24 March 2026
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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Third release of improvised jazz rock and electronic pop from the group featuring Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor, Spiritualized’s John Coxon and This Heat drummer Charles Hayward
6.5
About Group strictly adhere to an ideology of improvisation and is shows. Print edition only
About Group make music for the small hours, but on their latest effort, they achieve big results Read Review
Between the Walls is an album about process and unless you were there, you’ll never understand or appreciate it like the four principals. But, as is, it’s still an enjoyable listen and an admirable project Read Review
Tracks vary in emotional and sonic tone, sources, instrumentation and complexity. Print edition only
Between the Walls sounds significantly more prepared than both prior outings, its many synth, organ, drum, and guitar textures more attentively placed. It’s clear they’ve loosened their rules Read Review
For those prepared to take the rough with the smooth, there are many moments of exquisite beauty to enjoy on this record Read Review
Between The Walls is wonderfully unhinged; it just still needs a little more structure Read Review
At times, Between the Walls is a frustrating album, but more often than not, the risks About Group take pay off in expressive, rewarding music Read Review
A decidedly odd affair Read Review
Their refusal to accept stylistic boundaries when playing songs works well here. Print edition only
About Group continue to explore the space between free collective improvisation and Alexis Taylor's songs Read Review
Fluid slow jams, Hammond organ blues and sweet Alt-J-like folkery Read Review
Cleanly recorded and mixed, it serves as a nice palate-cleanser between courses of alt. Americana, folk, and neo-new wave. It’s exactly what the term “side project” was coined for Read Review
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About Group: Between The Walls
Ladytron Paradises
Ladytron have produced an album that, from its inception, sought to invoke the same spirit that the band had 25 years ago Far Out
Gorillaz The Mountain
The strongest case in years that Gorillaz can still make records that matter as records Dork
Kim Gordon Play Me
'Play me' doesn’t try to comfort. It tries to provoke, energise and outlast the scroll Dork
The Orielles Only You Left
These songs come from months of demo-hoarding and forensic listening, the band archiving every practice-room spark before lovingly picking through the results Dork
James Blake Trying Times
Blake sounds energised by the room he has carved out for himself Dork
Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
This isn’t an album built like a straight line from hook to hook. It moves in waves, often favouring texture and atmosphere over immediate release Dork
Underscores U
It’s technical excellence as a musical product cannot be overstated. For a pop album to be this busy yet possess a pocket as deep and rich as underscores displays here is simply amazing Sputnik Music (staff)
Indie rock icon Kim Gordon acerbically wrestles with the state of the world over hip-hop and industrial beats on Play Me PopMatters
The former electro-pop enfant terrible swings big on her latest album, compressing all her split personalities and eclectic tastes into a high-gloss, high-stakes gamble to remake pop on her own terms Pitchfork
On U, she finds a clearly-defined, rounded-out identity in her music for the first time, and she delivers the most immediate and the most robust work of her career The Line Of Best Fit
Performing, writing and producing everything herself, April Grey pares back her hyperpop electronics for an LP in thrall to 90s pop-R&B, with songs that big stars would die for The Guardian
April Harper Grey’s latest hits all the beats of a classic pop record — a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem — without overstaying its welcome Paste Magazine
A tour-de-force of production chops that cements April Harper Grey as a key auteur in the future of the genre NME
Alexis Taylor Paris In The Spring
Paris in the Spring is a gem of a record which, while never over-reaching its ambition, sparkles with electronic ingenuity as it takes in all seasons of human experience Spectrum Culture
It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. Print edition only Uncut
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
Rosalía Lux
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Hayley Williams Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways