6 June 2025
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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Eighth album from the San Francisco-based hip hop artist and producer Ian Matthias Bavitz feuturing guest appearances from Hanni El Khatib, Armand Hammer, Lupe Fiasco and Open Mike Eagle
6.9
At almost 50 years old, it is good to see Aesop Rock as in control of his lyrics and production as ever, but it is even better to find him more comfortable participating in the world around him than ever before Read Review
The veteran underground MC offers another clinic in richly detailed writing and production. His latest explores the profoundly mundane, from aging to plum trees to snail invasions Read Review
Yet another successful Aesop Rock record which artfully details and comments on the remarkable aspects of everyday life Read Review
The American rapper is engaging and technically impressive on this wide-ranging record that finds him settling into the status of an elder statesman Read Review
Veteran underground rapper’s latest is a great example of the joy that can be found on the hip-hop margins Read Review
Having come up in the East Coast underground rap scene of the late 90s and early 2000s, Aesop Rock has a reputation to uphold with Black Hole Superette Read Review
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Little Simz Lotus
A confessional album that owes more to belief and soul-searching rather than a sense of direction, Lotus sees Little Simz blossoming from a dark spell into new light The Skinny
The personal, the political, the celebratory and the confrontational all flow together The Arts Desk
The atmosphere is dark at times, but emotional honesty is always the priority: whatever style Simz tackles, she delivers it with impressive commitment Record Collector
Rather than isolating herself, Simz instead turns to trusted friends to lift her up, from soul singer Michael Kiwanuka to jazz drummer Yussef Dayes A.V. Club
Pulp More
Band’s first album in 24 years accomplishes the transition between fan-settling familiarity and creative advancement The Independent
Pulp’s first album for 24 years features a fantastic opening track, then a grim drizzle of indie plodders The Irish Times
Miley Cyrus Something Beautiful
For the first time since Bangerz, Cyrus has moved her chameleonic talents out of the ordinary—embracing ad-libs, prog-rock eruptions, techno flair, and pop blowouts with abandon Paste Magazine
Stereolab Instant Holograms On Metal Film
Rather than tackling new landscapes or new sonics on their first album in 15 years, Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier have opted to refine, diving deeper inside the interior world of their music Paste Magazine
All style and no substance Exclaim
More is unlikely to win Pulp many new fans, but that would be presumptuous to really want (and undignified to aim for) when you can otherwise hit the mark so authentically Exclaim
Aesop Rock Black Hole Superette
At almost 50 years old, it is good to see Aesop Rock as in control of his lyrics and production as ever, but it is even better to find him more comfortable participating in the world around him than ever before Spectrum Culture
Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles
While Sparhawk waxed experimental on the first recordings he released after Parker’s death, here he places the post-rock chanteuse and memories of all her warm, goose-bump-inducing harmonies in the spotlight Spectrum Culture
Kathryn Joseph WE WERE MADE PREY.
It’s an immersive experience, one you can’t take for granted and play at any time. An album is a precious thing, it’s taken time and effort and pain and experience and their whole being to produce. FIRE. creates a full stop God Is In The TV
So, overall whilst it’s lovely to have them back, but maybe a little less would have made this record so much More God Is In The TV
Pulp demonstrate that revisiting the past can yield genuinely uncompromising and organic rewards The Skinny
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
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
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