21 June 2018
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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Second album of folk / indie pop from the North Carolina band led by Ari Picker
7.5
Draws heavily from his [Ari Picker] classical training, yet maintains a smart, accessible core that brings to mind Sufjan Stevens at his least quirky Read Review
Lost In The Trees has constructed a beautiful memorial for the soul of Ari Picker’s mother to rest in Read Review
This may be one of the best records of the year so far Read Review
The tracks on A Church are beatifically mournful, its orchestrations minor key, and its vocals sung by an author distinctly heavy of heart Read Review
The album is stirring without wallowing; it can move even the listener who knows nothing of the backstory Read Review
Too deep in its emotion to idly listen to, and too warm in its instrumentation to wear you down, this record proves a strange, incomplete comfort -- one that embraces loss as much as it tangles with it Read Review
The tragedy that inspired and plagues this album seems to be offered as a celebration rather than an exercise in mourning Read Review
A stirring coda that embraces the aftermath of despair, ringing with a resilience that's inspired, ambitious, mesmerizing and majestic Read Review
The album is as intricate and well-crafted as a Radiohead release, with highly emotional content that was inspired by the recent suicide of frontman Ari Picker’s mother Read Review
A mother’s suicide inspires moving orchestral folk, beauty and hope found amid grief Read Review
Over the course of a dozen songs, frontman Ari Picker tries to make sense of his mother's suicide against a backdrop of rich orchestration Read Review
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Lost In The Trees: A Church That Fits Our Needs
Kamasi Washington Heaven & Earth
The US saxophonist has found his time and it is now: this excellent album connects politics with the jazz of the past to create an angrily inclusive new vision The Guardian
The Carters Everything Is Love
They sound both aware of and immersed in the culture surrounding them while fully settled into their own reality as billionaires. In essence, they are Black, rich and famous, in that order NOW
With its forward-thinking, deep-searching nature counterbalanced by a natural warmth and populist, groove-heavy approach, it’s another hugely accomplished work by a man whose prolific run of form shows no signs of abating Record Collector
This is the rare jazz record that feels equipped to venture outside the genre's familiar borders and engage with the wider world. Print edition only Uncut
Washington's gift for euphonic arrangements and eagerness to explore new forms is evident throughout. Print edition only Q
A series of near-overwhelming musical epiphanies. Print edition only Mojo
Sophie Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
No man, nor woman, could replicate this album. The intricacy of the sounds of tracks like Infatuation and Not Okay are sure signs of a master Gig Soup
Nas NASIR
Overall Nasir is disappointingly heedless Exclaim
The Magic Gang The Magic Gang
All the elements that have made for their most enjoyable material are still here, and the band shows they are just as capable as they have always been at captivating listeners Exclaim
Uniform & The Body Mental Wounds Not Healing
Judging in broad strokes doesn’t give much room for considering why their recent work has been so well received Earbuddy
Chromeo Head Over Heels
The album is banging for the most part and arrives on perfect time for your summer playlists Earbuddy
This isn’t an album of ‘Crazy In Love’ or ‘Drunk In Love’ successors. It’s an album of love, and all the forms it can take in and outside of you. The 405
Head Over Heels is maddeningly catchy and no party this summer is complete without it Spectrum Culture
There’s no way to get around this: the worst part about Nas’s new album is Nas Pretty Much Amazing
Jazz saxophonist capitalizes on newfound fame to deliver a masterful double album Consequence Of Sound
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past eight years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
Mount Eerie A Crow Looked at Me