Any decent music? We review the reviews. You get the final word

Hello

26 May 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.

Just in

New albums just added

Unlisted recent releases

Follow us on

Join us on twitter

join us on facebook

join us on MySpace

Source list

Specialist Genres

Browse specific styles

ADM.Patreon.promo

New

Ed O’BrienBlue Morpho

"The guitarist’s album might be the most Radiohead side project yet to emerge from the mother ship" (8/10 - The Irish Times). "Works that move and grow like the building blocks of life itself" (8/10 - Clash)

New

The Coral388

"It’s a lucky number thirteen for fans – The Coral remain a band to cherish" (8/10 - Clash). "Every choppy guitar line and snaking Hammond or Farfisa lick form hooks in their own right" (8/10 - The Arts Desk)

New

RostamAmerican Stories

"Meticulous, inventive record" (8/10 - Mojo). "A record of reflection and connection that ranks among the more beautiful-sounding you might hear this year" (8/10 - DIY)

Highest Recent Ratings

Albums to watch

Aldous HardingTrain On The Island

"A spellbinding listen, the high water mark of Harding's singular career" (9/10 - Exclaim. "It’s an oblique character study of herself, and the best album of her career so far" (9/10 - Pitchfork)

KneecapFENIAN

"After their Glastonbury fracas and legal troubles, political friction provides the backbone to this dense, musically adventurous third album" (9/10 - musicOMH).

FrikoSomething Worth Waiting For

"A record that leaves the kind of impression more associated with acts with far lengthier histories" (9/10 - DIY). "A euphoric, breakneck adventure towards a promised land" (8/10 - The Skinny)

Lime GardenMaybe Not Tonight

"A breakup album that wears its messiness on its sleeve, Lime Garden’s second is figuring life out, track by track" (9/10 - NME). "A new indie disco essential" (9/10 - DIY)

Angine de PoitrineVol.II

"There's a ferocity and alienness to the complexity" (10/10 - Exclaim). "It breathes on its own and speaks without words. Angine de Poitrine let the music do the talking" (8.4/10 - Northern Transmissions)

The Twilight SadIt's The Long Goodbye

"An astonishing body of work that firmly emphasizes what an important band The Twilight Sad are" (9/10 - Under The Radar). "A powerful and truly wonderful return from The Twilight Sad" (9/10 - Clash)

Good Good Desperation

Hopewell

Good Good Desperation

Album number five from Jason Russo's NY psych-rock / shoegaze outfit, revived after a stint with Mercury Rev

Label: Tee Pee
UK Release date: 05/05/2009

Listen on Spotify

Related Links

Share: Share |

Sort by most recent review

7.0 1663
7.0 | Drowned In Sound

A highly accomplished collection of loosely constructed individual pieces that should gain its creators long overdue recognition on this side of the pond
Read Review
Back to main chart

blog comments powered by Disqus

Hear it

Preview & download it

Hopewell: Good Good Desperation

Download full album for just £7.99
1. Preamble (pt II) £0.99
2. Island £0.99
3. Good Good Good Desperation £0.99
4. Worried Mind £0.99
5. Realms Of Gold £0.99
6. 10,000 Black Masses (pt I) £0.99
7. Stranger £0.99
8. Seen The Light £0.99
9. Over The Mountain £0.99
10. Bury Me Standing £0.99

Latest Reviews

Ed O’Brien Blue Morpho

‘Blue Morpho’ offers a reminder that, as he and his other bandmates have repeatedly proved, O’Brien boasts a wholly-uninhibited approach to how rock and pop music is arranged, resulting in works that move and grow like the building blocks of life itself Clash

Kevin Morby Little Wide Open

Represents a musical homecoming for Morby to the Americana that is central to much of his work No Ripcord

Lykke Li The Afterparty

On a purportedly final album, the Swedish electro-pop singer’s disenchantment takes shape around sparkling synth and light-touch disco beats Pitchfork

All-time top 10

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.