11 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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The full line-up of the veteran pop outfit reunited with their original producers for a celebration of London
7.6
Lord, we are truly blessed. The full line-up of Madness reunited with original producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley on their best batch of songs since The Rise & Fall. Add in sessions at Liam Watson's Toe Rag studios and this is truly manna from heaven. Read Review
Madness has gone and released an album that’s virtually flawless Read Review
Print edition only
It all looks backward unabashedly -- fitting for a band formed 30-plus years ago -- but no less resonant. Read Review
Musically, it may be the band's most successful work Read Review
Basically, and improbably, 30 years down the line, Madness may just have made their best album yet. Read Review
Less like chroniclers of London, than of adult life, in all its complexity, disappointment and anxiety. Lovely, lovely music, though. Read Review
A really good album. Ambitious, tuneful, exciting, wise, and with a finale that kicks them up a level into an undreamed-of musical dimension. Read Review
It's a celebration of London, which has always had a song in its heart, and you would have to be a curmudgeon of the basest type not to appreciate it. Read Review
The songs are wordy and disappointingly light on the knock 'em dead catchiness that was once their forte Read Review
The evocations of London street life on their first record in a decade pack in more local references than The Wire Read Review
Madness: The Liberty of Norton Folgate
Wet Leg moisturizer
After the whirlwind of their debut album, the Isle Of Wight band could have capitulated to the pressure. Instead, they return smarter, sexier and altogether stronger NME
There’s also a fluidity to the entirety of Moisturizer that ventures beyond the limitations of the debut and everything Wet Leg signalled in their early stages Far Out
Barry Can’t Swim Loner
Loner is an easy improvement over Barry Can't Swim's debut album, and he retains his ability to craft reflective, sentimental material while strengthening his skills at making airtight tracks designed to ignite the dancefloor All Music
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers double down on the weird energy of their debut The Independent
Rhian Teasdale and co’s second album brilliantly refines all that was great about their brash, bouncy debut The Irish Times
After winning multiple Grammys and Brits, the Isle of Wight band explore love and sexuality on their second LP – but there’s still room for some barbed put-downs The Guardian
Wet Leg’s balance of danger and relaxation pays off in this turbulently fun listen. Excitingly crafted and dangerously sharp, moisturizer is the sound of someone rolling their eyes at how lovesick they’ve become, then shrugging before seeing how far it’ll take them Northern Transmissions
Gwenno Utopia
Utopia is different from her previous work not just because of the language shift, but because of how it was made. Instead of starting electronically, Gwenno composed most of these songs on piano, recording live with her band in her living room. That choice gives Utopia organic warmth. The human touch is evident in how the instruments breathe together Northern Transmissions
Another that sounds like it will be blasted from windows of all kinds whenever the sun shines The Arts Desk
On his latest record, Barry Can’t Swim cements himself as a boundary-pushing voice in electronic music, one fluent in mood, movement, and meaningful reflection The Skinny
U.K. indie-rockers party hard and travel fast on their great second album Rolling Stone
Gwenno’s songwriting matures compellingly on Utopia The Line Of Best Fit
Kesha . [Period]
Kesha’s . is a mess of a statement The Line Of Best Fit
Pulp More
Far more than the themes of aging, sex, and loss, Pulp’s More straight-facedly spreads the word of love and it is the start of something new — a rebirth PopMatters
The Scottish producer trades sun-soaked bliss for emotional introspection – without losing the big drops 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
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