24 March 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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Second album of 2017 from guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson and keyboardist/vocalist Sanae Yamada
6.5
Where Vol. 1 navigated the darkside, this sequel journeys into the light. Print edition only
Perhaps the best compliment that can be paid to Vol. 2 is that it works alongside its predecessor and still stands alone as an exciting and genuinely captivating cycle of music Read Review
While there is plenty of good stuff going on, there is a little too much conservative playing and a little too much left-field oddness for the record to truly hold together Read Review
Moon Duo yield vastly different results with the same basic setup on their second Occult Architecture album Read Review
21st century psychedelia at its finest Read Review
The production is also crisper, the beats bigger, so that Air, Cut Copy, and Black Moth Super Rainbow’s sunnier moments are much more accurate antecedents Read Review
What they have achieved here to a commendable extent, though musically the halves are far from polar opposites, is a compartmentalization of their dueling harsh and mellow impulses Read Review
Occult Architecture, Vol. 2 is effective coming down from its predecessor, moving its listeners into the light Read Review
Intended to be the lighter of the two albums although the stylistic differences aren't great. Print edition only
The overall effect is undeniably seductive. Print edition only
Moon Duo are clearly still on a journey. They need to keep exploring, but I suspect they’re at their happiest and creative musically when they’re still exploring those darker territories Read Review
While Volume 1 gets by with some eerie atmospherics, Volume 2 is meh at best Read Review
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Moon Duo: Occult Architecture Vol. 2
Ladytron Paradises
Ladytron have produced an album that, from its inception, sought to invoke the same spirit that the band had 25 years ago Far Out
Gorillaz The Mountain
The strongest case in years that Gorillaz can still make records that matter as records Dork
Kim Gordon Play Me
'Play me' doesn’t try to comfort. It tries to provoke, energise and outlast the scroll Dork
The Orielles Only You Left
These songs come from months of demo-hoarding and forensic listening, the band archiving every practice-room spark before lovingly picking through the results Dork
James Blake Trying Times
Blake sounds energised by the room he has carved out for himself Dork
Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
This isn’t an album built like a straight line from hook to hook. It moves in waves, often favouring texture and atmosphere over immediate release Dork
Underscores U
It’s technical excellence as a musical product cannot be overstated. For a pop album to be this busy yet possess a pocket as deep and rich as underscores displays here is simply amazing Sputnik Music (staff)
Indie rock icon Kim Gordon acerbically wrestles with the state of the world over hip-hop and industrial beats on Play Me PopMatters
The former electro-pop enfant terrible swings big on her latest album, compressing all her split personalities and eclectic tastes into a high-gloss, high-stakes gamble to remake pop on her own terms Pitchfork
On U, she finds a clearly-defined, rounded-out identity in her music for the first time, and she delivers the most immediate and the most robust work of her career The Line Of Best Fit
Performing, writing and producing everything herself, April Grey pares back her hyperpop electronics for an LP in thrall to 90s pop-R&B, with songs that big stars would die for The Guardian
April Harper Grey’s latest hits all the beats of a classic pop record — a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem — without overstaying its welcome Paste Magazine
A tour-de-force of production chops that cements April Harper Grey as a key auteur in the future of the genre NME
Alexis Taylor Paris In The Spring
Paris in the Spring is a gem of a record which, while never over-reaching its ambition, sparkles with electronic ingenuity as it takes in all seasons of human experience Spectrum Culture
It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. Print edition only Uncut
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