21 September 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.
Browse specific styles
Third studio album from the Stockholm-born electropop singer Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson
7.1
The follow-up to last year’s Lady Wood, Blue Lips turns its predecessor’s themes of hedonistic abandon up a notch Read Review
Blue Lips feels like the end of a night, when everything that once sparkled under the disco ball is now revealed under brash and unforgiving lights as rock bottom Read Review
Which other pop star would sing about having hard nipples and puppet fornication? Read Review
Blue Lips invites listeners to really consider the way media and the world looks at sex and drugs. It asks listeners to challenge the taboos placed on women’s ability to exercise their freedom of expression Read Review
Of a piece with last year’s Lady Wood, the Swedish pop singer’s new album chronicles the death of a doomed, passionate love affair. It makes a powerful statement about female sexuality in the process Read Review
Solid if formulaic, Blue Lips peaks with unfaltering vocals and the kind of humid, polished production that would make Jack Antonoff jealous Read Review
Like much of Tove Lo's work, it's admirably uncensored, but may leave you craving a shower, however close to home it lands Read Review
Roll over video for more options
Christine and the Queens Chris
This is an album that navigates the ambiguous waters of sexuality and identity, relationships and selfhood, with a steady, sure hand Crack
Mountain Man Magic Ship
The beauty of Mountain Man's three voices singing together will seduce many listeners on Magic Ship. Unaccompanied human expressions have a powerful impact when artfully combined PopMatters
The austere brand of retro-rustic Americana sometimes sounds overly tasteful, but there are spine-tingling beauties here too. Print edition only Uncut
The a capella tracks remain their USP, but when they stretch out into the acoustic guitar balladry of the Joanna Newsom-sih Fish, they shine even brighter. Print edition only Q
Amelia Meath, Molly Erin Sarlé and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig as Mountain Man have created a quietly comforting collection of songs with Magic Ship, their first album in eight years The Skinny
Mountain Man cling to the ordinary, but are able to make it extraordinary Exclaim
The Field Infinite Moment
Over Infinite Moment's six tracks and one hour running time, Willner makes small shifts in mood from track to track, without ever really letting up the overall feeling of peace and joy that washes over you Under The Radar
Field proves that he's such a master of his craft that he can generate the same excitement from briefly moving outside the box as he can revelling back inside it Exclaim
It suits background listening and there is a softness in the album’s textures that make Infinite Moment gently beautiful throughout music OMH
While Infinite Moment shares all of what we love about Willner, from the sleek production to its all-encompassing ambient, techno groove, one thing’s certain: he has an innate ability of gifting stunningly unorthodox dance club tracks The Line Of Best Fit
BEAK> >>>
Perhaps their most melodic and crisply defined work yet Crack
With their anxious energy, disturbed worldview, and sharpened production, these songs highlight how much Beak> have progressed and evolved as a band since their early jam days The Quietus
None of this is easy music to play or – normally – to listen to. That Beak> have rendered a record this turbulent and frequently dour as such a captivating and emotionally resonant experience is a feat in itself Loud And Quiet
Metric Art of Doubt
Metric have finally nailed their most urgent, energising work The Music
Metric have created from a point of questioning who they are as a band and what they have to give. Their new album is an exercise in dispelling that doubt Exclaim
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