25 September 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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Fifth album from the hyperactive Atlantan garage rockers
7.0
The music industry needs more kids who just play. Read Review
It's as if for a moment the Lips tried to be Lil Wayne instead of the Troggs, an idea so foolish that it actually suits them perfectly. Read Review
A raw, psychedelic take on garage rock - sounds like an unnatural coupling of the early Stones and Troggs. Read Review
An album that howls at the moon, rocks its socks off and collapses in an untidy (but pretty) heap on top of the drumkit. Read Review
One of the most exciting experiences of the year thus far... This is a wild, wild world of cheap, visceral thrills, illicit substances and activities and right here, right now this is the best place to be. Read Review
The results still hold something palpably reckless and earnest, refracting tradition through their own filthy lens. Read Review
This is a soupy, stoned, distressed-sounding album at odds with the Lips’ image as the world’s premier party band. Read Review
Ten years ago, this Atlanta band's purposefully sloppy ""flower punk"" would have been unjustly confined to basement shows; now it could fit in a Zach Braff film. Read Review
Harks back to the days of 1960s garage rock, embracing fuzzy guitars, brevity, cheap production values and lazy, pre-punk sneers. Read Review
Black Lips are the gold tooth in a mouth of otherwise rotting teeth; a cheeky brood from with brilliantly stinking breath. Read Review
Lots of fun, but to come anywhere near appreciating what all the hype is about, you really need to see them live. Read Review
Black Lips: 200 Million Thousand
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides musicOMH
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