Any decent music? We review the reviews. You get the final word

Hello

22 November 2024

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.

Just in

New albums just added

Unlisted recent releases

Follow us on

Join us on twitter

join us on facebook

join us on MySpace

Source list

Specialist Genres

Browse specific styles

ADM.Patreon.promo

New

Michael KiwanukaSmall Changes

"A boundless effort that, while revelling in its musical referents stands tall, ceaselessly, beside them" (10/10 - The Skinny). "It's a record built to last" (8/10 - Record Collector)

New

Linkin ParkFrom Zero

"Compact and intense, the band’s first album since the death of Chester Bennington is a powerful tribute to their legacy" (8/10 - musicOMH) "An opinion-splitting return" (5/10 - Clash)

New

Primal ScreamCome Ahead

"A triumph in thematic/aural juxtaposition. Up there with Primal Scream’s best" (8/10 Mojo) OR "Not even David Holmes’s involvement can save this woefully inadequate collection" (2/10 - Irish Times)

Highest Recent Ratings

Albums to watch

Amyl And The SniffersCartoon Darkness

"It's a truly glorious rock’n’roll album that is forceful without being simplistic and lairy while maintaining a good sense of humour" - 10/10 - The Arts Desk).

Christopher OwensI Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair

"Potentially one of the year’s best records" (10/10 - DIY). "A must-listen for anyone who’s ever been in the type of love that doesn’t always get a light shone on it" (9/10 - Northern Transmissions)

Ezra CollectiveDance, No One's Watching

"This is truly a fresh musical experience, rather than being just another jazz record" (9/10 - Far Out). "A joyful reminder of music’s ability to bring people together, to move us, and to make us dance" (8/10 - Clash)

Jamie xxIn Waves

"Blistering return from dance’s master craftsman" (10/10 - The irish Times). "Jamie xx has delivered a masterpiece that will linger long after the last beat fades" (9/10 - Clash)

Floating PointsCascade

"Cherish it while you can, before he sets off on a completely different tangent once more" (8/10 - Far Out). "Easily the most successful work he's made as a dance producer" (8/10 - All Music)

MJ LendermanManning Fireworks

"A collection of caricatures ballooned by empathy, bruised egos, and lovable self-destruction" (9.2/10 - Paste). "It's the release he's been waiting for since the first utterances of the album" (9/10 - Exclaim)

Nick Cave And The Bad SeedsWild God

"The dark intensities are leavened by something peculiar in Cave’s oeuvre: joy" (8/10 - The Arts Desk). "The joy after the storm" (8/10 - The Irish Times)

Brill Bruisers

The New Pornographers

Brill Bruisers

Sixth studio album from Canadian indie rock mainstays

ADM rating[?]: 7.6
Label: Matador
UK Release date: 25/08/2014
US Release date: 26/08/2014

Listen on Spotify

Related Links

Share: Share |

Sort by most recent review

9.0 69250
9.0 | No Ripcord

After you shake off the initial conceptual strangeness, Brill Bruisers builds up to a breathtaking whole
Read Review
8.3 68551
8.3 | Consequence Of Sound

It’s the arrangements that are fascinating, the studio tricks and ensemble mindset the band utilized to once more capture lightning in a bottle
Read Review
8.2 68746
8.2 | Paste Magazine

I’ve had Brill Bruisers for a few weeks now and have only listened to it all the way through about a half-dozen times, whereas I’ve returned to a handful of songs at least three times that amount
Read Review
8.0 68744
8.0 | NME

Tinged with Grandaddy and full of hooks that twinkle like the diodes on a robot from 1984, this is an obscenely enjoyable return
Read Review
8.0 68636
8.0 | Exclaim

On Brill Bruisers, the band's glory days have returned
Read Review
8.0 68704
8.0 | Uncut

The music is unapologetically optimistic in its architectural intricacy. Print edition only
8.0 68618
8.0 | FasterLouder

The band still sounds like a gang of old friends getting together out of a mutual love of megawatt, ultra-saturated pop
Read Review
8.0 68620
8.0 | Slant Magazine

Like the band's best work, Brill Bruisers keeps you on your toes with its unrelenting minutiae
Read Review
8.0 68523
8.0 | The Skinny

A chance for A.C. Newman, Dan Bejar, Neko Case and company to put aside creatively taxing solo ventures and kick loose with something sweet and simple
Read Review
8.0 69077
8.0 | God Is In The TV

Some people still think that indie rock is always navel gazing misery. If someone repeats that falsehood in your presence, hand them a copy of this: an effervescent joy from start to finish
Read Review
8.0 68780
8.0 | Spin

These history-conscious vets aim to compete for clicks with today's too-desperate upstarts, but they do so with more than simple ADD-busting earworms. Time and time again, they affirm their faith
Read Review
7.8 68803
7.8 | Sputnik Music (staff)

Brill Bruisers is spread everywhere at once, loud and crass and saturated with color and nearly fit to burst. It won’t make very many memories, but it will create a hell of a lot of good times
Read Review
7.8 68762
7.8 | Earbuddy

It may not be their best record but it’ll certainly put a smile on your face, and thus rightfully earning the band’s power-pop tag
Read Review
7.7 68616
7.7 | Pitchfork

The whole band embraces a more electric version of itself—bulked-up in chrome-plated armor, firing on all cylinders, and ready to steamroll anything in its path
Read Review
7.5 68622
7.5 | Under The Radar

Calling their album Brill Bruisers makes for a sassy call to arms, and even if there's nothing here that Goffin and King might have concocted in that hallowed pop factory, one can imagine them nodding approvingly while listening from their piano bench
Read Review
7.5 68522
7.5 | The 405

Even if they might not be able to quite recreate the same magic that they did on their early albums, The New Pornographers still behold a wealth of talent
Read Review
7.5 68672
7.5 | A.V. Club

It’s no longer enough for a New Pornographers composition to be merely catchy, even if most of Brill Bruisers’ tracks are sneakily so
Read Review
7.5 68789
7.5 | Pretty Much Amazing

The songwriting is deeper, riskier and more engaged
Read Review
7.5 69263
7.5 | Beardfood

The New Pornographers are still the definition of power pop
Read Review
7.0 68852
7.0 | Clash

An almost perfect soundtrack to what’s left of the summer
Read Review
7.0 68673
7.0 | Rolling Stone

Another all-star indie-rock Pornos cage match, with Neko Case, per usual, nearly stealing the show
Read Review
7.0 68524
7.0 | The Line Of Best Fit

A brilliantly boisterous LP
Read Review
7.0 68525
7.0 | musicOMH

Although unlikely to have any individual impact on CBC’s all-time song chart, it’s yet another consistently good all-round album out of Canada
Read Review
7.0 68526
7.0 | Drowned In Sound

It is a delight to note that after some 15 years together, the New Pornographers seems to have stopped being a supergroup and turned into a band
Read Review
6.0 68723
6.0 | Q

The themes and execution are unashamedly grown-up throughout. Print edition only
6.0 68734
6.0 | PopMatters

A solid, satisfying record, one that found a fresh approach and created some more ultra-catchy pop tunes
Read Review
Back to main chart

blog comments powered by Disqus

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Preview & download it

The New Pornographers: Brill Bruisers

Download full album for just £8.49
1. Brill Bruisers £0.89
2. Champions Of Red Wine £0.89
3. Fantasy Fools £0.89
4. War on the East Coast £0.89
5. Backstairs £0.89
6. Marching Orders £0.89
7. Another Drug Deal of the Heart £0.89
8. Born With a Sound £0.89
9. Wide Eyes £0.89
10. Dancehall Domine £0.89
11. Spidyr £0.89
12. Hi-Rise £0.89
13. You Tell Me Where £0.89

Latest Reviews

Father John Misty Mahashmashana

Tillman sounds abundantly alive: flushed with wit and luminous melodies, his songcraft remains an inexhaustible pleasure. Print edition only Record Collector

Father John Misty Mahashmashana

Father John Misty singing about the collapse of the modern world is like Elvis belting out a love song. And as the artist gathers up all the best bits of every direction he’s ever taken, this new one is fueled by uncompromised greatness Far Out

Michael Kiwanuka Small Changes

Flowing like a country stream unimpeded by the extraneous impact of man, Small Changes is one of those rare albums that engages you without you having to try too hard Far Out

All-time top 10

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.