29 April 2024
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 solo album from the Houston rapper featuring guest appearances from Bon Iver, Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Beyoncé, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Yung Lean, Young Thug, James Blake, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future and SZA
6.2
UTOPIA sees Scott stay true to his style, his preferences, and his principles, going against the grain of the tendencies in the viral-hungry world that is 2023 ra Read Review
Lead single ‘K-POP’ remains a titanic moment, but its immediacy is perhaps a misnomer on a record dominated by misdirection, about-turns, and sudden revelations Read Review
The album operates less as a cohesive body of work and more as a series of show-stopping set pieces Read Review
The Houston rapper's first album since 2018 teases a brave new sonic world, but has little to say about what might happen if we get there Read Review
In an attempt to give the world a true blockbuster rap album, the Houston rapper delivers a shiny, empty spectacle loaded with pop superstars who rarely make an impact Read Review
The reality is that while Scott is a masterful curator, he’s just an OK rapper. Those two realities are discordant for too many moments on Utopia Read Review
Returning with a long-awaited fourth album in the wake of the Astroworld disaster, Scott’s rhyming isn’t strong enough to distinguish him from his A-list guests Read Review
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Iron & Wine Light Verse
On his first album of new material in six years, Sam Beam mines the onset of middle age for sharp-eyed songs that are lively and relatively breezy, despite the melancholy subject matter Pitchfork
Light Verse turns out to be one of the most enjoyable, varied, and well-crafted of the band's records All Music
St. Vincent All Born Screaming
Clark has more than earned the freedom she gives herself to express so many different sides to her music, and it's a thrill to hear her stretch out on these ferocious, heartbroken, and ultimately life-affirming songs All Music
Sheer Mag Playing Favorites
Playing Favorites proves that joy can show up defiantly, wearing a sleeveless denim vest, and sometimes, a rollicking good time is the glue holding our hearts together Spin
Justin Timberlake Everything I Thought It Was
An album that’s everything you thought it was but has nothing to say Spin
Tierra Whack World Wide Whack
Stretches Whack’s stylistic range, reintroducing an artist who seems more deeply in tune with her emotions Spin
Mannequin Pussy I Got Heaven
The record’s disparate strands mostly hold together, a formidable document of their fire and fury—and one that’s needed more than ever Spin
Bolis Pupul Letter to Yu
These songs never reach catharsis or resolution to their grand queries, but nonetheless find moments of joy in the process of seeking answers Spin
Khruangbin A LA SALA
It’s hard to be so stylized yet retain Khruangbin’s kind of staying power. You could kill the reverb and A LA SALA would still prevail Spin
Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us
All in all, Only God is a classic Vampire Weekend record, for those seeking exactly that Spin
Maggie Rogers Don't Forget Me
With Don’t Forget Me, Rogers sounds fully confident abandoning the glossiness of her earliest work—she doesn’t need studio flourishes to bolster her transcendent songwriting Spin
Mount Kimbie The Sunset Violent
Mount Kimbie are letting their songs smolder into life’s discontent. That uncomfortable tension is The Sunset Violent’s beauty Spin
Pearl Jam Dark Matter
Is Dark Matter that different from immediate predecessors Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, and Gigaton? Not really. But is it somehow Pearl Jammier, in an ineffable sense? Yep—in fact, it’s something special Spin
A Certain Ratio It All Comes Down To This
Nearly a half-century into their run, A Certain Ratio have plenty to teach but remain eager to learn—and, above all, to keep the party going Spin
Beyoncé Cowboy Carter
As both a treatise and a sonic testament, ‘COWBOY CARTER’ is its own triumph; unmoored in form, space and time, it’s the work of a preternatural talent painstakingly poring over every word, stratified vocal, sample and stylistic flourish Clash
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