20 July 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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Album number four from the Syracuse, NY chamber pop / indie rock band produced by Rostam Batmanglij (ex-Vampire Weekend) and Ryan Hadlock
6.1
The 10-year-old band should be able to get a dance floor moving more than ever with these songs Read Review
An ambitious, thrilling album, full of songs that aim to grab your heart as well as your ears Read Review
The album overall gives itself over to the hortatory hoedown of a mid-’80s club scene, steeped in the era’s instrumentations and song structures, but pulled—sometimes awkwardly, but mostly smoothly—into a 21st-century pop arena Read Review
Ra Ra Riot certainly seems like a band at the edge of something Read Review
What is very refreshing about Ra Ra Riot is their ability to evolve and shape their sound with the adaptability of a chameleon on a rainforest leaf Read Review
They finally hit the sweet spot Read Review
It has that same appeal of flicking through a photo album and getting the rush of nostalgia for times long gone and, for that alone, it’s worth something Read Review
As striking as Animal Collective, vocals that are implored rather than implied, and an infectious energy that will see you dancing around your kitchen Read Review
Certainly a step up from Beta Love, but Ra Ra Riot are missing the orchestral edge that originally set them apart from other groups in their genre Read Review
Trapped in limbo between indie and pop Read Review
Four albums in, this is who the indie rockers are -- no more, no less Read Review
Ultimately, Need Your Light will please loyal Ra Ra Riot fans, but despite its slick, bouncy energy, it doesn't make much of a splash Read Review
The only two songs produced and cowritten with Rostam of Vampire Weekend, are pretty much the sole beacons of quality on here Read Review
Represents another stumble in the New Yorkers’ career Read Review
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Ra Ra Riot: Need Your Light
Billie Martin Dog Eared
Still only 26, Marten's writing is a strong scaffold for an experienced live studio band, whose every flourish (the irresistible keyboard arpeggio on the breezy "Crown" is a particular delight) add depth to her words. Print edition only Uncut
Overall, it's a gently entrancing and quietly elegant album. Print edition only Mojo
Billie Marten’s fifth studio album delves into nostalgia, love and introspection in a cosy folk triumph The Skinny
It takes time for the 10 tracks to find their own spaces and the dazey melodies to take root The Independent
Justin Bieber Swag
The pop star’s latest offering is a perfectly decent record, albeit one that lacks lyrical flair, emotional depth or any sense of responsibility musicOMH
Alex G Headlights
Alex Giannascoli upgrades to hi-fi dad rock and sails home with a major label debut worthy of the all-time indie graduations Pitchfork
Represents a flirtation with commercialized approaches, with suburbanism, with, dare we say, the banal. Given Alex’s impressive record, it’s not a stretch to imagine that going forward, he’ll find a way to better reconcile the predictable and unexpected, the cliché and seminal, the well-worn and just-discovered The Line Of Best Fit
Haim I quit
I quit is a varied-but-very-enjoyable return from the Los Angeles trio Consequence Of Sound
The album doesn’t shy away from the glare, but rather steps into it Slant Magazine
Philly’s indie hero adds to his discography of unassumingly brilliant folk-rock on his major-label debut Rolling Stone
On Headlights, his first album on a major label, Alex G drills deeper into a refinement of his sound The Skinny
Lorde Virgin
Before he died David Bowie called Lorde the future of music and he was not wrong. See you again before the end of the decade, hopefully? God Is In The TV
Alex G is one of the most distinctive characters working in indie rock today, and despite some of its shortcomings, the songs on Headlights still prove that Exclaim
Headlights is as much of an opus as it is, only because it is so clearly, honestly both of these things—because Alex G proves on a major label the seriousness with which he takes his career as a musician, all the while strumming along a love letter to the singular sound he’s so conscientously developed Northern Transmissions
While the sonic invention and off-kilter details remain, on his 10th album the cult musician eschews distortion for melancholic melodies and crooked love songs The Guardian
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