25 September 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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Second album of upbeat classic house from Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and London DJ Raf Rundell
7.1
The fact that it’s not doing anything particularly new doesn’t really matter because it’s hitting all the right notes and pushing all the right buttons. Most of all, just like their debut, it’s a lot fun Read Review
This may not immediately appeal to everyone who liked their debut, but overall is an absolute success, and in many ways supersedes it. A joy from beginning to end Read Review
The 2 Bears faith in the unifying qualities of a good rave-up has a tendency to spill over into hokey sentiment at times. Print edition only
2 Bears world is a place where new love and self doubt are equally ecstatic states. Print edition only
The 2 Bears have once again triumphed at what they do best, serving up a vibrant and joyous take on the music that has shaped them Read Review
Manages to be simultaneously familiar and strange, commercial but emotionally weighty, grown-up without being boring: a musical grey area that grows curiouser all the time Read Review
One of the most joyful dance releases of the year Read Review
Contains two of the most perfect, bodily addictive pop songs you’ll hear all year in ‘Angel’ and ‘Not This Time’ – the latter with a credible claim for a place among the all-time greats Read Review
At times it’s a little saccharine, but deep house-driven albums are rarely this much fun Read Review
The political message is drowned out by squelchy pop ragga. Print edition only
It’s strangely nostalgic music, leaving the intangible sense of being transported to a London nightclub some 15 years ago Read Review
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The 2 Bears: The Night Is Young
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides musicOMH
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