26 September 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.
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Debut album of retro 80s indebted synthpop from this Brooklynite singer
6.5
A tight little album full of melodramatic pop tunes dripping in ’80s loving Read Review
A fantastically arranged and conceptually exquisite record Read Review
Where Austra are detached and Zola Jesus are portentous, Class Actress are giddy and impassioned Read Review
Enlisting electronic sounds and feel-good disco hooks, this album has a definite touch of the early Madonna about it, and it feels like a delightfully guilty pleasure Read Review
Class Actress manage to pull this full length debut away from being nothing more than an exercise in retro or an indulgent pastiche. While it does take me back to that imaginary high school prom that I never had, it’s also very much a 21st century pop record Read Review
This record will appeal to the indie-dance crowds that love their retro flavours, but it does so in a natural way, without seeming forced or desperate to conform to a trend Read Review
Luxurious and picture-perfect in presentation Read Review
Chillwave never had much of a female presence, but Brooklyn's Class Actress aim to change that Read Review
Attempts to meld the trace-paper beats of chillwave with the predatory attitude of '80s funk-pop Read Review
Underneath the litany of angular instrumentation, Rapprocher is, both musically and narratively, conventional glam-pop fare, but it's difficult not to admire how well the bedazzled glove fits Read Review
Print edition only
Harper and her cohorts have certainly created a close approximation to the heyday of Depeche Mode and Human League-but ultimately their dated sound doesn't even come close Read Review
The vocals fill unadventurous melodies with inane lyrics. Utterly vacuous Read Review
Harper struggles to convince as seedy seductress or decadent ice queen. Print edition only
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Class Actress: Rapprocher
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides 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
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