9 November 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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Founding member of both Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr releases his third solo album of lo-fi indie rock, his first since 2009
6.5
Isn’t exactly original or inventive, but what it lacks in innovation, it makes up for in emotional honesty Read Review
Life and relationships rarely offer easy answers, and Brace the Wave doesn't either Read Review
The album rides out on Barlow repeating the phrase "learn with me", as if it needed any further invitation: we've been learning with Barlow for 30 years now Read Review
The album's routinely sparse instrumentation — featuring his trademark down-tuned ukulele — puts focus squarely on Barlow's melancholic worldview Read Review
His uncomplicated acoustic sounds make way for his poetically distressed lyrics to be the focal point on the album Read Review
As good as anything he has done with Sebadoh or Folk Implosion. Print edition only
Thank goodness Lou Barlow has returned to soundtrack the onset of middle age life Read Review
Whilst it hardly breaks new ground, either generally or for Barlow as an artist, Brace The Wave offers further evidence of Barlow’s core talent Read Review
Wave is a different animal, though; this is a mostly unembellished, minimal collection of starkly maximal songs Read Review
I often feel centered and wiser after listening to Barlow’s music, and Brace the Wave is no exception Read Review
A skilled and timely reminder of his own uniquely vulnerable vision as a songwriter. Print edition only
It’s good enough Read Review
It’s a fix for now, but don’t worry, there’ll be another soon, in one of his guises anyway Read Review
Few are as willing to write with as much brutal honesty as Barlow Read Review
A surprisingly engaging listen. Print edition only
Feels like an opportunity missed Read Review
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Lou Barlow: Brace The Wave
Django Django Doveland
Django Django would appear to have refreshed their approach and challenged themselves to try out previously unconsidered melodic avenues The Arts Desk
Print edition only Uncut
Gilla Band Pugnello
Somewhere amidst the anarchy of Pugnello, there are gems waiting to be found. Unearthing them is well worth your time Still Listening
Greg Freeman All Set The Bone
Existentialism has a sound (and it’s hard to ignore) with Greg Freeman’s introspective All Set The Bone Still Listening
U2 Carnaval de Luz
Carnaval De Luz finds U2 50 years after their formation with the same four members and the same desire to shake things up. The album provides a convincing answer to the question of why they keep doing what they do XS Noize
Fontaines D.C. Dopamine Chamber
Fontaines D.C. push deeper into synthetic territory on Dopamine Chamber, balancing stadium-sized melodies with restless experimentation and darker texture Record Collector
They sound ambitious and engaged in their 50th year, swinging for the fences and hitting more targets than not. There’s still some gas in the tank Record Collector
La Roux Old Flames
Print edition only Record Collector
Back with her first new music in six years, La Roux's new sound explores facets of R'n'B and Europop to varying degrees of success The Skinny
La Roux turns to 90s R&B on a fourth album shaped by the end of a 17-year relationship, finding room for new beginnings beneath its layered production Still Listening
Print edition only Rolling Stone UK
Devastating moments are dressed up with warm production and kinetic 00s R&B in the now quiff-less singer’s grownup fourth album The Guardian
Elly Jackson returns with heartfelt pop songs about breaking up, resentment, vulnerability and all that entails musicOMH
Ditching erratic experimentation for an ambient concept, the indie shapeshifters' sixth album is their most coherent in years musicOMH
Doveland sounds less like a reduction of Django Django’s musical vocabulary than a more relaxed demonstration of how much they possess PopMatters
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