5 April 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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A previously unreleased collection of songs recorded in 1973 by the folk country singer-songwriter who died on January 1, 1997
7.1
It just misses out on being Van Zandt’s definitive statement–the self-titled album is stronger song-for-song–but it feels like this is how the man was always supposed to sound. Sky Blue is a revelation, and essential Read Review
The glimmers of brilliance captured on Sky Blue are just as equally dazzling and devastating as Van Zandt's story and the rest of the masterful catalog he left behind Read Review
Another star in the artist's posthumous career Read Review
Sounds like himself: tormented, tremendous, forever trying to break through his chains with a song Read Review
Displays his careful sense of craft across a set of covers, favorites, and unheard songs Read Review
Isn’t the Van Zandt record that’ll turn new fans on to his genius. It’s the type of compilation that’ll help his longtime listeners better understand the many shades of that talent Read Review
It's all good, but none of it is great. Still, if this is merely the first taste of an eventual vault series of releases from Townes Van Zandt's musical archive, it's more than enough to make us hunger for more Read Review
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Arlo Parks Ambiguous Desire
One of those albums that evokes a tangible mood; in this case, somewhere adjacent to the sun coming up after a rollercoaster of a night out. As such, it's frequently wonderful. Print edition only Uncut
"We're blossoming," she sings of a new romance, but she could easily be talking about herself and her artistic trajectory, having pulled off a daring makeover with such style. Print edition only Record Collector
Any fear, dissociation or sorrow Parks describes is repeatedly shaken off in the communion of the dancefloor The Independent
Sunn O))) Sunn O)))
You may rejoice, you may be bemused, or you may soil your drawers and run for the nearest exit. It's quite an experience, however you find it. Print edition only Record Collector
What remains undeniable is that Sunn O)))’s all-enveloping textures occupy a landscape like no other. Slow your breathing, open your ears and let yourself be taken there Kerrang!
At over an hour, it’s not casual listening. But SUNN O))) have always been about testing limits, pushing boundaries, (destroying speakers). That’s precisely why the album works and why the band have endured: ‘SUNN O)))’ feels like a reaffirmation — of process, of power, and of why they remain darlings of the underground Clash
The album is a magnificently heavy double of downtuned, epic riffing. Print edition only Uncut
The enrobed duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson have produced a beguiling work that distils the overwhelming impact of nature on the human psyche into 80 minutes of utterly transcendent avant metal The Quietus
Thundercat Distracted
Thundercat invites listeners into a space where confusion, beauty, and pain coexist, reminding us that even in a fractured world, there is still room to feel, create, and live fully Northern Transmissions
The American musician serves up audio comfort food with some stylistic progression and a generous helping of technical skill musicOMH
He's still finding joy inside the pain, supplying the high notes with that ethereal contratenor and the low end with those sinuous basslines All Music
Thundercat has finally made the all-out pop album he's been hinting at. It fits like a glove. Print edition only Mojo
Distracted may be his most coherent album to date. Less prone to abrupt zigzags than its predecessors, it's his smoothest, too. Print edition only Uncut
This blissfully atmospheric album opts for the polished beauty of the chillout room, where it makes a fine soundtrack to dancing away heartache musicOMH
Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson's vast primordial compositions all but dissolve structure, leaving the evocation of feeling to celebrate a communion of man and the natural world 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