24 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
Debut album of dream pop from London-based Italian Alessio Natalizia
6.1
A thing of gorgeousness; tremolo guitars, unfolding drum patterns and dreamlike arrangements Read Review
It is not an album underpinned by hype – it is a finely tuned statement of intent from a young songwriter who, like very few others, has an incredibly patient yet potent Midas touch in his craft Read Review
Headphones donned and lights extinguished, each submersion is every bit as worthy as the last Read Review
Treads the impressive line between epic and restrained Read Review
Unsettling, weirdly compelling stuff Read Review
A big gooey feast of melancholy laptop pop, and it’s relatively lovely stuff Read Review
There are occasional flashes of creativity-stuffed aptitude - but this time around they're merely flashes Read Review
Softly burred guitar loops, Fripp-like trippiness and heavy psych/space-rock grooves. Print edition only
There are no weak links or moments which falter, yet neither does 'Banjo Or Freakout' do anything to really seize the listener's attention Read Review
Banjo Or Freakout? More of each please Read Review
An obvious enthusiast of lo-fi recordings, Natalizia is first and foremost a pop artist, and this is realized on the album’s more successful endeavors Read Review
Once Natalizia writes some songs better flattered by his sonic sense, I suspect he'll really have something here Read Review
Some of the worst offenders here feel like demos and, damn, they are tough to endure. Read Review
You will get some relaxed, passive listening from the record, but the overly hazed production makes for an aimless set of tracks Read Review
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Banjo or Freakout: Banjo or Freakout
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