29 March 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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Seventh album of avante-garde electronic music from Dusseldorf-based pianist Volker Bertelmann
6.7
This time round his composed score is performed with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, giving the most expansive sound to his music yet Read Review
Foreign Landscapes is a proper modern form of classical music, a genre long lost relegated to discount bins and wedding receptions Read Review
Print edition only
In others’ hands, this could be maudlin or self-indulgent, but Hauschka’s attention to detail is his strongest characteristic Read Review
Compared to Ferndorf, and its staggering highpoint ‘Freibad’, it’s far more introspective and thoughtful, and requires far more effort to become fully absorbed within Read Review
For all the grandiosity and skill of which Bertelmann’s impressive and expansive compositions possess, Hauschka still packs the most punch when kept simple and refined Read Review
The lack of challenge and the absence at so many points of any thrust, melodic or otherwise, doesn’t do justice to the ability of the creator, and that’s a terrible shame considering the quality of the highlights Read Review
Hauschka has shown much promise in the past, but Foreign Landscapes buries its own experimental leanings under layers of charm and cliché Read Review
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Hauschka: Foreign Landscapes
Sum 41 Heaven :X: Hell
Despite its imposing 20-count tracklist, ‘Heaven :x: Hell’ never drags, instead firing through hit after hit; time flies when you’re having fun, and Sum 41’s discography is a testament to that. It’s a grand culmination of their work so far Dork
It's a high energy, fun and skillful way to say goodbye The Arts Desk
The Canadian icons leave nothing in the tank on their final LP, a career-spanning double album that carries the occasional hint of their glory days NME
There will be doubters and there will be haters, but Heaven :x: Hell is Sum 41 at their zenith and is, without any shadow of a doubt, the album of their career. What a way to leave Kerrang!
With Heaven :x: Hell, what Sum 41 has given us is a true grand finale, and it's one worth reveling in Sputnik Music (staff)
Chastity Belt Live Laugh Love
See review link XS Noize
Ride Interplay
Essentially, after spending decades dabbling in different notions of psychedelic rock, Ride have gone synth-pop in 2024 Spectrum Culture
They seem determined to do whatever the hell they like and have fun with it The Arts Desk
Overall: troubled, unflinching, but tuneful and triumphant. Print edition only Mojo
Here [on "Yesterday Is Only A Song"] and on the best tunes of Interplay, Ride feel wonderfully, unexpectedly, younger than yesterday. Print edition only Uncut
It's commendable that Ride continue to reach beyond their past, but the best moments of Interplay are the ones that remind the listener what made the band so unique to begin with All Music
Closing with the sighing reflection of ‘Yesterday Is Just A Song’, Ride seem to be embrace and move past their illustrious past, resulting in one of the most finessed, intriguing albums of their career to date Clash
When they delve into the big guitar histrionics of yesteryear, as on “Light in a Quiet Room,” the results are breathtaking Under The Radar
Sheryl Crow Evolution
It is somewhat predictably a soundtrack of life-affirming but slightly knocked-about beige wisdom wearing a pair of cowgal boots The Arts Desk
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