28 June 2017
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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Fifth album from Philadelphia-based folk rock singer-songwriter Timothy Showalter
6.6
The album illustrates the hazy decadence of years on the road balanced with a craving to return home to a life close to resembling normalcy Read Review
Showalter again has a reflective eye on himself, and Hard Love is an expose of his life's pursuits, sometimes self-destructive, and sometimes life-giving, albeit in a roundabout way Read Review
Is it fun to be a rock star? It certainly sounds that way. But is it worth it? That’s open for you to decide Read Review
An aptly named salute to the myriad complexities of intimacy, the nature of comeuppance, and the difficulties of navigating forward in the cruel wake of youth Read Review
Overstuffed and perhaps a bit overambitious, but repeated listening will reap ample rewards Read Review
A conflicted yet summarily good record that breathes new life into good ol' rock'n'roll Read Review
Anchoring him firmly in groove-laden rock realms after an early career flecked with folk Read Review
An odd mix, maybe, but a believable one. Print edition only
The autobiographical songwriter remains as raw and forthcoming as ever Read Review
The latest Strand of Oaks album has a sunnier outlook and a hedonistic streak, evoking Creation Records bands like Primal Scream and Oasis. But it never really adds up to a bold statement Read Review
Timothy Showalter writes from the heart Read Review
While his good intentions to smarten up his drug-sozzled, road-weary life may be commendable, they don’t necessarily make “Quit It” any more agreeable Read Review
A quick-fire shift of styles that never quite feel connected Read Review
There's little to distinguish it from the material of any of thousands of competent bar bands. Print edition only
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Strand Of Oaks: Hard Love
2 Chainz Pretty Girls Like Trap Music
If Pretty Girls Like Trap Music doesn't make the rapper an immediate king of the South, it undoubtedly puts him in line for the title Exclaim
Perfectly positioned to be a 2017 favourite catering to both fans of this generation’s trap music and those that were knee deep in trap during its late ‘90s/early ‘00s inception Clash
His talent has undeniably caught up to his hard work, and all we can hope now is that the latter doesn’t suffer because of the former PopMatters
The most fulfilling 2 Chainz album to date Pitchfork
There’s no galactic change to his style here, just a further refinement of it A.V. Club
Portugal. The Man. Woodstock
At just half the songs of Gorillaz’s recent album, Woodstock does political pop songs much better and doesn’t waste a bunch of collaborators in the process Earbuddy
Com Truise Iteration
We wait patiently for it to drive us somewhere, but it abandons us at the last moment and explains that it didn’t just feel up to it tonight Spectrum Culture
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard Murder Of The Universe
You can’t put out 13 albums in 5 years without the occasional misstep and despite the distractions and interruptions there is still a killer garage rock album lurking somewhere in here God Is In The TV
Ride Weather Diaries
Something of a triumph and infinitely better than many a fan could have hoped for The Skinny
Beach Fossils Somersault
Laid-back summer record Under The Radar
Lorde Melodrama
Lorde is a perfect emotional teacher Tiny Mix Tapes
Jeff Tweedy Together At Last
As anyone who has seen him perform solo live knows, these arrangements feel like wonderful flipsides to the Wilco coin The Quietus
Algiers The Underside Of Power
Musically adventurous and spiritually redemptive: this is what the music of our time should sound like PopMatters
A celebration of peace, love, and musicality that shouldn’t be missed. PopMatters
Laurel Halo Dust
Laurel Halo continues to resist classification and deflect interpretation by treating the human voice like a synthetic material to be molded and shattered Pitchfork
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