25 May 2013
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 publications 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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Collaborative dream pop and ambient electronica album between Asthmatic Kitty labelmates, Latin psych-folk artist Helado Negro and singer Julianna Barwick
7.1
Transcends both the artists’ solo efforts, which is high praise indeed Read Review
Let the record's subtleties sink into you. It takes its time, but its rewards are plentiful Read Review
It’s immensely listenable throughout, but at its best – with ‘Vistate’ and ‘Cara Falsa’ – it’s truly spellbinding Read Review
Sultry summer nights following somnolent summer days, you’ve just found your new soundtrack Read Review
A rich wall of ambience is invoked and sustained over the course of ten tracks Read Review
A collaboration between two dyed-in-the-wool daydreamers, finding both harmony and intriguing incongruity in their respective visions Read Review
Dream pop may be a genre du jour, but few produce material quite so dreamy as Believe You Me Read Review
The album is perhaps inevitably closer in sound and structure to an Helado effort, but Barwick's voice is still unmistakably present throughout, both literally - if at times substantially muffled and refracted - and evocatively Read Review
Summertime daydreaming from inspired pairing. Print edition only
For dedicated fans of ambient avant gardism this is a delightful nocturnal ramble indeed. For those in search of something more traditional and accessible it’ll be a little bit of a nightmare Read Review
Something of an art-house installation. Print edition only
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OMBRE: Believe You Me
Laura Marling Once I Was An Eagle
Laura Marling seems to be an unshakeable creature, whose art firmly belongs to herself. Compare her to Bob Dylan all you like, but to issue a bold statement, Marling here proves herself, not as a product, but as an equal This Is Fake DIY
The National Trouble Will Find Me
A layered, resoundingly human work that extends their winning streak without so much as breaking a sweat The Quietus
A work that demands to be taken as a whole, another reminder of the peculiar power of the album form, despite frequent premature declarations of its redundancy The Independent
CocoRosie Tales of a Grass Widow
Easily CocoRosie's most satisfying, fully realised work so far The Independent
Mount Kimbie Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
The pair focus more on song structure on their second album, so their soft-focus compositions don’t fade into the background so much Evening Standard
Her latest record is actually her most lighthearted and joyful Evening Standard
Tribes Wish to Scream
By the end you won't so much wish to scream as laugh out loud. Print edition only Q
Baths Obsidian
An uncommon ear for texture and rhythm. Print edition only Q
Bold and beautiful. Print edition only NME
An improbable shot of charity shop psychedelia. Print edition only Mojo
A neat balance of darkly powerful and whimsical. Print edition only Uncut
Vivid, dreamy songs from harrowing subject matter. Print edition only Q
It's uplifting, triumphant and inquisitive Drowned In Sound
It’s CocoRosie and it’s beautiful God Is In The TV
A bewitching, beautiful album, with no two songs alike Clash
The French duo's 4th album has picked up a good number of 10/10 and 9/10 ratings, but also a handful of 6/10s. Responses range from those who see it as an album that will still be being listened to a decade hence and others who are left thinking "is that it?"
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past four years or so
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
My Bloody Valentine mbv
Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Tom Waits Bad As Me