20 December 2011
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 publications. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Tracks the critics are loving: read then listen
" The memorable point of Something is standout track Ghost Tonight. Polachek's vocal abilities are really something to marvel at" BPM
Listen on SpotifyListen on grooveshark
" The Lights cannot fail to put a smile on your face" Fake DIY
" Waveforms flows with typical electro flourishes and polyrhythmic beats before climaxing with a stunning multi-harmony coda" music OMH
" Church is still arguably the best thing they’ve done ... it would thaw the edges of even the coldest of hearts" music OMH
" The emotional centerpiece of the record is Backwords, a gorgeous, melancholy number. It’s a stunning, poignant track" The Line Of Best Fit
" The Lion's Roar is an epic tune ... an inspiring blend of marching drums, swirling woodwinds and heavy-handed piano chords, all reined in by the sisters’ gorgeous harmonies" Paste
" Standout track Logos is a deeply nostalgic elegy in which Gabriela’s percussive wizardry really shines through" AU Magazine
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Opera soundtrack album (about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution no less) from the Swedish electronic duo, in collaboration with Mt Sims and Planningtorock
6.8
Plonk yourself down, and wait for it to wallop you Read Review
Tomorrow, In A Year is a remarkably difficult listen, but it’s also, to my mind, the most rewarding release of the year thus far Read Review
Tomorrow, In A Year provides a complex view of The Knife as unmatched in their daring, their music quite defying categorisation as one species or another Read Review
Print edition only
Over two CDs, the ensemble generate and develop a Philip Glass-like cycle of abstract noise and songs that really do get beneath your skin. A strangely compelling release Read Review
Heroically bonkers Read Review
The Knife, bringing their own dancefloor vernacular to a classical setting, have done something pretty exciting Read Review
The Knife deserve full kudos for characteristically challenging the norm, for daringly and successfully tackling unfamiliar territory and subsequently breaking new ground and most of all for bringing us with them Read Review
Tomorrow, in a Year demands you step back and slow down to do it Read Review
Diamanda Galas meets (recent) Scott Walker in a synthesiser factory Read Review
The uninterrupted stretch of "Pigeons" into "Seeds" is the only moment on Tomorrow, in a Year where this is recognizably the work of the Knife, and not coincidentally it's the most thrilling and vital music on the record Read Review
This radical opera crackles with genius and creativity, even if it does upset the traditionalists. Darwin would approve Read Review
There are pockets of beauty here well worth locating in among the sound of amoebas swimming in primordial soup Read Review
It might prove hard for anyone but the most diehard Knife fans to sit through an entire album of this music... But it's evident that those involved have succeeded in creating something unique and boldly experimental Read Review
There are interesting notions in this idea and in the different forms Tomorrow, In a Year can take, but I don’t find their aggregate effect dazzling; I find it stultifying Read Review
Turn to the last third of the album if you want to hear the icy dance floor detachment familiar to all fans of the Knife... The rest of the record remains an unfathomable mystery, just like the band themselves Read Review
An endless prog desert where nothing happens at all until the fantastically weird but wonderful 11-minute epic that is ‘Colouring Of Pigeons’ Read Review
"Colouring of Pegeons"...could easily be counted among the top tracks The Knife has ever created...most likely it'll be the only track you'll be interested in keeping around Read Review
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Sleigh Bells Reign Of Terror
Compromised by sanitised production. But these Bells still rock. Print edition only Uncut
Over-exposure might result in feelings of disorientation and a headache, but that's likely just the way Miller and Krauss want it. Print edition only Mojo
Shearwater Animal Joy
A set of Anglophile songs, bookish and gently melancholic. Print edition only Mojo
The sound of Americana meshing its cogs with the machinery of the world outside its grimed window. Print edition only Uncut
Meiburg’s voice is a thing of rare range and beauty, but it seems the band have yet to settle on the best way to maximise its formidable gifts music OMH
The Ting Tings Sounds From Nowheresville
One-hit wonders no more, White and de Martino now sound prepared for a big pop future. Print edition only Uncut
An insipid assault of dribbly, sub-Billie Piper pop sludge The Fly
Lambchop Mr M
It delivers softly and simply his often complex lyrics. Print edition only Mojo
Death is all around - but this is Lambchop, so the rough stuff comes wrapped in cinnamon. Print edition only Uncut
While Mr. M never comes close to a hoedown, it contains some of the most direct songs to have flown the Lambchop banner The Skinny
Speech Debelle Freedom Of Speech
The odd gauche moments remain, but her plaudits are not undeserved. Print edition only Uncut
From the get-go Freedom Of Speech takes on prisoners. Print edition only Mojo
Absorbing, epic, heartfelt and delicately nuanced – a marvellous album The Skinny
Anyone who wasn’t convinced by her debut is going to find far more to take issue with on Freedom of Speech BBC
Lana Del Rey Born to Die
Overall, this is a beautifully crafted, if limited, album AU Magazine
What's finding favour with bloggers & other review sites
The Roots undun
Drake Take Care
First Aid Kit The Lion's Roar
The Black Keys El Camino
Guided By Voices Let's Go Eat The Factory
Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness
Howler America Give Up
Craig Finn Clear Heart Full Eyes
The much anticipated debut from the NY singer-songwriter has divided the critics, with ratings ranging from a 10 from the Independent on Sunday to a 0 from Tiny Mix Tapes
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past three years or so
Anais Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Tom Waits Bad As Me
Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid
Joanna Newsom Have One On Me
Gillian Welch The Harrow & The Harvest
Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion