24 June 2018
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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Latest release from the New York City-based experimental ambient composer is a musical eulogy for David Bowie
8.0
Basinski pulls you deep inside a world of shapeless memories accented by both beauty and decay Read Review
There is so much in the stillness of William Basinski's music, layer upon layer of musical information that finds a richness of harmony and melody in the very immobility it often describes Read Review
‘For David Robert Jones’ is one of the most mesmerisingly beautiful and haunting pieces of music you’re likely to hear all year, while also being a fitting tribute to one of the greatest artists of all time Read Review
William Basinski has created yet another outstanding work of art with A Shadow in Time, an audio sculpture of serenity and bliss to begin 2017 and put what was a saddening year for music to bed Read Review
Your enjoyment may depend on whether you feel the Bowie angle adds or detracts Read Review
Sculpts samples, drones and feedback loops into soundscapes rich in melancholic atmosphere Read Review
Among his most entrancing work Read Review
Channeling his classic Disintegration Loops, William Basinski's A Shadow in Time contemplates life and death with great clarity Read Review
The two-track A Shadow in Time shows that William Basinski’s technique can yield a wide range of results Read Review
Basinski tries not merely to locate Bowie’s ghost in the machine, but to find its cross-dressing, orange-haired, anisocoric-eyed soul locked somewhere inside the hard electronic casing of the world Read Review
It’s less technically impressive than usual, and less emotional, but still a lovely journey Read Review
Contains some of his strongest work since The Disintegration Loops introduced him to the world at large Read Review
A Shadow in Time makes a beautiful funeral procession for David Bowie Read Review
You wonder if you've been taken somewhere, or if you've been changed in some way Read Review
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William Basinski: A Shadow In Time
Sophie Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
There are garish, hyper-kinetic tracks but there are also more reflective moments, a welcome shift in emphasis The FT
Nine Inch Nails Bad Witch
An inventive, aggressive return The Observer
The Carters Everything Is Love
Born out of therapy-like recording sessions, it marks the pair’s first full-length collaboration, but listeners hoping for detail on their reconciliation might be disappointed: this is curated veneer, not ugly exposition The Observer
Kamasi Washington Heaven & Earth
While Earth finds Washington wielding his sax as a furious, necessary weapon, the indulgent, opulent cushion of Heaven serves as a dazzling balm, the choir transforming from theatrical to celestial The Observer
Gang Gang Dance Kazuashita
A return to an altered cultural landscape The Observer
As bold and maximalist, as rhythmic and righteous, as one might expect from the reedsman who helped kickstart the global jazz renaissance. A must-have Evening Standard
He’s headed back to the dark seam he tapped for still horrifying 1990s albums like The Downward Spiral and The Fragile Evening Standard
Kazuashita is impeccably made, but it could stand a little more chaos A.V. Club
Earth is loaded with mentally and emotionally draining songs A.V. Club
It establishes Washington as a composer and arranger of dizzying potential and still underscores his twin rep as a soloist and jazz conceptualist All Music
ARP Zebra
As unconventional as it is relaxing, Zebra is perhaps Arp's most inviting sound-world yet All Music
Protomartyr Consolation E.P.
This dose of bruising revolt results in a strong antidote to our collective liberal disgust Punk News
Engaging and magical throughout DIY
Johnny Marr Call the Comet
Thirty-five years on from breaking into the industry, Marr’s still got plenty of tricks up his sleeve and certainly proves it on his best and most interesting solo album yet Gig Soup
Kids See Ghosts Kids See Ghosts
No one may be more responsible for introducing a dark mood to mainstream hip-hop than Kanye West and Kid Cudi Spectrum Culture
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past eight years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
Mount Eerie A Crow Looked at Me
