20 May 2013
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 publications 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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How music bloggers are rating recent albums over the past 6 weeks. Click on an album to see the ratings and read the reviews. Want to contribute to the blog chart? Mail us: blogchart@anydecentmusic.com
The National Trouble Will Find Me
Six albums down the line, the late developers have perfected their ruminative rock, the beauty of their intricate arrangements ensuring the end product never sounds pedestrian The Observer
Daft Punk Random Access Memories
With RAM – a masterpiece complete with flaws – Daft Punk have shone a laser beam into dark corners of the 70s and 80s and made them sing again, with timbres more human than ever before The Observer
It's an album which makes you feel warm. It's the sound of love, after all Independent on Sunday
The occasional off-kilter touch throws things sufficiently askew to deny listeners any complacency Independent on Sunday
It's both the most personal, and most melodically welcoming, of their albums, its subtle, multi-layered arrangements seeming to hover weightlessly while Matt Berninger's lyrics drill into emotionally troubling territory The Independent
Pistol Annies Annie Up
If Annie Up doesn't quite break the country genre's familiar format, it's a hell of a lot of fun Slant Magazine
A pretty tasty serving of grits and sass Spin
A record that feels in every sense like a thoroughly integrated effort; the work of a group, not three individuals All Music
Their hearts are in every line and note Paste Magazine
The lyrics are carefully written and thoughtfully sung; the arrangements share similar qualities, with settings that suit the songs and brief solos that come in and echo the song’s emotions in a way that feels perfect Pop Matters
Country's new generation of strong female voices is on a roll in 2013 – and Pistol Annies remain at its forefront The Guardian
There may be better bands than Pistol Annies, but what band is more of a hoot? Rolling Stone
Wampire Curiosity
Their songs have a sharpness to them that makes them sparkle through the lysergic fug. Print edition only Q
Laura Marling Once I Was An Eagle
Once I was An Eagle is entirely Laura Marling's trip - beautiful, heartfelt, searching, sublime - and thrillingly open-ended. Print edition only Q
Var No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers
Something serene, tender even. Print edition only Uncut
And the winner is ... no, not Daft Punk but a Californian garage punk
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past four years or so
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
My Bloody Valentine mbv
Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Tom Waits Bad As Me
Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid