29 September 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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Second album of classic pop from Lebanese/American singer Michael Holbrook Penniman
6.1
Mika goes in joyful pursuit of big melodies and towering choruses. Read Review
He’s created the consummate pop album for 2009, seemingly on his own terms and devoid of tired formulas. Read Review
Print edition only
His songwriting craft and vocal dazzle may be flagrantly uncool, but they're also refreshingly unencumbered Read Review
Smart, thoughtful pop, flying in the face of his songs where pseudo-classical collides with West End musical foppery. Read Review
Contains far too much sugar to consume in one sitting Read Review
Unlikely to seduce the sceptical, and too equivocal for the evangelists, The Boy Who Knew Too Much is ultimately nowhere near as smart as it'd like to be. Read Review
At the core of these songs are gleaming melodies that rarely fail to hit the mark Read Review
He can’t rely on mere quirkiness to keep our attention. But he can still call on his sharp pop sensibility. Read Review
Even if people eventually grow tired of the jazz hands, he’ll be firing hits into the ether for as long as he cares to do so. Read Review
The Boy Who Knew Too Much's consistent hookiness means it can only be considered a success. Read Review
Mika is every bit as contrary and infuriating as he was two years ago. That lack of compromise could turn out to be one of his greatest strengths. Read Review
You only wish his maturing process would gather more speed. Read Review
Mika's faith in the campy excess of Freddie Mercury/Elton John-style pomp pop is bracing. But over the course of an album, the shtick's charm erodes. Read Review
There are enough irritations alongside the hooks to grate on even the most sainted of listeners Read Review
There's no denying Mika's technical prowess, but there's an increasing sense of it being frittered away on slim ideas tricked out with layers of interlocking vocals: froth and irritation in equal measure. Read Review
Mika: The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides 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