionados and early-'90s bong jockeys will find points of reference here. Print edition only
Challenging, but also warm, lush and reassuringly ambient. Print edition only
I was a bit nervous that it might miss the mark and disappoint. Happy to say, it does not. It is superb. Read Review
Metallic Spheres is chill-out to a “t” Read Review
What starts off as being a rather dodgy idea on paper does in fact impress and as you get lost in the dreamy keyboards and brilliant guitar lines it's clear this prog collaboration most definitely deserves your attention Read Review
Switch on a lava lamp, plump up some cushions and drift along to their soothing grooves Read Review
The most focused and listenable Orb album in years Read Review
Gilmour's main influence seems to be to hold Patterson's worst excesses in check Read Review
There’s plenty worth exploring beneath Metallic Spheres’ shiny exterior Read Review
As is the case with many big league collaborations, it doesn’t feel like either party brought their best game to the project Read Review
Classic ambient house, dated trip-hop, thundering drum loops, weird dub, even down-home picking Read Review
It’s not so much that either artist’s contribution destroys the work, more that it never really forms in the first place Read Review
It's pleasant enough, recalling the work of Krautrock psych-rock synthesists Harmonia, but somewhat lacking in momentum Read Review
Disappointingly lacking hooks to retain the attention Read Review
Roll over video for more options
The Orb feat. David Gilmour: Metallic Spheres
Mogwai The Bad Fire
‘The Bad Fire’ might not cure your January blues entirely but it’ll at least provide a glimmer of hope to get you through the bleakest of months. All in all, an utterly enthralling 11th studio effort from these avant rock stalwart Clash
Rose Gray Louder, Please
The up-and-coming British artist shines on her vibrant, hedonistic debut album musicOMH
FKA Twigs Eusexua
Twigs’ third album brings club music into her sensual, supernatural world. It’s a masterful pop-star moment for the artist Pitchfork
On their 11th album, the long-running post-rockers open up disarming, uplifting new dimensions to their sound without veering too far from familiar paths Pitchfork
Saint Etienne The Night
Saint Etienne’s The Night has quite a bit going for it, but it sounds uncharacteristically forced, ultimately collapsing under the weight of its pretension PopMatters
There’s some sense of reconciliation going on between their earthier 90s sound and the synthy, spacey and sometimes poppier material that’s inhabited their last few records The Quietus
The Weather Station Humanhood
Whatever the influences at play, Humanhood works gloriously as a song cycle The Quietus
EUSEXUA is FKA twigs bizarre world-building masterclass The Line Of Best Fit
jasmine.4.t You Are The Morning
Even though the songs are painfully personal, they offer a wider hope. The world feels dark right now, but albums like this give promise that the dawn is coming The Line Of Best Fit
The experimental U.K. dance-pop artist wanted to “transcend human form” with her new album. She nails it Rolling Stone
This record boasts real emotional nuance among the unbridled passion. And to retain the power to surprise and delight when entering its fourth decade is something few bands can claim Under The Radar
Anna B Savage You And I Are Earth
Over gorgeous musical arrangements that feature contemporary Irish musicians and gentle guitar work reminiscent of Nick Drake, Savage creates an intimate, enchanted world, where footsteps are muffled by moss and magic — even the mundane sort — waits behind every tree Under The Radar
Eusexua doesn't just embrace the thrust of commercial dance, it subsumes it into the chromatic, honed prism of FKA twigs' artistry The Skinny
This is an album that seeks an otherworldly state of purity and perfection The Arts Desk
Mogwai may not be writing Happy Songs for Happy People, but in so thoroughly assimilating so many musical approaches, they’ve found a way to make massive, deranged lullabies that urge you to stay awake, ready to handle whatever life throws at you Spectrum Culture
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
