25 March 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.
Browse specific styles
Fifth studio album of indie rock from the Kansas City five-piece and first since they reformed in 2008
5.6
Represents experimentation and growth from a talented, maturing band, and it’s a worthy addition to the music collection of any ardent emo fan Read Review
Listeners who dismissed the Kids in the past as overwrought emo drivel might actually find things to like this time around Read Review
Revisits the raw, yet melodic sound of their classic debut, liberally sprinkled with gorgeous vocal harmonies and pop hooks Read Review
By breaking the rules of what they were supposed to sound like, they've given themselves a second bite of the cherry Read Review
For once this is a re-union not just trading on old glories Read Review
A plethora of bittersweet singalong choruses as well as the odd curve-ball, like the synth-and-phaser heavy Automatic Read Review
Back at their corrosive best. Print edition only
An inherently youthful band gracefully making good into their thirties. Print edition only
The truly surprising moments come via electronic flourishes that show up throughout the record Read Review
A just-all-right record from a band that always felt a step behind even in their own genre Read Review
It’s hard to truly love an album that tries this hard Read Review
Matthew Pryor's bellowing sneer still cuts, but nothing can cover up the hookless, by-the-numbers weakness of the materia Read Review
They've neglected to include anything memorable on it. Print edition only
Knowing what this band is capable of, its hard to shake the sad feeling that perhaps they should have just stayed broken up Read Review
Sounds like the product of a band that knows well where it’s been, but can’t quite figure out yet where it wants to go Read Review
There Are Rules aims for an aggressive aesthetic, but it ends up as mostly empty bluster as the Get Up Kids tries to put their pieces back together Read Review
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The Get Up Kids: There Are Rules
Ladytron Paradises
Ladytron have produced an album that, from its inception, sought to invoke the same spirit that the band had 25 years ago Far Out
Gorillaz The Mountain
The strongest case in years that Gorillaz can still make records that matter as records Dork
Kim Gordon Play Me
'Play me' doesn’t try to comfort. It tries to provoke, energise and outlast the scroll Dork
The Orielles Only You Left
These songs come from months of demo-hoarding and forensic listening, the band archiving every practice-room spark before lovingly picking through the results Dork
James Blake Trying Times
Blake sounds energised by the room he has carved out for himself Dork
Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
This isn’t an album built like a straight line from hook to hook. It moves in waves, often favouring texture and atmosphere over immediate release Dork
Underscores U
It’s technical excellence as a musical product cannot be overstated. For a pop album to be this busy yet possess a pocket as deep and rich as underscores displays here is simply amazing Sputnik Music (staff)
Indie rock icon Kim Gordon acerbically wrestles with the state of the world over hip-hop and industrial beats on Play Me PopMatters
The former electro-pop enfant terrible swings big on her latest album, compressing all her split personalities and eclectic tastes into a high-gloss, high-stakes gamble to remake pop on her own terms Pitchfork
On U, she finds a clearly-defined, rounded-out identity in her music for the first time, and she delivers the most immediate and the most robust work of her career The Line Of Best Fit
Performing, writing and producing everything herself, April Grey pares back her hyperpop electronics for an LP in thrall to 90s pop-R&B, with songs that big stars would die for The Guardian
April Harper Grey’s latest hits all the beats of a classic pop record — a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem — without overstaying its welcome Paste Magazine
A tour-de-force of production chops that cements April Harper Grey as a key auteur in the future of the genre NME
Alexis Taylor Paris In The Spring
Paris in the Spring is a gem of a record which, while never over-reaching its ambition, sparkles with electronic ingenuity as it takes in all seasons of human experience Spectrum Culture
It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. Print edition only Uncut
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