31 January 2023
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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Fourth album and first in seven years from the London prog house duo Neil Barnes and Adam Wren
7.3
It's a fine addition to Leftfield’s musical battery and will likely be spinning minds for some time yet Read Review
Kinetic vibrancy that sounds thrilling Read Review
Born out of a tumultuous time in Neil Barnes’s life, this heady mix of bangers and righteous sounds is a keeper Read Review
Leftfield return with eleven cuts of pumping positivity Read Review
Barnes's first outing in seven years offers a timely blast of healing positivity, all but impossible to resist. Print edition only
A terrific late career landmark. Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC stars on dance titans’ riveting fourth album Read Review
A fourth album that feels fervently human for all the machine-tooled precision it otherwise demonstrates. Print edition only
There’s an intriguing mixture of old and new on this fourth album, pointing to a creative drive that makes the case for Neil Barnes’ continuing relevance into the 2020s Read Review
Overall, the album just feels that bit too familiar and uninspired (particularly the weird Kraftwerk pastiches ‘City of Synths’ and ‘Machines Like Me’) to leave much of a lasting impression Read Review
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Young Fathers Heavy Heavy
Young Fathers return with an engrossing new album featuring everything from orchestral pomp to 2-step beats, snarling claustrophobia to R'n'B slow-jams The Skinny
Sam Smith Gloria
As much as Smith tries to step out of the box, the singer still sounds most comfortable playing to their previously established strengths Slant Magazine
Samia Honey
With ample self-awareness and a keen sense of the surreal, Samia delivers a sonically dynamic voyage through the monstrous and merciful extremes of intimacy PopMatters
H.C. McEntire Every Acre
It all makes H.C. McEntire both a musical and writing force to be reckoned with Spill Magazine
Tranquil and reverberant, the North Carolina folk songwriter’s new album finds relief and resolution in the circadian rhythms of the natural world Pitchfork
Mostly they don't sound like anyone except themselves, multiplied by a thousand. Print edition only Uncut
Young Fathers remain a frequently forbidding proposition, and all the better for it. Thrillingly, it's still impossible to predict what we might hear next in any of their tracks. Print edition only Mojo
Fans of the early records of Margo Price and Courtney Marie Andrews will find much to love here, while the diversion into groovesome country soul on Rows Of Clover keeps the head nodding. Print edition only Mojo
Every one of these songs is a big-hearted meditation on love and sex and faith and especially healing, as though what roots us to our own lands is loss and grief and recovery. Print edition only Uncut
H.C. McEntire seeks salvation on Every Acre, but these songs suggest it can be found in how one approaches the world rather than in some supernatural entity PopMatters
Every Acre is her way of reckoning with the juxtaposing natures inhabiting each of us, searching for personal illumination while also knowing that there are yet some places untouched by her curiosity and resolve Beats Per Minute
Every Acre is a profound listen, one that reveals more wisdom the more you surrender to it. McEntire has discovered painful truths in the process, without ever letting herself or our history off the hook Paste Magazine
SG Lewis AudioLust & HigherLove
The second album from the UK pop producer is pleasant and anonymous, all good vibes and cabana jams Pitchfork
Meg Baird Furling
Unfailingly imaginative, her return offers another vital chapter in her unfailingly riveting career Clash
Fucked Up One Day
Excellent musicianship combines with heartfelt lyricism to offer, perhaps, Fucked Up’s finest effort yet, certainly their most focused XS Noize
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