23 February 2012
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.
Browse specific styles
Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter
Tracks the critics are loving: read then listen
" It would be a hard heart indeed not to fall for music as lovely as this" This Is Fake DIY
Listen on SpotifyListen on grooveshark
" Somebody I Used To Know is an infinitely relistenable ode" music OMH
" Night in the Ocean is the fulcrum upon which the set rests, a great four minutes" BBC
" A rousing, pleasing stomp, comprising this album's answer to previous 'hits'" BBC
" One of the album's obvious standouts, with beautifully harmonized vocals" Pitchfork
" The title track is the undoubted highlight ... it sets the bar high" music OMH
" Standout track Blaze Up A Fire is an intense but understated response to the riots that rocked the UK " The Skinny
The ADM newsletter lets you hear the tracks reviewers are rating as the stand-out songs from the best new albums. Sign up in that box on the top right.
This four-piece who met in Edinburgh but currently reside in East London, release their debut album of psychedelic art pop
7.7
Surely this debut won't be topped in 2012 Read Review
I just hope this gets the recognition it deserves, and it doesn’t end up in the ‘forgotten albums of 2012’ bin Read Review
Fresh, inventive and likely to be one of the more promising releases of 2012 Read Review
An album that's consistently mind-melting and often brilliant. Print edition only
They sound gloriously, unpredictably new, but they also recall past bands and sounds gone. Print edition only
A proposition to confound expectations of what an ‘indie’ band should be Read Review
It's an album characterised by its sharp stylistic swerves, but never feels jumbled or incoherent Read Review
Django Django's best trick is underpinning the folkie melodies with assertive beats and basslines Read Review
This is one of the year’s freshest, brightest and most inventive debuts Read Review
A strange, unfathomable record that begs for many more plays Read Review
Smart guys, smart record Read Review
With their debut, Django Django have seamlessly stepped into the position once occupied by The Beta Band Read Review
Bristles with ideas that could lead to some truly remarkable music later on. Print edition only
This quartet boast the organic qualities of Steve Mason, the Beta Band or the Phantom Band Read Review
The London quartet take a fresh approach that’s hard to define. Essentially we’re talking live instrumentation with electronic artefacts sprinkled into the mix Read Review
Darn catchy Read Review
The debut every band should make. Filled with enough “WTF!?” moments, the former art school student’s debut is interesting as the band themselves Read Review
Django Django are at their best when their sounds are at their gnarliest Read Review
After a while the band's mannerisms – stylised vocals, cut-up rhythms, outer-space sound effects – begin to overflow and you fear they have become trapped in their own ingenuity Read Review
Shows a pleasing sense of ambition in its 2012 mod-psych explorations Read Review
Roll over video for more options
Django Django: Django Django
Windy and Carl We Will Always Be
Let the sparse waves wash over and the true soul of the music will slowly emerge The Digital Fix
Despite the familiarity of the sonic landscape explored here, however, Windy and Carl are evidently still excavating valuable finds The Skinny
Windy and Carl are the ambient music world's version of old bluesmen who have been masters of their craft for decades and refined it to a point of utmost precision Prefix
This is as impressive as any of their releases The 405
Executed with openness and sincerity, making it feel as if the usual barriers between audience and performer simply aren't there Pitchfork
There is a beauty to experiencing love that overwhelms the heart. Windy & Carl seem to aim to replicate that overwhelming sensation through their music Beats Per Minute
If you take an interest in ambient music, drone rock or related quasi-genres, it behoves you to own some of Windy and Carl’s catalogue; this is as useful and high quality a starting point as just about anything they’ve recorded Drowned In Sound
Seekae Dome
A semi-regulated torrent of live loops and samples. Print edition only NME
Skrillex Bangarang
Skrillex lacks anything beyond the bleeding obvious. Print edition only NME
Memoryhouse The Slideshow Effect
Mostly glowers in a dismally cloying, precious nostalgia. Print edition only NME
School of Seven Bells Ghostory
None of it even scratches the arse of 'euphoric' - once their forte. Print edition only NME
Fanfarlo Rooms Filled with Light
Large Hadron pop that'll frazzle yer neurons. Print edition only NME
Lambchop Mr M
If this really is to be Lambchop's final album, it's an undeniably lovely one. Print edition only NME
The Ting Tings Sounds From Nowheresville
It sounds a little bereft of ideas, and way too short. Print edition only NME
Nada Surf The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy
If you keep your expectations more fluid and enjoy it for what it is, rather than what you think it should be, then you may find enough to appreciate This Is Fake DIY
What's finding favour with bloggers & other review sites
The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know
Field Music Plumb
The Black Keys El Camino
First Aid Kit The Lion's Roar
Django Django Django Django
An impressive 7.6 rating for the 5th album of electronica-influenced pop from the Norwegian singer-songwriter. All but one review is an 8/10 rating, with The Fly calling it "a masterclass in sinister soundscapes"
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past three years or so
Anaïs 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