2 July 2025
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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Second album from the London-based singer-songwriter (King Krule) accompanied by a book and short film produced in conjunction with his brother Jack
7.3
He is steadily narrowing the gap between the rap he admires and the music he makes, and A New Place 2 Drown seems like evidence that he should start producing for rappers regularly Read Review
It’s a stoner’s approach to the world, perhaps closer in spirit to psychedelia or ambient music than the hip hop that informs it Read Review
A soundtrack for a slowed-down pace of life Read Review
Those waiting for King Krule’s return won’t be disappointed, but ‘A New Place 2 Drown’ is undoubtedly a work of its own Read Review
Filled with flourishes and motifs that seem fresh over repeated listens – the kind of album that rewards patience and close attention Read Review
Like all his previous work, this is not an album to listen to casually Read Review
He sounds gripped by a profound lethargy; he also makes it sound strangely attractive Read Review
It may ultimately be a footnote in his prolific career, but the album's restrained, nuanced intelligence is a testament to Marshall's pure talent and compelling persona Read Review
Prickles with production noise: surges of electronic static, hollow echoes of samples, and piddling blurps that coagulate into a pattern as textured and head-nodding as SBTRKT’s self-titled debut, or Jamie xx’s deep dives into dance music Read Review
This new work finds Marshall revealing himself through the sound of his combined musical sensibilities and artistry, rather than his gut-punching lyrics and bellowing voice Read Review
A New Place 2 Drown is where your ears will go for a heroin overdose Read Review
This is music created under the role of the supportive brother, and for much of it, he’s too focused on his sibling’s creations to fully flesh out his own work Read Review
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Archy Marshall: A New Place 2 Drown
Loyle Carner hopefully!
The sounds are slightly different here than on previous albums and his tentative sojourn into singing is a success because his voice connects as easily as his rapping does Albumism
Lorde Virgin
Lorde trades in her secrecy and mystique for a tremendously healing, desperately relatable record that cements her mark as her generation’s defining artist Northern Transmissions
On the uncomfortable paths of the 28-year-old’s fourth album, slam-dunk bangers are substituted with reinvention and restraint surrendered through hushed, reflective, and carnal synth-pop vestiges Paste Magazine
The New Zealand pop star chips away to reveal her purest self on her fourth album NME
For Lorde, it's an opportunity to reclaim something she thought she had lost long ago, but has always been within her: her true self Exclaim
Frankie Cosmos Different Talking
Different Talking introduces some novel elements to the Frankie Cosmos sound, but despite that, their core identity remains intact Spectrum Culture
U.S. Girls Scratch It
Musically Scratch It will probably be the least memorable in U.S Girls’ discography and aside from ‘Like James Said’ and ‘Bookends‘, the relatively thrill-less album does sort of fly by unnoticeably, made worse by the weak closing track No Fruit God Is In The TV
Lorde may not break entirely new ground on fourth album Virgin, but its warmth and texture make it consistently compelling and quietly brilliant The Skinny
yeule Evangelic Girl Is A Gun
A sun-drenched pop album — perhaps the pop record of the summer Under The Radar
The album is a hesitant step in the right direction for the singer Slant Magazine
Virgin is Lorde at her best yet as an affective poet and, frustratingly, at her most tamed as a digital sound designer The Line Of Best Fit
The New York band’s sixth LP feels like a scaled-up team effort. The newly expansive sound suits Greta Kline’s hard-won self-knowledge Pitchfork
Lorde’s fourth album returns to the digital, physical sound of Melodrama. While rooted somewhat in her past, it’s a gritty, tender, and often transcendent ode to freedom and transformation Pitchfork
Her fourth album celebrates the messiness of being human – and is also her most compelling and revealing musicOMH
BC Camplight A Sober Conversation
It’s perhaps the finest release of his career from start to finish, and that’s beating some stiff competition Far Out
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
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange