25 May 2019
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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Third studio album from the New York rapper with guest appearances from FKA twigs, French Montana, Juicy J, Kid Cudi, Kodak Black, Moby, Frank Ocean, Skepta
6.4
The Harlem rapper's latest is loud, frenetic, and about as vibrant as hip-hop gets Read Review
Sonically, Testing is an experimental project. A shedding of the 29-year-old artist's old skin and a rebirth of something more profound and slightly more complicated Read Review
On his third studio album, Rocky is more experimental and personal. But for music that relies on the New York rapper’s artful intuitions, it’s unfortunate his intuitions are often very basic Read Review
An intriguing mix of garbled white noise and amp interference interspersed with splashes of instrumentals and a smattering of A-list features Read Review
ASAP Rocky takes to more experimentation in his music to match up with his style of fashion Read Review
Testing is what it says it is, though this far into his career, he should be doing better than merely a passing grade Read Review
The rapper’s aversion to the mainstream takes his third album to some glorious heights, with the help of Skepta and Frank Ocean. But is his swaggering decadence wearing thin? Read Review
Testing’s title might suggest experimentation, but it delivers more on tentativeness, with a smattering of solid songs mixed into aesthetically interesting but unresolved experiments Read Review
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Tyler, The Creator Igor
IGOR is a commendable, yet flawed album, one that further challenges what we can and should expect from a rap album in 2019 Paste Magazine
Flying Lotus Flamagra
On Steven Ellison’s sixth album, his sweeping jazz-funk feels limitless. It sounds more like a sketchbook with FlyLo crafting each minute with great care and technical dexterity Pitchfork
Mavis Staples We Get By
The legendary singer has lost little expressiveness with age, but these songs are about the small, quiet spaces where she can catch her breath and steel her nerves Pitchfork
Amyl & The Sniffers Amyl & The Sniffers
The Aussie rockers’ unabashed fetishization of 1970s staples like punk, glam, and their country’s sharpie scene only helps fuel the invigorating rush of their music Pitchfork
Cate Le Bon Reward
It’s hard to go back and listen to earlier albums after Reward—the enhanced instrumentation and dreamy songwriting make this the singer’s strongest album yet Rolling Stone
We Get By, for the first time in the current Staples era, plays as a bit of a mixed bag Spectrum Culture
A Reward, both in name and execution The 405
Injury Reserve Injury Reserve
Stepa J. Groggs and Ritchie with a T are solid, if not remarkable, rappers. And that's fine. What sets them apart is that they feel like real dudes Exclaim
Everything about this record begs repeating, but this is only solidified by what FlyLo told us in a recent interview. According to him, the last track, "Hot Oct,." bleeds back into the beginning of the album, creating a perfect circle. This is truly built to loop Exclaim
The album is spacious and remarkably constructed, with hidden compartments built for secret sounds that seem to unlock with repeated listenings. Easily Le Bon's most involved, risky, and satisfying material up until this point All Music
Morrissey California Son
He's sounding a bit like a curmudgeon, but he embraces his eccentricities, which means this contrarianism wears well on record, even if it doesn't in real life All Music
Whether the songs are designed to motivate, mourn, or comfort, they're all sustenance. The everlasting potency of Staples' voice is a marvel All Music
A promising opening salvo from a young band who match a rabid hunger with the chops to back it up All Music
Those who can’t or won’t separate the songs from the performer can’t and shouldn’t be blamed for finding something else with which to stimulate their eardrums—nor could they be blamed for wishing that Morrissey had simply disappeared from public view before entering his foot-in-mouth period A.V. Club
Clumsy covers with a troll-like spirit The Guardian
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