6 August 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.
Browse specific styles
Trevor Powers' third album of neo-psychedelic dream pop, produced by Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Gruff Rhys)
6.6
Trevor Powers has produced another remarkable album in a discography that seems to be ever-expanding, never content to stick with one style, yet consistently delivering a style fully his own Read Review
Powers has expanded the Youth Lagoon sound without losing any of the intimacy of his bedroom pop beginnings Read Review
Forever surfing skywards on euphoric dreamrock currents. Print edition only
He could tell stories for days, and he compresses tragic, ponderous tales into striking songs backed by strings and wild instrumentation Read Review
Savage Hills Ballroom has highlights worth celebrating. Three albums in, Youth Lagoon will likely remain as lauded as before Read Review
On his third album, Powers is back to building, but he’s ditched the pillow forts in favor of more ambitious frameworks, surpassing even the wonders of Bughouse… musically Read Review
The most truly self-searching Youth Lagoon album Read Review
An incredibly textured album full of nighttime philosophising Read Review
Not to say that Ballroom lacks the charms and flourishes that signify a Youth Lagoon record; they’re just honed to their bare essentials Read Review
The 26-year-old from Boise, Idaho, sounds bolder, the production is crisper, and the wondrous effects that characterized his dreamy sound have nearly disappeared Read Review
An acquired taste, but those who enjoy a bitter pill will swallow it whole. Print edition only
Demonstrates Power’s unpredictability and it will certainly be interesting to see which direction he chooses to take Youth Lagoon in next Read Review
Powers is blessed with one of the more appealingly idiosyncratic voices in indie rock, a kind of eunuchoid Appalachian warble Read Review
Can a band thrive when it’s stripped of everything that made it unique? Read Review
Roll over video for more options
Youth Lagoon: Savage Hills Ballroom
The Strokes Reality Awaits
The Strokes’ Reality Awaits doesn’t deliver the same charm or hit with the same immediacy fans have come to expect from them PopMatters
Ariana Grande petal
The sophisticated pop artist is in total command of her sound, albeit coming from a troubled place lyrically No Ripcord
Arca XXXXX
The Venezuelan artist’s latest LP harks back to her experimental mixtapes &&&&& and @@@@@, trading the KiCK series’ pop and reggaeton impulses for confrontational, uncompromising electronic sounds Pitchfork
The album may be a tad amorphous, but it’s never dull Slant Magazine
The Venezuela-born, Barcelona-based polymath is at home in distortion on her most probing project in years NME
A return to form, on par with the brilliance of her early mixtapes Clash
In the follow-up to her Kick series, Arca jumbles the building blocks of electronic music to create a beautiful, disorienting sound world The Guardian
Despite some minor sonic surprises, the pop superstar’s latest offering is strangely dull and muted, lacking the personality, sensuality, and energy of her previous work Paste Magazine
The Durutti Column Renascent
Renascent offers newcomers to Vini Reilly’s work the chance to experience pretty much every aspect of what he does in one relatively short album. It’s beautiful, atmospheric and accomplished, but perhaps just a little too eclectic for its own good Spectrum Culture
This return is graceful and emotionally resonant in very turbulent times The Line Of Best Fit
Shania Twain Little Miss Twain
More than anything, Little Miss Twain is a love letter to Shania Twain’s late mother, who acted as something of a manager when she first began performing PopMatters
Even the instrumentation is ghostly, soaked in reverb and with Grande’s vocals layered and echoing across each song. You desperately want something substantial to cling onto, but it’s always out of reach The Independent
Grande reaches for darker, more experimental territory, but uneven writing and restrained vocals prevent it from fulfilling its promise Consequence Of Sound
Grande withdraws inwards on uneasy, distant eighth studio album, amid intense tabloid and social media scrutiny NME
Rage is all over the pop superstar’s eighth LP, Petal — and it suits her Rolling Stone
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