25 September 2026
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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Dance producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm teams up with fellow Norwegian singer Christabelle in his latest beat-heavy project
7.1
Their unrestrained approach works with track after track, going higher and further than what has just gone before. Prepare for takeoff Read Review
The long-form disco don has made an instant-hit, Saturday night album that anyone could love. In fact, Real Life Is No Cool offers no other option Read Review
If the thought of 28-minute-long disco jams doesn’t appeal, it’s also a great place for the uninitiated to encounter this masterful producer Read Review
Real Life Is No Cool isn't just the achingly stylish and neatly accessible dance record ... it also constitutes a fresh new take on the strand of retro-futurism that Lindstrøm helped create Read Review
Print edition only
We have been blessed with an embraceable record from a contemporary dance music auteur and a partner who proves a skilful wingwoman Read Review
... his take on 1980s funk-pop is exhilaratingly woozy, psychedelic and strange, never sliding into retro pastiche. An object lesson in less being more Read Review
Real Life Is No Cool has a thoroughly modern spirit while still managing to coalesce decades of dance music into one fluid statement Read Review
A little more consistency in their focus and less pointlessly meandering distraction could see them produce something truly classic Read Review
...obviously in debt to mainstream legends such as Prince (on Keep It Up) and Michael Jackson (on Baby Can’t Stop, an unashamed pastiche of the Off the Wall sound) Read Review
...her voice is smooth, versatile and - listen up X-Factor contestants! - never needlessly showy
Moroder had the divine presence of Donna Summer, whereas Lindstrøm has Christabelle Isabelle Sandoo Read Review
An album that wildly oscillates between discordance and boredom Read Review
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Lindstrom & Christabelle : Real Life Is No Cool
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides musicOMH
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
Rosalía Lux
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Hayley Williams Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways