21 August 2025
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 from soulful Montreal singer-songwriter Al Spx, featuring lead single “Absisto”
6.6
An expanded musical palette that pushes Neuroplasticity beyond the ‘doom soul’ territory confidently staked out on 2012 debut I Predict a Graceful Expulsion Read Review
A record that manages to reveal its treasures over multiple listens without ever sacrificing immediate appeal Read Review
A real contender for Canadian Album of the Year Read Review
The grace is still there, but something far more engrossing has now been added to the mix Read Review
One of the year's notable albums Read Review
On "A quiet Chill", Spx growls "I remain unshakeable?. Every note on this compelling album backs her up. Print edition only
Simultaneously lets the listener into her world and bolsters her anonymity Read Review
As much as it's just a transition for Spx into something that takes a variety of musical turns Read Review
Her voice is as mesmeric and worldly as ever, and the instrumentation is rendered in beautiful detail. But it’s tantalising to wonder what would have happened if she would have given herself completely to chaos Read Review
Spx could do with some melodies as memorable as the music-making behind them Read Review
Sonic spaciousness with reverberant drums, eerie, ethereal keyboards and spidery guitars framing up-front delivery Print edition only
In trying to channel one of her biggest influences — the powerful, pummeling noise rock deity that is Michael Gira — she gets eaten alive Read Review
It isn’t easy enough to love on the first spin, but it’s not complex enough to get better with repeated plays either Read Review
Despite a greater focus on musicality, tunes remain hard to come by Read Review
Too cold and distancing to be able to connect to Read Review
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Cold Specks: Neuroplasticity
Conan Gray Wishbone
It’s exceptionally sharp emotional writing, making ‘Wishbone’ some of his most affecting work yet Dork
His not-quite-angst meets its musical equivalent in its not-quite-alternative sound DIY
The singer’s new album Wishbone mixes slow intimate moments with hit-worthy pop-rock cuts Rolling Stone
‘Wishbone’ stands as a confident pop statement, pairing Gray’s impressive vocal prowess with sleek, polished production. In a female-dominated landscape, and during a noticeable drought of male pop stars, Conan Gray’s return is a genuine breath of fresh air Clash
Wishbone is a complete arc, capturing both the elated, tidal-wave euphoria of falling in love and the bittersweet comedown off that wave. And it's not just the feelings of love, but the tastes, the smells, and the thrilling sweaty intimacy of being close to another person in every sense that Gray embodies All Music
Dijon Baby
The Baltimore singer-songwriter and producer returns from hiatus in some style with an album captures the chaos and beauty of newfound fatherhood NME
Refusing to surrender the emotional core of his songwriting against the dazzling array of studio fireworks, this is Dijon at his strongest – an artist stretching his discipline into evocative new shapes Clash
The Los Angeles singer’s second album is a spectacular new vision of soul, pop, and R&B. His surrealist, collagist approach to songwriting stretches the bounds of sound and feeling Pitchfork
The singer-producer’s second album isn’t a breakthrough or a comeback, but meteoric proof that his debut was star-making and his sound will command the genre’s next destiny without leaving any of its ancestry behind Paste Magazine
Dijon’s best material used to feel like it could fall apart at the seams, delicately constructed with the loving touch of a careful auteur – now, it sounds like ancestries of R&B and pop being shot through the stratosphere Northern Transmissions
With a willingness to push boundaries and lean into the unconventional with his sonics, without ever compromising on the always-stunning nature of his songwriting, ‘Baby’ is hypnotically brilliant Dork
Alison Goldfrapp Flux
The album may not offer the radical reinventions of Goldfrapp's duo work, but it doesn't need to - Alison Goldfrapp pioneered these sounds, and on Flux, she's still doing them with effortless elegance All Music
Marissa Nadler New Radiations
Sonic and atmospheric retreads aside, Nadler has conjured an impressive 10th LP effort that whisks away the listener to a plane far removed from the choking contemporary, a place both trepidatious and eerily comforting Far Out
Cass McCombs Interior Live Oak
The Bay Area-born troubadour’s 11th album treats memory as malleable, letting roots and self entwine in wry, unpredictable ways Paste Magazine
As a statement of McCombs' range and artistic prowess, it’s an impressive collection. As a singular listening experience, it tends to be a bit much Spectrum Culture
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
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
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