6 April 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 from Australian surf-rock duo Zach Stephenson and Billy Fleming
6.7
A ripping album, boasting songwriting chops and production know-how usually found in bands with far more experience Read Review
Boronia isn't going to change the course of music history, but it could just make a night of yours a little sweeter Read Review
These are tall-can songs, cuts for open window driving down the highway, music that never tries to be anything more than two guys providing the soundtrack to their own small-town story Read Review
No matter the lack of experimentation, there are few people that could soundtrack summer better than two Aussie beach-punks, and Hockey Dad fulfills the position entirely Read Review
Sporting a slightly more robust sound than on their EP, Boronia is high on rowdy beach-punk fuzz, rhythmic thump, and some tuneful songwriting Read Review
Producer Tom Iansek captures Hockey Dad’s energy well, highlighting their electric jangle, occasional rushes of frothy distortion and lots of bubblegum-popping claps Read Review
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Hockey Dad: Boronia
Arlo Parks Ambiguous Desire
One of those albums that evokes a tangible mood; in this case, somewhere adjacent to the sun coming up after a rollercoaster of a night out. As such, it's frequently wonderful. Print edition only Uncut
"We're blossoming," she sings of a new romance, but she could easily be talking about herself and her artistic trajectory, having pulled off a daring makeover with such style. Print edition only Record Collector
Any fear, dissociation or sorrow Parks describes is repeatedly shaken off in the communion of the dancefloor The Independent
Sunn O))) Sunn O)))
You may rejoice, you may be bemused, or you may soil your drawers and run for the nearest exit. It's quite an experience, however you find it. Print edition only Record Collector
What remains undeniable is that Sunn O)))’s all-enveloping textures occupy a landscape like no other. Slow your breathing, open your ears and let yourself be taken there Kerrang!
At over an hour, it’s not casual listening. But SUNN O))) have always been about testing limits, pushing boundaries, (destroying speakers). That’s precisely why the album works and why the band have endured: ‘SUNN O)))’ feels like a reaffirmation — of process, of power, and of why they remain darlings of the underground Clash
The album is a magnificently heavy double of downtuned, epic riffing. Print edition only Uncut
The enrobed duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson have produced a beguiling work that distils the overwhelming impact of nature on the human psyche into 80 minutes of utterly transcendent avant metal The Quietus
Thundercat Distracted
Thundercat invites listeners into a space where confusion, beauty, and pain coexist, reminding us that even in a fractured world, there is still room to feel, create, and live fully Northern Transmissions
The American musician serves up audio comfort food with some stylistic progression and a generous helping of technical skill musicOMH
He's still finding joy inside the pain, supplying the high notes with that ethereal contratenor and the low end with those sinuous basslines All Music
Thundercat has finally made the all-out pop album he's been hinting at. It fits like a glove. Print edition only Mojo
Distracted may be his most coherent album to date. Less prone to abrupt zigzags than its predecessors, it's his smoothest, too. Print edition only Uncut
This blissfully atmospheric album opts for the polished beauty of the chillout room, where it makes a fine soundtrack to dancing away heartache musicOMH
Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson's vast primordial compositions all but dissolve structure, leaving the evocation of feeling to celebrate a communion of man and the natural world 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