9 November 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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Debut album of retro 80s indebted synthpop from this Brooklynite singer
6.5
A tight little album full of melodramatic pop tunes dripping in ’80s loving Read Review
A fantastically arranged and conceptually exquisite record Read Review
Where Austra are detached and Zola Jesus are portentous, Class Actress are giddy and impassioned Read Review
Enlisting electronic sounds and feel-good disco hooks, this album has a definite touch of the early Madonna about it, and it feels like a delightfully guilty pleasure Read Review
Class Actress manage to pull this full length debut away from being nothing more than an exercise in retro or an indulgent pastiche. While it does take me back to that imaginary high school prom that I never had, it’s also very much a 21st century pop record Read Review
This record will appeal to the indie-dance crowds that love their retro flavours, but it does so in a natural way, without seeming forced or desperate to conform to a trend Read Review
Luxurious and picture-perfect in presentation Read Review
Chillwave never had much of a female presence, but Brooklyn's Class Actress aim to change that Read Review
Attempts to meld the trace-paper beats of chillwave with the predatory attitude of '80s funk-pop Read Review
Underneath the litany of angular instrumentation, Rapprocher is, both musically and narratively, conventional glam-pop fare, but it's difficult not to admire how well the bedazzled glove fits Read Review
Print edition only
Harper and her cohorts have certainly created a close approximation to the heyday of Depeche Mode and Human League-but ultimately their dated sound doesn't even come close Read Review
The vocals fill unadventurous melodies with inane lyrics. Utterly vacuous Read Review
Harper struggles to convince as seedy seductress or decadent ice queen. Print edition only
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Class Actress: Rapprocher
Django Django Doveland
Django Django would appear to have refreshed their approach and challenged themselves to try out previously unconsidered melodic avenues The Arts Desk
Print edition only Uncut
Gilla Band Pugnello
Somewhere amidst the anarchy of Pugnello, there are gems waiting to be found. Unearthing them is well worth your time Still Listening
Greg Freeman All Set The Bone
Existentialism has a sound (and it’s hard to ignore) with Greg Freeman’s introspective All Set The Bone Still Listening
U2 Carnaval de Luz
Carnaval De Luz finds U2 50 years after their formation with the same four members and the same desire to shake things up. The album provides a convincing answer to the question of why they keep doing what they do XS Noize
Fontaines D.C. Dopamine Chamber
Fontaines D.C. push deeper into synthetic territory on Dopamine Chamber, balancing stadium-sized melodies with restless experimentation and darker texture Record Collector
They sound ambitious and engaged in their 50th year, swinging for the fences and hitting more targets than not. There’s still some gas in the tank Record Collector
La Roux Old Flames
Print edition only Record Collector
Back with her first new music in six years, La Roux's new sound explores facets of R'n'B and Europop to varying degrees of success The Skinny
La Roux turns to 90s R&B on a fourth album shaped by the end of a 17-year relationship, finding room for new beginnings beneath its layered production Still Listening
Print edition only Rolling Stone UK
Devastating moments are dressed up with warm production and kinetic 00s R&B in the now quiff-less singer’s grownup fourth album The Guardian
Elly Jackson returns with heartfelt pop songs about breaking up, resentment, vulnerability and all that entails musicOMH
Ditching erratic experimentation for an ambient concept, the indie shapeshifters' sixth album is their most coherent in years musicOMH
Doveland sounds less like a reduction of Django Django’s musical vocabulary than a more relaxed demonstration of how much they possess PopMatters
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