24 August 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 album from the harmonic psych-folk Liverpool trio
6.8
Stealing Sheep are making music and art that’s for the heart and the head. It’s impossible to predict where they will go from here, other than to say it’ll be in an interesting direction Read Review
Stealing Sheep harness programmed sounds to underlie necessary messages about retaining one's sense of self in what can be a hyperactive world Read Review
Shot through with glittery bounce and buzzing synth lines Read Review
A more distant but fascinating record that charts their evolution as a band Read Review
This certainly isn’t the first album dedicated to the digital universe and it won’t be the last. But Big Wows provides its own relevant input to the conversation of its ever-evolving culture Read Review
The resulting LP is a success in that it breaks new ground for the band, yet with all of its pop grandeur, Big Vow still leaves us feeling like the girls have yet to hit their true creative stride. Perhaps their best work is yet to come Read Review
There’s enough sugar here to make even the sweetest tooth ache Read Review
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Jay Som Anak Ko
Anak Ko is more unified in tone than prior releases and benefits from its marriage of immersive sound design with consistently engaging songs All Music
Taylor Swift Lover
Swift is embracing all aspects of her personality, from the hopeful dreamer to the coolly controlled craftsman, resulting in a record that's simultaneously familiar and surprising All Music
Sheer Mag A Distant Call
The Philadelphia band return with a glorious sheen on their pro-worker, pro-barroom rock’n’roll Pitchfork
A real triumph DIY
Modern Nature How To Live
A compelling piece of work DIY
Most disarming moments occur when things quieten down The Line Of Best Fit
There’s a certain calm to the record that’s a good lesson in ‘how to live’ Loud And Quiet
Set the controls for the heart of somewhere very uneasy, but rather beautiful. Print edition only Q
Modern Nature is an explicitly English affair: unbluesy, unassuming and slightly uptight (in a good way). Print edition only Uncut
How To Live is more of a creative evolution than a total break from Cooper's previous music. Print edition only Mojo
Their music is defiantly experimental - though by no means impenetrable - and best enjoyed in its long-form splendor All Music
Tropical Fuck Storm Braindrops
These are strange, strange times and here you have a band strange enough to capture that DIY
The American singer proves once more that she is one of her generation’s definitive pop stars The FT
This a stronger offering than Reputation, with Swift returning to the place that suits her best: writing personal songs that create an entire world designed for two The Irish Times
The pop mega-force leaves behind the anger that fuelled its predecessor, 'Reputation', instead opting for open-hearted love songs NME
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