17 July 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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The Boise, Idaho musician behind Youth Lagoon releases his first album under his own name
6.9
Gorgeous and chaotic Read Review
An album full of malice and aggression that it lives up to its title, but it is peppered with themes of hope and optimism Read Review
It works as a powerful artistic statement. Print edition only
Powers has always been sure-handed with sculpting sound like this Read Review
He continues to rely on dreamy synths and soaring high-pitch vocals, but this time expanding into the territory of electronic experimental pop Read Review
An album of icy electronica, marked by its sonic scarcity as well as its distance from any of his previous output Read Review
Across the album, Powers lets himself react to pain and tension with introspection and furious release Read Review
Uniquely unhinged. Print edition only
Mulberry Violence isn’t a letdown because it doesn’t live up to expectations of what a Trevor Powers album is supposed to sound like. It’s a letdown because an immensely talented and creative spirit is struggling to let his instincts speak for themselves Read Review
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Ada Lea What We Say In Private
It feels like Lea had a ton of things she wanted to express and she seemingly tried to express them all. What the outcome is may be a little messy, a bit raw and extremely intimate but because of this, it’s all intensely real and very human Northern Transmission
Metz Automat
Sequenced here in chronological order, those seven-inches, along with the odds and ends that follow, document the progression of a band getting less imaginative over time Paste Magazine
Plaid Polymer
There are melodies and some grand gestures, but the lack of tension and dynamics makes Polymer feel empty Resident Advisor
A decent body of work which would actually work well as an introduction to the band for those yet to encounter METZ’s noise to date The Independent
Ed Sheeran No.6 Collaborations Project
Gathering guests from every corner of the Top 40, the singer-songwriter contemplates aloneness, fame and marital salvation Rolling Stone
Mega Bog Dolphine
Dolphine’s songs are mystical, yes – but by no means are they not also tough, topical and profound The Quietus
The Soft Cavalry The Soft Cavalry
Another post-reunion project for Slowdive's Rachel Goswell. In collaborator Steve Clarke she has discovered a talented songwriter and married him, no less PopMatters
Blood Orange Angel's Pulse
Dev Hynes’ new mixtape feels light and loose, a pre-production sketchbook presented as a charmingly finished product with the help of several key guests Pitchfork
Banks III
While the brooding pop singer can’t always shake the anodyne songwriting that plagued her past work, III is still Banks’ best album to date Pitchfork
The Montreal singer-songwriter’s debut album uses heartbreak as the springboard for an innovative brand of indie rock that’s both fiery and introspective Pitchfork
Ada Lea's workmanship is striking on what we say in private, as she delicately showcases both the chaos and beauty of change Exclaim
Tycho Weather
Tycho continues expanding and refining his sound, dipping into even more sublime headspaces in the process The 405
Rachel Goswell and Steve Clarke’s voices often meld together beautifully. But sometimes they try to do too much with too little Spectrum Culture
Unexpected and quietly ambitious. Print edition only Uncut
There's an artful intricacy to her lo-fi pop. Print edition only Mojo
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