12 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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Second album from the British soul singer, featuring contributions from Nile Rodgers and members of the London Symphony Orchestra
7.6
Infinitely more experimental than the soul-gospel of 2013's Sing to the Moon Read Review
There’s a fantastical, half-awake quality to these songs. Print edition only
Rapturous vocals are framed in intricate, ecstatic orchestral pop. Print edition only
Shape-shifting orchestral Afrobeat. Print edition only
A raw and thought-provoking stroke of genius Read Review
Her music has been described as “gospel-delia”, and that’s exactly what you get: gorgeous soul hymns as if sung in under-ether dreamtime Read Review
Vivid, original, it's the real deal Read Review
The Dreaming Room may be a mess, but it’s a glorious mess, packed with heroically bonkers ideas Read Review
Laura Mvula has proved emphatically that her debut was no one-off and this highly accomplished return establishes her further as a unique, captivating talent Read Review
The context is the renewal of life after an emotional breakdown, the album’s central theme; but sense of boundless possibility applies equally to Mvula’s inventive songs Read Review
Mvula has written a hypnotic record that provides a congenial embrace, but it also isn’t afraid to take bold action. A new star is most definitely born Read Review
Laura Mvula sounds confident and free throughout her second album Read Review
Nile Rogers's edgy funk guitar functions as both anchor and an irresistible invitation to dance Read Review
Laden with sonic surprises Read Review
She tries to bridge the gap between the highbrow classicism of Moon and the electronic thrust of 2010s pop Read Review
An enormously frustrating record, as Mvula clearly has it in her to be an incredible artist Read Review
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Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room
Bonobo Distance in Static
For all its multi-locale sessions and noble attempts at breaking down categorisation, Distance in Static just never ventures anywhere too thrilling Bonobo’s worldly electronica flex would try to convince otherwise Far Out
On what he has hinted may be his final “traditional” LP as Bonobo, the UK producer cycles through moods and styles, with a particular focus on the clubby soundscapes of his DJ era Pitchfork
By turns studiedly moody and urgently intense, Simon Green's global outlook is at once reassuring and thought provoking musicOMH
Lush, immersive, and deeply physical, this is his best in a decade Clash
It's all so smooth that you rarely get a sense of who he is. Print edition only Uncut
Simon Green's eighth album as Bonobo feels like a celebration - few blend club-adjacent electronica with warm-hearted downtempo quite as adroitly as he does here. Print edition only Mojo
The Tubs Hard Life
There’s only so many jangly guitars, high-pitched vocals, and tales of moving to the big smoke that one needs in an album before it starts to grate Far Out
It’s a ludicrous, entirely unexpected occurrence when a band release a single album that sounds like a Greatest Hits collection, but track after track, hook after blinding hook, and line after wry line, that’s what we get – every song building on the glistening brilliance of the last God Is In The TV
Britain’s best indie-rockers hold fast to their defiantly old-school sound, slipping wry sideways looks at despair in among hooky melodies that always sound like a good time The Guardian
Their most fine-tuned and sonically rich album to date, with 12 more fantastically catchy and emotionally turbulent songs in the style they’ve been perfecting along the way All Music
The Welsh band's classic rock twisted indie folk on their third album demonstrates their earwormy ability to write a hook musicOMH
The band’s post-punk-infused songs sink in quickly and stand up to repeat listens Slant Magazine
A record that is a ridiculously hook-heavy collection of songs - and one that unquestionably positions Williams as one of our most unique and arresting contemporary songwriters. Print edition only Uncut
An album that consolidates and amplifies both 2023’s debut Dead Meat and last year’s Cotton Crown, transcending notions of what indie rock is supposed to be in the 21st century Mojo
Bloc Party Anatomy Of A Brief Romance
Kele Okereke and co have made a concept album and a break-up album all at once – and with Trevor Horn on production duties 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