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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First album on Hardly Art from the Walla Walla, WA all-girl indie rock four piece
7.1
An unrepentant triumph that will ultimately establish the group has one of the most important musical voices showcased in 2015 Read Review
Their sound and production quality has matured significantly since their 2013 debut, No Regerts, though it doesn't impair their signature ennui Read Review
Their musicianship and unflinching humour in the face of potentially bleak topics makes this album a distinct piece and a joy to listen to Read Review
Depending on what aspect of the band the listener pays the most attention to, Chastity Belt can be either brazenly hilarious or mysterious and moving Read Review
The record works brilliantly as a feminine riposte to The Strokes Is This It? - a heady story of women hitting the town, but more importantly, seeing the bigger picture Read Review
Chastity Belt is a slightly different band than the one on No Regerts. They’re not as intentionally shocking or cynical, but their just as smart and skilled as they’ve always been Read Review
You can hear them peering down upon their worries with a drearier set of beer goggles than before Read Review
Although not perfect (and perhaps transitional), Time to Go Home is a defining moment not only for Chastity Belt, but also for a style currently seeing a serious revival Read Review
Occasionally they find relief, as on ‘Joke’ where twinkling guitars add light Read Review
The band doesn’t always have the answers, but they’re great at laying out the issues they face Read Review
At their least marble-mouthed, Shapiro’s vocals have the commanding presence of Sharon Van Etten, but for most of the album, the Seattle quartet sound too casual to bother trying to match her defiance Read Review
Chastity Belt has the right sound and they briefly flirt with the idea of trying some new things with it, but hopefully next time they won’t be afraid to go all the way Read Review
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Chastity Belt: Time to Go Home
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