25 July 2014
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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Fifth album of alt.rock from the Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Nick Talbot
7.0
His songs initially appear to be gentle, rueful folk ballads on cursory listen but a decent pair of headphones reveals deep pools of shimmering reverb and a submarine world of echo Read Review
Gravenhurst's most solid and unsettling work to date Read Review
An exquisite, unexpected gem. Print edition only
Talbot’s created a uniquely potent blend of icy chill and soothing balm, and with it that rarest of things: totally cliché-dodging songwriting Read Review
It adds up to a beautifully haunting set, and the sense that Talbot is surely among music's best-kept secrets Read Review
Superficially unassuming, taken as a whole it’s really a bold, consistent collection Read Review
His best work since ‘Black Holes In The Sand’ Read Review
This is folk music going into unknown territory, braving dangers, making new footprints, and, in the process, changing into something else entirely Read Review
A melancholy beauty predominates. Print edition only
The mellotrons, optigans, and synthesizers employed here hang like a silvery mist atop the cyclical fingerpicking that makes up the majority of the album, which either soothes or lulls, depending on your predilection for such softness Read Review
A memory-haunted journey through the dead voices and deep narratives of Englands lost. Print edition only
Much of this record plays like a tribute to ’90s miserabilists Red House Painters, all phantom-like reverb over misleadingly comforting folk tropes Read Review
A reminder of just how great Gravenhurst can be when they’re on top of their game, which they are here more often than not Read Review
Ignorable background music and the lowest point of the Gravenhurst discography thus far Read Review
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Gravenhurst: The Ghost In Daylight
Common Nobody's Smiling
The album's most convincing when tackling the push-and-pull conflict between the individual and his hometown, as Common's good intentions are buoyed by memory, generosity, and attentiveness to his craft Pitchfork
A well-rounded discourse on gang violence and inner city plight in Chicago that translates to almost every urban city in America. It is a triumph for conscious rap in a city that could use more self-awareness Consequence Of Sound
Common has crafted one of the best hip-hop albums of the year so far The Guardian
A collection of mostly forgettable tracks that tries far too hard and has little to show for it A.V. Club
While not flawlessly executed, Common arguably regains some of the relevance he may have lost from his last couple of albums with the focus of Nobody's Smiling Exclaim
Jenny Lewis The Voyager
Jenny Lewis’s boho Californian confessional sounds like the record she was destined to make Evening Standard
The Voyager has some elements of what made Lewis’s old band, Rilo Kiley, interesting The Irish Times
Emma Tricca Relic
Although Tricca’s idiosyncratic voice is a selling point, it is audibly informed by her influences The Irish Times
Gulp Season Sun
An immersive, dreamy album made to while away summer afternoons The Irish Times
Shabazz Palaces Lese Majesty
A brave, trancey, psych flow of sounds that never tires or runs awry. Strap yourself in for one hell of a ride The Irish Times
Jungle Jungle
The proof of the pudding comes in how well this record of future- funk party favourites works so well on repeat The Irish Times
Ror all its merits – her voice is utterly pure, and the altpop textures luscious – The Voyager lacks unity The Guardian
Alvvays Alvvays
There are some genuinely great moments, including album closer Red Planet, on which the band move away from indie-rock and show they can splice synths with sadness The Guardian
Not every experiment on Lese Majesty works, but when they do, the results are spectacular. And even when they don't, the lovely sense that you're listening to an album genuinely unlike any other is pretty overwhelming The Guardian
The Raveonettes Pe'ahi
A definite turning point in The Raveonettes' sound as it enters its second decade Earbuddy
Lots of praise for the second album from Elly Jackson. The Music describe it as "a mature, meticulously crafted album full of rich detail" while Digital Spy say it is "an utter triumph"
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past four years and a half or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Deafheaven Sunbather
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
My Bloody Valentine mbv
Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
St Vincent St Vincent
Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city
Arcade Fire The Suburbs