26 May 2019
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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Latest release from the New York City-based experimental ambient composer is a musical eulogy for David Bowie
8.0
Basinski pulls you deep inside a world of shapeless memories accented by both beauty and decay Read Review
There is so much in the stillness of William Basinski's music, layer upon layer of musical information that finds a richness of harmony and melody in the very immobility it often describes Read Review
‘For David Robert Jones’ is one of the most mesmerisingly beautiful and haunting pieces of music you’re likely to hear all year, while also being a fitting tribute to one of the greatest artists of all time Read Review
William Basinski has created yet another outstanding work of art with A Shadow in Time, an audio sculpture of serenity and bliss to begin 2017 and put what was a saddening year for music to bed Read Review
Your enjoyment may depend on whether you feel the Bowie angle adds or detracts Read Review
Sculpts samples, drones and feedback loops into soundscapes rich in melancholic atmosphere Read Review
Among his most entrancing work Read Review
Channeling his classic Disintegration Loops, William Basinski's A Shadow in Time contemplates life and death with great clarity Read Review
The two-track A Shadow in Time shows that William Basinski’s technique can yield a wide range of results Read Review
Basinski tries not merely to locate Bowie’s ghost in the machine, but to find its cross-dressing, orange-haired, anisocoric-eyed soul locked somewhere inside the hard electronic casing of the world Read Review
It’s less technically impressive than usual, and less emotional, but still a lovely journey Read Review
Contains some of his strongest work since The Disintegration Loops introduced him to the world at large Read Review
A Shadow in Time makes a beautiful funeral procession for David Bowie Read Review
You wonder if you've been taken somewhere, or if you've been changed in some way Read Review
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William Basinski: A Shadow In Time
Faye Webster Atlanta Millionaires Club
There are traces of genius on Faye Webster’s Atlanta Millionaires Club The Line Of Best Fit
Hayden Thorpe Diviner
The album is full of the poignant melodies and clever wordplay that made Wild Beasts such an unstoppable force, but it’s the music that is the most striking and memorable Clash
Morrissey California Son
The latest from the former Smiths frontman delivers some diverting covers and some utterly unlistenable notes The FT
Cate Le Bon Reward
The Welsh singer-songwriter channels furniture making and free-spiritedness The FT
Flying Lotus Flamagra
Steven Ellison’s latest album as Flying Lotus offers up 27 tracks that head off in a multitude of directions The FT
Somewhere in here is a 40-minute program with greater impact. Getting to know the whole thing well enough to make a custom-contracted edition is worth the time All Music
If it all sounds vaporous at times, or even predictable to listeners long familiar with Flying Lotus’ sound, then at least it represents his growth into a full-fledged record producer, someone capable of straight-up great songwriting as well as engagingly electronic funk A.V. Club
His most diverse and psychedelic yet Under The Radar
Mavis Staples We Get By
The electric charge of opening track "Change" sets an urgent tone from the outset: "Get it straight/Be sure that you hear/Gonna change around here." The only response is to listen for further instructions Under The Radar
Tyler, The Creator Igor
Tyler, the Creator's latest album remains ambiguous and uncertain The Quietus
Morrissey and some (barely audible) high-profile guests rework 12 of his favorite ’60s and ’70s songs by American artists to mixed results Pitchfork
The former Wild Beasts singer embarks on a new direction on his soul-searching solo debut, stripping back his songwriting to a reverent hush Pitchfork
IGOR is a commendable, yet flawed album, one that further challenges what we can and should expect from a rap album in 2019 Paste Magazine
On Steven Ellison’s sixth album, his sweeping jazz-funk feels limitless. It sounds more like a sketchbook with FlyLo crafting each minute with great care and technical dexterity Pitchfork
The legendary singer has lost little expressiveness with age, but these songs are about the small, quiet spaces where she can catch her breath and steel her nerves Pitchfork
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past eight years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
Mount Eerie A Crow Looked at Me
