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
Debut full-length album from LA-based world music-influenced electronic duo
5.7
Sometimes befuddling but never boring, Rainbow Arabia is making music that ultimately sounds like no one else's Read Review
Great thumping melodies, intriguingly mad vocals and moments of beauty Read Review
An incredible set of ideas, even if they’re not quite fully formed Read Review
They have evolved into an act that has smoothed the sounds of the world into an album that sparkles in just the right light Read Review
There's little not to like about this debut album, which never relents in its quest for the perfect balance between catchiness and experimentalism Read Review
Rainbow Arabia have made an album that feels like a tropical party at sunset, which more often than not ditches the club for the postcard picture-perfect golden sands Read Review
An album that has a lot of ideas; perhaps more than what makes up a coherent pop record Read Review
The overriding impression of Boys and Diamonds is of MIA’s global smash-and-grab style of musicianship minus the bonding agent of an overarching personality Read Review
Print edition only
Has definite groovability and points of real interest, with an earnest search for true individuality that you have to respect. More refinement and Rainbow Arabia could be truly galacti Read Review
The songwriting is ultimately too blocky and dull and slapped together for it to succeed as the thing it most wants to be-- a pop record Read Review
The tunes can be slight. Print edition only
Desperately in need of inspiration Read Review
Rainbow Arabia might be good to dance to, but sunning oneself below its fluorescent glow isn't going to sow the seeds of "new culture" in you Read Review
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Rainbow Arabia: Boys and Diamonds
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