12 August 2022
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 from the British soul singer, featuring contributions from Nile Rodgers and members of the London Symphony Orchestra
7.6
Infinitely more experimental than the soul-gospel of 2013's Sing to the Moon Read Review
There’s a fantastical, half-awake quality to these songs. Print edition only
Rapturous vocals are framed in intricate, ecstatic orchestral pop. Print edition only
Shape-shifting orchestral Afrobeat. Print edition only
A raw and thought-provoking stroke of genius Read Review
Her music has been described as “gospel-delia”, and that’s exactly what you get: gorgeous soul hymns as if sung in under-ether dreamtime Read Review
Vivid, original, it's the real deal Read Review
The Dreaming Room may be a mess, but it’s a glorious mess, packed with heroically bonkers ideas Read Review
Laura Mvula has proved emphatically that her debut was no one-off and this highly accomplished return establishes her further as a unique, captivating talent Read Review
The context is the renewal of life after an emotional breakdown, the album’s central theme; but sense of boundless possibility applies equally to Mvula’s inventive songs Read Review
Mvula has written a hypnotic record that provides a congenial embrace, but it also isn’t afraid to take bold action. A new star is most definitely born Read Review
Laura Mvula sounds confident and free throughout her second album Read Review
Nile Rogers's edgy funk guitar functions as both anchor and an irresistible invitation to dance Read Review
Laden with sonic surprises Read Review
She tries to bridge the gap between the highbrow classicism of Moon and the electronic thrust of 2010s pop Read Review
An enormously frustrating record, as Mvula clearly has it in her to be an incredible artist Read Review
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Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room
Danger Mouse & Black Thought Cheat Codes
Cheat Codes finds Danger Mouse rolling with a new lyrical foil and this one feels like it could run and run. Print edition only Uncut
The aesthetic, specifically, is that of finely matured vintage hip-hop, full of cognoscenti nods and crate- digger samples. Print edition only Mojo
Sylvan Esso No Rules Sandy
They keep coming back, with the same electricity, the same compassion, the same humanity and the same insistence that being human is a complicated but glorious thing to be Northern Transmissions
The US synth-pop duo embrace their freak selves on enjoyable fourth album The Skinny
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom Reset
Reset takes shape as a tribute to the consolatory powers of music and companionship, brimming with convivial charm and inner-voyage invention Record Collector
This long-awaited album arrives as a tribute to a whole scene rather than just two artists DIY
Kasabian The Alchemist's Euphoria
The most authentic this band have sounded in a long time DIY
As warm a listen as Sonic Boom’s near-forgotten records must’ve been in lockdown Lisbon DIY
Pale Waves Unwanted
The album is a defiant expression of darker emotions DIY
Kiwi Jr. Chopper
With Chopper, Kiwi Jr. have managed to extend their shelf life indefinitely, showing the world that they’re much more than mere slacker rock pretenders Loud And Quiet
If Kiwi Jr. continue to challenge themselves and improve with each release, they’re sure to reach plenty more peaks just beyond the horizon Northern Transmissions
The band wear their influences well, flitting between the melancholic indie-pop of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and the gleeful abandon of Jonathan Richman DIY
Like much of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom's best work, Reset is disorienting — an album of songs that feels cyclical and never-ending. But then again, so do the times we live in Exclaim
Gwenno Tresor
A thoroughly modern approach to an endangered language provides a new musical context Spectrum Culture
Lennox and Kember create breezy sonic collages of sunshine melody, fluidly chugging rhythms and fizzing analogue synths without succumbing to full retro-jukebox pastiche. Print edition only Uncut
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
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Dave We’re All Alone In This Together