17 May 2024
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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10th studio release from the long-serving English folk punk band
6.2
Despite the seriousness of many of the topics that the band have written and sung about, it remains an incredibly fun and rewarding listen Read Review
Much of Static on the Airwaves is instead wisely focused through a combination of mature, polished songwriting and Sean (brother of Seth) Lakeman’s lucid, light-touch production Read Review
They don't lack conviction, and their 10th album contains their best work in years, but it has pacing problems which drag it down and keep it from fully achieving its goals Read Review
The Levellers' latest broadsides and refusenik anthems mostly follow the feisty fiddly-diddly folk-rock manner Read Review
Sympathetic production from Sean Lakeman gives the songs room to breathe Read Review
Invigorated in a surprisingly divers range of styles. Print edition only
A good old-fashioned passionate protest album. Print edition only
Much like being bludgeoned repeatedly with a copy of Socialist Worker. Print edition only
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Beth Gibbons Lives Outgrown
Thirty years after stepping into the spotlight, the Portishead singer reintroduces herself with her debut solo album. History weighs heavy on her songs, but she takes pains to avoid her musical past Pitchfork
Dehd Poetry
Dehd exude a youthful charm that is hard to replicate on Poetry. They are infectious and their sunny melodies and sincerity make their music compelling PopMatters
Beth Gibbons gives us the understanding of our mortality that we all need on her most revealing work The Quietus
Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft
The singer’s music is energised by her push-pull relationship with fame The FT
The Portishead singer has a powerful sense of feeling in her voice on her solo debut The FT
A.G. Cook Britpop
Tracks explore the past, present and future of the striking hyperpop style pioneered by the producer The FT
As he closes the books on PC Music, label founder A. G. Cook unspools a rangy triple album full of shiny synths, inside jokes, and gently sentimental vocal pop Pitchfork
On his third studio album, the British producer puts a reverent pin in PC Music across three discrete discs that revel in a self-referential past and outline an already-here future Paste Magazine
The album challenges assumptions about what pop is and offers an exciting glimpse of what it could be Slant Magazine
A. G. Cook’s third studio album finds the producer and PC Music label-head taking stock, and in the process making his finest solo work to date The Skinny
Cook seems to understand the power of juxtaposition, seamlessly blending diverse elements to create a rich and dynamic sonic landscape. Clash
Step back a few paces to look at it in full, and you’ll find something that celebrates freedom of opinion and individualism and is, as he said in the press, accordingly “fun without being facetious”. Somehow, it looks just fine from here The Line Of Best Fit
This whopping triple album – billed as the 'Past', 'Present' and 'Future' – from the PC Music founder simply never bores NME
On ‘Britpop’, Cook’s mastery of the esoteric is singular DIY
These rich and atmospheric arrangements fail to completely offset the creeping, crawling melodies, built from inching steps of tones and semitone The Line Of Best Fit
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
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Dave We’re All Alone In This Together