3 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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Third album from Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) and Colm Ó Cíosóig (My Bloody Valentine), featuring a guest appearance from Kurt Vile
7.3
The melancholy air of Hope Sandoval’s new set often suggests a sultry siren from a David Lynch film fronting a 'Loaded'-era Velvet Underground Read Review
One of the best albums of the year and stands proud in her three-decade long discography Read Review
Seven years is a long time to wait between albums, but if that's how long it takes to make the album as good as this is, then the wait was worth it Read Review
Impresses with the bare minimum from start to finish Read Review
It all coalesces around that voice, and its still potent conjuring of beauty and darkness. Timeless music, for heavy times Read Review
The pace rarely rising above languorous, the lyrics resolutely wistful, with the now 50-year-old Sandoval's vocals the compelling focus across 11 drowsy, folk-rock noir essays. Print edition only
Another supremely pleasant LP Read Review
An immersive and rewarding record that will keep admirers of their other bands happy and shows that side projects can be more than rock star folly Read Review
Though it may not be outstandingly original, the album shows the band feels comfortable and at home with what it’s doing and showcases the talent of its members Read Review
Most consistent outing yet. Print edition only
There is a creeping charm to tracks that seem initially off Read Review
Lasting an hour in total, the songs prove in no rush to get to their destination Read Review
Arrives with a languid roll, opening with the warm, subtle moodiness of Into the Trees, re-acquainting us with Sandoval’s gorgeous, inimitable voice. Read Review
Until The Hunter is undoubtedly a mixed bag, but the moments that work make it a worthy listen for fans of the duo’s other work Read Review
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Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions: Until the Hunter
Loyle Carner hopefully!
The sounds are slightly different here than on previous albums and his tentative sojourn into singing is a success because his voice connects as easily as his rapping does Albumism
Lorde Virgin
Lorde trades in her secrecy and mystique for a tremendously healing, desperately relatable record that cements her mark as her generation’s defining artist Northern Transmissions
On the uncomfortable paths of the 28-year-old’s fourth album, slam-dunk bangers are substituted with reinvention and restraint surrendered through hushed, reflective, and carnal synth-pop vestiges Paste Magazine
The New Zealand pop star chips away to reveal her purest self on her fourth album NME
For Lorde, it's an opportunity to reclaim something she thought she had lost long ago, but has always been within her: her true self Exclaim
Frankie Cosmos Different Talking
Different Talking introduces some novel elements to the Frankie Cosmos sound, but despite that, their core identity remains intact Spectrum Culture
U.S. Girls Scratch It
Musically Scratch It will probably be the least memorable in U.S Girls’ discography and aside from ‘Like James Said’ and ‘Bookends‘, the relatively thrill-less album does sort of fly by unnoticeably, made worse by the weak closing track No Fruit God Is In The TV
Lorde may not break entirely new ground on fourth album Virgin, but its warmth and texture make it consistently compelling and quietly brilliant The Skinny
yeule Evangelic Girl Is A Gun
A sun-drenched pop album — perhaps the pop record of the summer Under The Radar
The album is a hesitant step in the right direction for the singer Slant Magazine
Virgin is Lorde at her best yet as an affective poet and, frustratingly, at her most tamed as a digital sound designer The Line Of Best Fit
The New York band’s sixth LP feels like a scaled-up team effort. The newly expansive sound suits Greta Kline’s hard-won self-knowledge Pitchfork
Lorde’s fourth album returns to the digital, physical sound of Melodrama. While rooted somewhat in her past, it’s a gritty, tender, and often transcendent ode to freedom and transformation Pitchfork
Her fourth album celebrates the messiness of being human – and is also her most compelling and revealing musicOMH
BC Camplight A Sober Conversation
It’s perhaps the finest release of his career from start to finish, and that’s beating some stiff competition Far Out
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