4 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.
Browse specific styles
Following two albums with garage band the Licks, this first solo outing marks a step forward
5.8
...the heart of Uam is Fowlis’s diamond-cut Gaelic timbre... the results sound not so much written as excavated from the Hebridean terrain where she grew up Read Review
Derivative or not, she's discovered a more varied tone, ranging from the woozily psychedelic (""Romeo"") to the feverishly gothic (""Noche Sin Fin""), and melodies to match her raspingly alluring vocals Read Review
Print edition only
The tracks themselves have more than enough variety to hold the attention with the dreamy psychedelia of Romeo contrasted with the gothic Noche Sin Fin. But some of the more conceptual tracks aren't quite up there Read Review
A frazzled and bluesy beast, which finds Lewis hollering in the hope of hitting the Janis Joplin mark and falling only slightly short. Not bad for someone who believes we're all reincarnated aliens Read Review
The record includes all the glitchy, hard-rocking riffs and punchy drumbeats one would expect from any set produced by The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez Read Review
A competent angst-belter who knows how to imitate singers she likes, from Courtney Love to Kim Carnes — even if her Janis Joplin is too close to 30 Rock for comfort Read Review
Structurally and tonally, songs such as Romeo, All Is for Good and the wonderful Ghosts hint at the murky depths of Bat for Lashes and the prickliness of Siouxsie and the Banshees; more often, though, a generic, formulaic bombast blasts both song and listener into submission Read Review
Juliette Lewis: Terra Incognita
Lorde Virgin
Because for all the grand ideas here, it feels like Lorde has more to say about them, and as the aesthetic and songcraft of Virgin illustrates — almost despite all of this — she is more than skilled enough to do so Beats Per Minute
Frankie Cosmos Different Talking
Different Talking feels like Frankie Cosmos finally coming into its own. By self-producing, the band articulates a broader sound palette than on 2022’s Inner World Peace Northern Transmissions
A thrilling comeback that puts Lorde’s trajectory to the stars back on track DIY
Haim I quit
It’s easy to wonder if the soft-rock trio’s fourth record would be better if it were just a few songs — or, ideally, about 10-15 minutes — shorter Spectrum Culture
Hotline TNT Raspberry Moon
By opening up the recording process to accommodate more people and more ideas, Hotline TNT embrace a different side of themselves on Raspberry Moon, one that feels warmer and more open-hearted while still retaining the fuzz and noise that made their early albums so bracing Spectrum Culture
U.S. Girls Scratch It
While Scratch It lives up to its aged influences, Remy gives these nine tracks an undeniable immediacy, both with her singing and lyricism — which are eerily left of field — along with her spot-on taste in backing musicians and homage-motif Under The Radar
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 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
Different Talking introduces some novel elements to the Frankie Cosmos sound, but despite that, their core identity remains intact Spectrum Culture
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
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