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 album from the long-standing San Francisco power pop quartet
6.4
This record is killer. And they don't sound ready to give up just yet Read Review
Effortlessly skips across sounds and styles like a human Wurlitzer. Print edition only
Their familiar touch once again serves them well, though it does make for an album that sometimes feels too comfortable. Happily, Sound’s peaks are breathtaking and surprising Read Review
Imperial Teen have regularly delighted fans with their recorded material’s impish tendencies, and Feel the Sound is no exception Read Review
A record rife with glorious hooks, harmonies, and heart Read Review
Feel the Sound turns blipping guitars and synth riffs into roller-skate jams the whole band can harmonize over Read Review
Feel the Sound is not a classic, it’s not a masterpiece, and despite its pristine delivery, it’s not perfect. But it is an honest and genuine sampling of a band who continues to subvert expectations Read Review
Feel the Sound will get you to do what its title implores, especially on standouts like "Runaway" and "Last to Know," but chances are it'll be on the stage where these songs truly come to life Read Review
It's not going to surprise anyone, least of all longtime fans, but it's not like there are dozens of similar acts around at the moment demanding your attention Read Review
Surely they can’t keep doing what they’re doing forever, especially if the results are hit and miss Read Review
If you’re looking for some mindless fluff to have a good time with, there are certainly worse albums than this one. It’s just that there are better ones too Read Review
It's only the music that matters and the urge to enjoy it couldn't be more compelling Read Review
Imperial Teen sound here like they’re trying to squeeze some new flavor out of a chewed-up piece of gum Read Review
Roll over video for more options
Imperial Teen: Feel The Sound
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